Oliver F. Atkins
Oliver F. Atkins (February 18, 1917 – January 24, 1977) was an American photographer who worked for the Saturday Evening Post and served as the official White House photographer for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1974.
He was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Alabama in 1938 and quickly rose to chief photographer at the Birmingham Post. In 1940 he joined the Washington Daily News. During World War II, Atkins worked for the American Red Cross and covered major campaigns in Africa, Sicily, Southern Italy, and the invasions of Southern France and Germany.
After the war, he photographed for the Saturday Evening Post, traveling the world and meeting leaders like Josip Broz Tito, Charles de Gaulle, and Gamal Abdel Nasser. When Nixon began his 1968 campaign, Atkins became his personal photographer, and after Nixon was elected, he joined the White House staff as official photographer. He shot many images of Nixon with world leaders and celebrities. One famous, secret photo shows Nixon meeting Elvis Presley; the image is among the National Archives’ most requested.
Atkins was active in the National Press Photographers Association and led its Freedom of Information Committee. In 1974 he left the White House to become vice president of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of the Saturday Evening Post. He won several awards, including the White House News Photographers’ Grand Award and the National Press Photographers’ Association Personalities Award.
He died of cancer in Washington, Virginia, at age 59. George Mason University’s Special Collections holds about 60,000 of his photographs.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:06 (CET).