The Situation Room - photo 1

The Situation Room

Lot 359
19.10.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 20 160
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1033020
Lot 359 | The Situation Room
Estimate value
$ 4 000 – 6 000
(THE SITUATION ROOM: THE STRIKE ON OSAMA BIN LADEN) Barack H OBAMA (b 1961), Joseph R BIDEN (b 1942), Hillary Rodham CLINTON (b 1947), Robert M GATES (b 1943), Michael G MULLEN (b 1946), William M DALEY (b 1948), Marshall B WEBB (b 1961), Anthony BLINKEN (b 1962), and Peter SOUZA (b 1954). Photograph signed, ("Barack Obama", "Joe Biden", "Hillary Rodham Clinton", "Robert M. Gates", "Mike Mullen CJCS", "Mike Webb LT GEN, USAF", "Anthony Blinken", and "Pete Souza" as White House Photographer, [Washington, 1 May 2011].

Mat Digital C print on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Professional Paper Super Type Cn, 610 x 507mm. (minor bumps to the upper margin). Protective tissue tipped to face of left margin.

A large, signed image of the historic "Situation Room" during Operation Neptune Spear, depicting members of President Barack Obama's national security team during the tense mission to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. Viewing a live feed from an unmanned drone overhead and thus unable to see the events within bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, the image shows White House policymakers nervously awaiting any updates from the raid. News of the compound's location was brought forth eight months earlier, though the decision to strike was based on what National Security Advisor Tom Donilon famously called "a 50-50 chance" that bin Laden was even present ("The Death of Osama Bin Laden: how the US finally got its man," The Guardian, 12 October 2021.). Many of the advisors shown here were thus wary or initially opposed to the attack, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Vice President Joe Biden, who can be seen gripping his rosary beads throughout the raid. President Obama later wrote that the strike was "the first and only time as president that I'd watch a military operation unfold", and he called the day of the strike "the most important single day of my presidency."

Rare. Copies of this iconic photograph bearing such a breadth of signatures are virtually unknown—this is the most extensively-signed copy to appear at auction to date. They include President Barack Obama; Vice-President Joseph R. Biden; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Assistant Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command Marshall B. Webb; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen; White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley; National Security Adviser to Joe Biden Antony Blinken; and White House photographer responsible for this photograph, Pete Souza. On the photograph, Obama has added a short note to the consignor who obtained the signatures: "Thanks for your inspiring work!," and Biden adding, "Frank - great job!" Note: 100% of seller proceeds will be donated by the consignor towards assisting wounded veterans.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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USA
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