Tom Howard (photographer)
- Tom Howard (photographer)
Thomas Howard was a photographer who worked at the Washington bureau of P. & A. Photographs during the 1920s. His photograph of the execution of Ruth Snyder at Sing Sing on January 12, 1928 has been called "the most famous tabloid photo of the decade". [Time-Life Books, 1969, p. 185]
The execution photo
Photographers are not permitted into executions in the United States, so the New York Daily News, determined to secure a photograph, resorted to subterfuge. They brought in Howard, who was not known to the prison warders or journalists in the New York area. He arrived early and, passing himself in by posing as a writer, he took up a vantage position so as to be able to take pictures with the help of a miniature camera that he had strapped to his left ankle. The camera had a single photographic plate which was linked by cable to the shutter release concealed within his jacket. When Snyder’s body shook from the jolt, Howard depressed the shutter release, exposing the plate. The final image captures a sense of movement.
The photograph was published the next day on the front page of the paper under the banner headline "DEAD!" and Howard gained overnight popularity. He received a princely sum for this coup and went on to become the head of photography for the White House.
The camera Howard used to snap the shot is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.[cite web|url=http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=472|title=Tom Howard's Ankle Camera|publisher=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=2008-08-26] ]The state attempted to prosecute Howard and the newspaper, but nothing ever came of it. For many years afterwards witnesses to executions were searched and asked to hold up their hands so they could not operate hidden cameras.
Howard's grandson is actor George Wendt, best known for playing the character Norm on the TV sitcom "Cheers".
Howard's great-grandson is legendary drummer and Iowa Native Thomas Wayne Howard.
Notes
References
*Time-Life Books. (1969). "This fabulous century, 1920-1930". [Time-Life this fabulous century] , 1920-1930. Alexandria, Va: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0809457660
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