JFK Photos Sell for $151,100 at Auction

The old saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. In some cases, pictures are worth thousands (perhaps hundred of thousands) of dollars. Such is the case with a recent group of images snapped by famed White House photographer Cecil Stoughton.

Stoughton is probably best known for his photo of Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force Once hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. That photograph, showcasing the steely calm of Johnson and the still-in-shock Jacqueline Kennedy, is one of the most famous in American history. The circumstances surrounding the taking of the photo are known, of course: the shooting, the aftermath, the constitutional carry-on. What was known previously only to some was the fact that Stoughton almost didn't live long enough to snap that shot. After hearing that Johnson would be sworn in aboard the plane, Stoughton rushed over in a car and literally ran across the tarmac to get on the plane to capture the moment. Secret Service agents, already frazzled from the horrific events that they had endured in the previous few hours, nearly gunned Stoughton down as a potential assassin. Fortunately, he was recognized.

That photo sold at a recent auction for $13,420, nearly twice the presale price estimated by Bonhams, the auction house in charge of the sale. The photo was one of 12,000 photographs taken by Stoughton of both public and private events involving Kennedy and his family. Among the headlines from the auction was the $9,150 paid for a rare photo showing Kennedy, his brother Robert, and Marilyn Monroe in the same public place at the same time.

Perhaps fittingly, a photo of JFK in the Oval Office with young Carolina and John-John dancing around, sold for $18,300.

Bonhams reported a total sale amount of $151,000.