Robert McNeely was born on 1945 and is an American photographer, best known for being the Chief Official White House Photographer from 1993 to 1998, during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
14 Facts About Bob McNeely
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Bob McNeely was drafted into the Army in November 1967 when he was 21, and served in combat in the Vietnam War.
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Bob McNeely was there for fourteen months and was part of the 5th Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, where he attained the rank of sergeant, and earned a Bronze Star Medal.
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Bob McNeely was then appointed official campaign photographer for vice presidential nominee Walter Mondale, and after Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as President, Bob McNeely kept his position as Mondale's official photographer.
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In 1980, when Carter and Mondale lost the election to Reagan and Bush, Bob McNeely stepped away from the world of politics and went into the private sector as a photographer, working freelance for magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
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Bob McNeely was reluctant to do so, and suggested they hire a younger photographer, which they did.
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When Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination, Bob McNeely thought that he had made a mistake in not taking the job.
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Bob McNeely had only an hour to decide, and afterwards, he would be a part of the campaign staff up until Election Day.
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Bob McNeely returned to the White House the following year, after Clinton's victory in the election.
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In November 1995, Bob McNeely's photographs became a source of political leverage in the wake of the first federal government shutdown later that month.
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Bob McNeely remembered that he had taken pictures of Clinton and Gingrich together on the flight back to Washington, and showed them to Press Secretary Mike McCurry, who saw the potential in outsmarting Gingrich.
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Bob McNeely made multiple prints of the perceived incident and left them in the media briefing room in the West Wing, where they were taken by journalists.
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Bob McNeely was excluded from meetings with lawyers in fear that he might testify on what he had heard, and frustrated over the focus of the President's personal life, quit the position in September 1998, citing a desire to be with his family.
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In October 2000, Bob McNeely published his first photobook, The Clinton Years, the first time a book was published with the subject still in office, and as such, the White House had a say in what photographs were used.