The big opera house in San Francisco had been booked to show You can defend America. It turned out that this coincided with the first United Nations Conference of fifty nations who met in San Francisco between 25 April and 26 June 1945. The heads of the delegations of the sponsoring countries took turns as chairman of the plenary meetings : Anthony Eden, of Britain, Edward Stettinius, of the United States, T. V. Soong, of China, and Vyacheslav Molotov, of the Soviet Union. At the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, V. K. Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov.
The San Francisco Conference was not only one of the most important in history but, perhaps, the largest international gathering ever to take place at the time. There were 850 delegates at the Conference, and their advisers and staff together with the conference secretariat brought the total to 3 500. In addition, there were more than 2 500 press, radio and newsreel representatives and observers from many societies and organizations.
Arthur applied to the British embassy in Washington to be their press photographer during the conference and to the Norwegian embassy for Signe to represent Norway. As it turned out Arthur was the only representative for the British Press and Signe the only representative for the Norwegian Press.
There were altogether 80 photographers there at that point and Signe was one of 3 women. One woman dressed and acted like a man – and was easily absorbed within the crowd of male photographers – which was of itself quite unusual in those days. The other was a young woman who arrived every day on a motorbike much like a Valkyria, wearing a white sweater, black trousers and yellow flying hair. And then there was Signe – in her best Sunday dress. Signe found this very amusing!
There were several attempts made to patronize Signe – maybe because she was the only woman photographer who looked like a girl? On the first day, she went into the big foyer where all the journalists and photographers gathered and she became very aware of a group of photographers across the hall who were obviously looking and talking about her. She watched them out of the corner of her eye as her heart beat like drumsticks. Eventually one of them came over to Signe and said, “We haven’t seen you before,” implying that all the photographers knew each other. “No,” she said, ”you haven’t seen me before.” He asked who she represented and when she replied, “The Royal Norwegian Information Service.” He responded “Oh, it’s very royal isn’t it!” And Signe said, “Yes, it is!” She could see him register that she was no push-over and from then on, she was fully respected as a photographer.
Most of the photographers were big men in comparison and Signe had to struggle to claim her shot when it came to popular speakers. For instance, when the Russian delegation spoke and there was a barrier of photographers in front of her she ended up going up to the balcony while Arthur was able to be down on the floor and crept onto the stage if he wanted to. But then Signe didn’t represent a big country like Britain either. Gradually the other photographers made space for Signe to get her shots and showed her the ropes, like where to go if her camera gave her trouble, as you had to tinker with your camera yourself in those days! Arthur and the other photographers all had huge complicated press cameras. Signe had a slightly smaller version because she couldn’t lift the heavy version that Arthur had. Arthur was shooting in colour and his photo of??? speaking was the only photo taken in colour at hangs at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Arthur, had a great gift of making friends with all kinds of people, he didn’t care if it was the King of Saudi Arabia or a taxi-driver. He talked to them about what the MRA team was doing and invited them to the performance to be held in San Francisco where they could meet Frank Buchman and other interesting people. They came of course, were very impressed and many became life-long friends. The people around Frank who were experienced and knew the world, were able to meet them on their own terms and that impressed them too. For instance Jan Smuts, South Africa’s Prime Minister at the time who was there.
Arthur took a portrait of the son of the Saudi Arabian King during the League of Nations meeting. He was invited to bring the portrait to his room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and Signe was asked by Arthur to come as his assistant. Arthur used a tripod for his camera and Signe tried to make conversation with the Prince while Arthur was setting up. She pointed to something that was pinned onto the wall behind the Prince and asked naively, “That is very interesting, does it have a special meaning?” He replied haughtily, “It’s our national flag!” Signe felt like sinking into the floor! She felt like the naive girl from a small country in northern Europe that she was. She had hardly met a person of colour before and she didn’t follow world events. She was still a child at heart. Arthur quickly smoothed it over and took a beautiful picture.
Most of the task force left America for Britain right after peace was declared. Before they set sail for Europe Frank told the team that he expected them to live alongside statesmen and make their task easier. The team continued to work and grow greatly in the coming years. Several of those who had spent the war years in America had fought with the allies in Europe but others like Signe and Arthur were finally home in Europe for the first time in seven years.
A memorable picture shows 8 of them in London standing on Park Lane, taking part in the Victory Parade on Park Lane in London, May 1946. They stood there chatting as the most natural thing in the world. But when you see the following colour photos you can grasp the importance of the moment! King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were about to pass by them in the World War II Victory Parade.
