The Kennedy Years: A Memoir

Published on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and replete with many never-before-seen photographs, this posthumous memoir draws on previously unpublished oral histories, gallery talks, and speeches by Jacques Lowe, JFK’s official photographer. Jacques Lowe was the official photographer of John F. Kennedy’s pivotal 1960 campaign for the presidency as well as his personal photographer following his election, with unprecedented access to the President’s family and inner circle. Fifty years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is finally possible to publish Lowe’s own, never-before-revealed account of his experiences during the Camelot years, supplemented with previously unseen material from his private files, the Kennedy Archives, and a range of other sources. In both words and pictures, Lowe captures the charisma of Kennedy relaxing at home with Jackie and daughter Caroline, engaging with the public on the campaign trail, at work in the White House, and as a leader on the world stage. These photographs are an astonishing record of an era when political image-making was far less calculated than it is today. Lowe’s 40,000 negatives of the Kennedy years were stored in the vaults of the World Trade Center. After 9/11—which came just months after Lowe’s death—it was learned that this priceless collection had been reduced to ashes, leaving Lowe’s original contact sheets as the only record of a most remarkable era.

Jacques Lowe (1930–2001) was John F. Kennedy’s official photographer. After Kennedy’s death, Lowe returned to magazine work, contributed to many television documentaries, and published several books. Thomasina Lowe is the daughter of Jacques Lowe and executor of his estate. She was a contributor to Remembering Jack: Intimate and Unseen Photographs of the Kennedys.