From Vienna to the White House: Yoichi Okamoto & The American Century Exhibit
Coming to the GAHM this Autumn – Exhibit Opening with Her Excellency Austrian Ambassador Dr. Petra Schneebauer on Sept. 26, 2024
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Yoichi Okamoto (1915-1985) was the son of wealthy Japanese immigrants, and enjoyed a privileged upbringing in the US and Japan. Despite growing prejudice against Japanese Americans in the 1940s, he joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, and was deployed to Europe in 1944 as a war correspondent, which allowed him to use his photography skills to tell stories from the front. From Bavaria, where he experienced the end of the war in Europe, he eventually traveled to Vienna, and was captivated by the city’s beauty, which shone through the devastation and destruction.
He became the personal photographer of General Mark Clark, the High Commissioner in Austria, and served as the head of the Pictorial Division of the U.S. Information Agency in Vienna from 1946 to 1954. The mission of these photojournalists was to report and document the progress of economic recovery and to support the economic, social, and political goals of the United States in postwar Austria with detailed photographic stories, especially highlighting the benefits of American aid and the Marshall Plan for the Austrian public. With his camera lens, he captured amazing images of daily life and reconstruction, and became a well-known figure in local and political circles. It was during that time that he met his Viennese wife Paula Wachter, and learnt to speak fluent German. His eye for stunning imagery and artistic detail resulted in the creation of the largest photographic chronology of Vienna’s evolution covering almost four decades. The photos include stark black and white images as well as color photos from the late 1960s and 1970s.
After he was recalled to the U.S. in 1954, he made a name for himself as a speaker and lecturer. However, his biggest career break came in 1961 when he was invited to join then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson on an official tour of Berlin following the construction of the Berlin Wall. Johnson quickly recognized Okamoto’s talent, and insisted that he accompany him as his official photographer in future. After President Kennedy’s assassination and Johnson’s accession to the White House, he became the official White House photographer with unprecedented and candid access to the President. This stunning collection of photographs was previously exhibited at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, which acquired the collection from Okamoto’s son, and the Austrian Embassy. It will open at the GAHM on Sept. 26, 2024 with Her Excellency Ambassador Petra Schneebauer as our guest speaker. This exhibit is made possible with the support of the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC and the LBJ Presidential Library.
Photos courtesy of the Austrian National Library and the LBJ Presidential Library