John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams 11 Jul 1767 - 23 Feb 1848

Born Braintree, Massachusetts

Created in March 1843, this daguerreotype is the earliest known photographic portrait of an American president. John Quincy Adams completed his single presidential term in 1829 and was serving as a congressman from Massachusetts when he visited the Washington, D.C., studio of Philip Haas. Intrigued by daguerreotypy, which Haas had described to him as “a chemical process upon mercury, silver, gold and iodine,” Adams noted in his diary, “The operation is performed in half a minute but is yet altogether incomprehensible to me.”

Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Acquired through the generosity of the Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian National Board; The Burnett Family Fund; Carl and Marilynn Thoma; Connie and Dennis Keller; Tim Lindholm and Lucy Gaylord Lindholm; Mr. and Mrs. John W. McCarter, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Gidwitz; Ellen G. Miles and Neil R. Greene; Ronnyjane Goldsmith; David D. Hiller; Richard and Janet Horwood; and Mary Martell.