Paul Vathis (October 18, 1925 – December 10, 2002) was an American

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

. He was a

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

for 56 years.

Life

Vathis was one of eight children of Greek immigrant parents in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania in present-day

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Jim Thorpe (known as East and West Mauch Chunk until 1954) is a borough in and the county seat of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is historically known as the burial site of Native Ameri ...

. He got his start in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was a

Marine combat veteran, where he shot bomb damage pictures of South Pacific island caves. Before the war he had never even held a camera before. He was married to Barbara Vathis and had three children Victoria, Randy, and Stephanie. In 2002, Vathis died at age 77 in his home in

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. As of the ...

. He was buried at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in

Annville, Pennsylvania Annville Township is a township and census-designated place in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,767 at the 2010 census. History Annville Township was divided into North Annville Township and South Annville ...

Career

He joined the AP in Philadelphia, in 1946; he spent most of his career at the

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

bureau of the AP, starting in 1952. In 1962, Vathis took a picture of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

and former President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

walking together at

Camp David Camp David is a country retreat for the president of the United States. It lies in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont, Maryland, Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Maryland, Emmitsburg, a ...

. He covered such events as

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

's 100-point

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

game in 1962, where he originally was just taking his son Randy to see a game. In 1979, he helped cover the nation's worst nuclear power accident at Three Mile Island. On January 22, 1987, Vathis went to the

Pennsylvania State Capitol The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania located in downtown Harrisburg. The building was designed by architect Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 and completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with de ...

to cover then-

Treasurer of Pennsylvania The treasurer of Pennsylvania is the head of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, an independent department of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth's government. The treasurer is elected every four years. Treasurers are limited to two c ...

R. Budd Dwyer Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 70th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981 until his suicide on January 22, 1987. He previously served from 1965 to 1971 as a Re ...

's expected resignation speech the day before Dwyer was to be sentenced for bribery crimes he had been convicted of the month prior. Dwyer maintained his innocence of the crime and claimed he was a victim of political persecution. After a 30-minute speech, Dwyer handed out envelopes to his staffers before grabbing an envelope and producing a

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR (as it is known in unofficial metric designation) is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

and shooting himself through his mouth, killing him instantly, in front of his staffers and the gathered press, including Vathis. Vathis captured a series of four photos of Dwyer, for which he was a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...

in 1988, and won third prize for in Spot News at the

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...

1988 Photo Contest, which showed Dwyer holding the gun, Dwyer with the gun in his mouth, Dwyer falling after shooting himself, and Dwyer dead on the floor while his press secretary Duke Horshock attempts to calm the panicked crowd.

Awards

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Pulitzer Prize for Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Photography was one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It was inaugurated in 1942 and replaced by two photojournalism prizes in 1968: the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and "Pulitzer Pri ...

References

1925 births 2002 deaths American photojournalists American writers of Greek descent Burials at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery Journalists from Pennsylvania People from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Photographers from Pennsylvania Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners R. Budd Dwyer United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II {{US-photographer-stub