In this photo you see these friends for life: Margaret Barnes, Peter Sisam, Dorothea Parfit sitting on a bag, Signe Lund sitting on the pavement and Arthur Strong, ready to capture the relevant photo, Eric Parfit and Dick Haddon chatted together. Fascinating to see the styles of hair, trousers, ties, shoes at the time.
Eric and Dorothea had just been married at the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan where Signe was bridesmaid. Arthur was introducing his fiancé Signe to his family in England. Margaret Barnes and Peter Sisam were in love but didn’t actually get married until when? They all remained the best of friends throughout their lives.
As a photo-journalist, Arthur found himself in close contact with people from all over the world. He began to see people as bridges. Bridges between those who have and do not have, between black and white, yellow and brown. Between old and young, truth and falsehood, oppression and freedom, past and present. Some are bridges in everyday life, others are bridges of a larger dimension and everyone has their important function in society. One thing Arthur found that we all have in common is that we can be bridges between hatred and forgiveness.
After the war, families in Switzerland had bought a refugee center that they wanted to make into a conference center as their contribution to reconciliation after the Second World War. This center, Mountain House in Caux, was badly run down after housing hundreds of refuges during the war. The elevator shafts had been used as rubbish dumps and the kitchen had been used for cooking on indoor bonfires. Hundreds of people worked to clean it up and make it usable as a conference center for MRA starting in 1946.
When Frank Buchman arrived, he asked, “Where are the Germans?” He invited Germans to come and to see the possibility of change. He saw this center as an opportunity for Germany to come back into normal life and be part of the family of nations again.
Arthur’s philosophy of photography was not confrontation. ”Confrontation is what every photographer goes for. You only have to look in the papers and you see it is the picture that shows confrontation that gets the space. But I decided on the opposite – to get images of bridge-building between people, between families, in factories and industry. Also between countries and after the war I was very glad to have the privilege to work in Germany and see how France and Germany buried the hatchet forever and made real what people take for granted today – working together. In those days it was almost unthinkable as France and Germany had been fighting each other on and off for the last 100 years and the fact that they could work together … well I was fascinated to photograph some of that. Schumann and Adenauer. Adenauer with the miners from the Ruhr who were as different from him as chalk from cheese but they worked together for the good of the whole.”
Human nature is the same everywhere. And in the same circumstances we would probably all do similar things, and we do. Here in the North we contribute as much to the misery in the world, and the imbalance in the world, as everyone else. For instance by the way we spend time, effort and money on our own indulgences and unnecessary luxuries while so much of the world is suffering from their lack. Also the way we fail to deal with discrimination, criminality, and the needs of those who are most vulnerable in our own countries: the children, the old people, and those who come from other countries. We should take care not to point our fingers at other countries for neglecting their human rights responsibilities as we neglect so much here at home. We can all do something about this wherever we are, whatever we do.
Bridges go over precipices that can seem insurmountable, which require a lot of courage. Arthur’s image from Kenya of two whites and two blacks illustrated new ways of solving problems and world politics. Two white overseers of Mau-Mau leaders apologized for their arrogance towards them. The two black leaders answered that if they could have dreamt that there were white people who thought and spoke like that, then Mau-Mau would never have happened.
Signe, Arthur and Ingrid were staying with Signe’s family in Oslo when the old king of Sweden died. Signe and Arthur drove to Stockholm and stayed with Admiral Ekstrand, Commander in Chief of the Stockholm Fleet. His home was on the island opposite the royal palace. Arthur came to Sweden with the hope that he would be able to take a picture of the 3-year old Prince who had now became Crown Prince. He and Signe went to the Palace along with all the world reporters and photographers who hoped to be the first one to take a picture of the new Crown Prince.
The new Crown Prince, Carl Gustav, was only three years old, when his grandfather died and the world press ”stormed” into the Swedish Foreign Office press department at the Palace in Stockholm. Paris Match, Time Life – everyone wanted to get a camera audience with the newly crowned prince.
It was like a madhouse at the Palace and Arthur tells how he came to be the only photographer to be granted this audience with the Crown Prince! “The prince was afraid of photographers and their flashes so the Palace press department refused access. In the ensuing chaos I offered to help hand out the document that explained the refusal to access. Finally everyone left and we were preparing to leave when the press representative asked us, ‘And what did you want?’ I replied in all honesty ‘The same as all the others of course!’ The press representative said she would see what she could do.
