Today, I think the only way I could come this close to a politician would be with a press release or a bribe in hand. Otherwise, I'd probably be arrested for daring to come this close to photograph a public official. Americans were, in some ways, much more innocent in the 1960s. George Orwell's "1984" took about 20 years more to arrive than the author predicted.

I hold no affection for controversial Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty, for he was the political opponent of my aunt, Rosalind Wyman, a city councilwoman. (Aunt Roz is famous for, among other distinctions, suggesting the Dodgers move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and then working to make it happen.) This photograph was made the day Yorty was sworn in for a second term.