Schumaker, Byron E., ca. 1935-

Byron E. Schumaker began his professional career in 1952 at the age of 17, taking news photographs of then Senator Richard Nixon's campaign for the Vice Presidency, running with Dwight D. Eisenhower. He graduated from Ohio University in 1957 with a degree in photojournalism, then worked for Life Magazine as an assistant. He served in the U.S. Army for two years as a combat photographer, then spent a year sailing as a photographer on a research schooner in the South Pacific. He worked as a news photographer for the Cincinnati Post Times Star newspaper for five years, then moved to Washington and worked for the Washington Evening Star newspaper, from May 1965 to August 1970. In August 1970, he took a job at the Department of the Interior, but was soon detailed to the White House. He traveled extensively, taking photographs of President Richard Nixon, including his trip to China in 1972. He left the White House in 1973 to take a position with the Department of Agriculture as Director of Photography. He retired from the federal government in 1994.