A few days later they received an invitation to the Palace for an audience with the Crown Prince! No flash was to be used. The night before the audience Signe and Arthur prepared and Signe tells how “We felt we were given specific “guidance” from above. My thought was to treat the Prince just like we would treat Ingrid who was the same age; to sit on the floor with him and to prepare and draw folded paper with little figures representing the prince and his sisters. I took my first camera, a little pocket Kodak that I used as a child.” Arthur contacted his photographer friend Stig Hartman and borrow lights that could be set up in advace in the room in order to avoid using flash. Stig helped set up and operate the lights at the palace. On the actual day they arrived at the Palace and were met by the Prince’s Nanny who brought them to the Prince’s playroom to set up.
The Crown Prince entered the room with his Nanny and his Pekingnese Toy. Princess Sybilla had expected to stay throughout but when she came to check on her son and saw how the little three-year-old had relaxed with Signe sitting on the floor cutting out the dancing paper dolls depicting the prince and his sisters, she left them to get on with the job. Arthur took 24 black and white shots on his Rolleiflex and 6 in colour on his Leica during the 45 minute audience.
In the end Arthur, aided by Signe as interpreter, was the only photographer who was allowed to photograph the three-year-old Prince Carl-Gustaf immediately after the old King’s death.
A few days later Arthur received a further message with permission for him to take pictures at the old King’s funeral at the Palace Church, Storkyrkan. He was allotted half a square meter in front of a pillar within touching distance of the Royals, the Bernadotte family. But it was mid-winter and the church was only lit by candles. At this time in history this was a challenge as the films were not fast and flash was not allowed.
Arthur tells how he got his picture. “I had to turn my back on the scene, stretch my arms above my head and press my Leica camera hard against the pillar for steadiness, as I exposed for several seconds. It was impossible to tell at the time whether I’d got the picture of the procession with our old friend Admiral Ekstrand as one of the pall-bearers. But the colour photo came out perfectly with the wonderful atmosphere of the candle-lit nave and high altar. The Bernadotte family with their women in their traditional mourning dress were also clearly visible as well as visiting heads of state.”
Arthur had prints made by Dr Nees, one of Kodak’s directors in Rochester, an old friend from when he worked in England. He sent a print to the King and received a very appreciative letter from his private secretary Erik Sjöqvist. Word got around fast and Arthur received a phone call and then a visit from the Swedish Time Life representative. Life would pay for the exclusive rights to the photos of the Prince and the old King’s funeral at $150 per page. Arthur was thrilled. In the mean-time there was a fresh development in the Korean War and David Duncan Douglas had sent some dramatic pictures to the Time Life office in New York, showing soldiers fighting in the war. Space had to be found and many other stories including that of the Swedish Crown Prince and his photos were scrapped. Arthur received back the prints from Time Life in Stockholm. One of them had been marked up on the back for a full page. That was the nearest Arthur came to getting a photo in Life magazine! 10 days had now passed and the world press were now allowed in to photograph the little prince. Arthurs images were no longer news.
Signe and Arthur returned to Ingrid in Oslo and were offered the loan of a flat by the harbour. It would be their first home! But being primarily committed to reporting on Frank Buchman’s work Arthur cabled Frank in Washington DC with the facts, ending… ‘unless you want Arthur in Washington.’ The cabled reply came: ‘Want Arthur Washington Frank’. So Arthur caught the old ship Drottningholm on her last voyage of 10 days from Gothenburg, leaving Signe and Ingrid in Norway.
Meanwhile in Washington Arthur got the 20 best photos of the Crown Prince mounted in a beautiful Swedish blue leather book made for the occasion with the Swedish emblem of 3 crowns embossed in gold. He took it to the Swedish Ambassador Bohman who sent it in the diplomatic pouch to Princess Sybilla. He received a grateful letter through the Princess’s lady-in-waiting. Stig Hartman made a print from one of Arthur’s negatives and sent it to the palace. He got a plaque with permission to have Hovfotograf Photographer to the Royal Family – outside his shop – so he was happy too! Many years later Arthur received a letter from an equerry for the Swedish Kind Carl VI Gustav – formerly Crown Prince which said ”Your photo book has its place in the King’s private library on Drottningholm and is much appreciated by the family.” Arthur learnt later from manager of Associated Press Agency in London that it would be better to have him handle his business in the future because he was used to dealing with Time Life!
In 1983 Arthur had his first solo exhibition with about 70 pictures. His lectures aroused the interest of young people in particular. In the same year, the UK National Portrait Gallery purchased 12 of his portraits. The image of Lord Salisbury is the only color photo in their permanent exhibition in London.
Arthur had the opportunity to take photographs of many famous people. One such photograph was of Prince Feisal later to become King Feisal of Saudi Arabia when he spoke at the San Francisco United Nations Conference in 1945. The picture was signed many years later when Feisal made an official visit in London as King and signed the portrait.
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