Existing comment:
Retired Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Mrs. Antoinette Hughes Walking Near Their Home, c 1945
by Henry Gichner
Charles Evans Hughes was a walker by nature, and invariably walked one mile each morning with timing so precise that his neighbors could set their blocks based on when he passed by. Likewise, amateur photographer Henry Gichner invariably had a camera with him everywhere he went. And it was in the capacities -- inveterate walker and alert amateur photographer -- that their paths spontaneously crossed on day as Gichner drove past Hughes, who was out walking along Massachusetts Avenue with his wife, Antoinette. The photographer stopped and asked, "Mr. Chief Justice, may I take your picture?" to which Hughes agreed.
It is no surprise that Gichner recognized Hughes on the spot. "Sightseeing visitors," a journalist had recently observed, "usually seek identification of the other justices, but they all... recognize instantly the Chief Justice. His beard -- the best known one in public life -- sets him off from the other jurists." |