"Nixon Fights Back"

During the beginning of the Watergate saga, Nixon answered his critics at a ship launching in Newport News, Va. I knew from experience that the president was uncomfortable looking at people in an audience; instead, he would tend to look at a flag. So, working with a ladder and an 800mm lens, I positioned myself under the flag and snapped away as he looked directly into my lens, defiantly shaking his fist. I took out a caption envelope and wrote "COVER-NIXON FIGHTS BACK" on it. A few days later, the managing editor of Time called John Durniak, the picture editor, and told him to alert the Washington photographers that we would do a cover story on Nixon fighting back. Durniak told him he would be right in.