--- description: Remembering Hank Walker's famous photo of John and Robert Kennedy in a hotel suite during the 1960 Democratic National Convention title: John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy in a Los Angeles Hotel Room, July 1960 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8820a76b7658b4/6987600ff887dcaeace876b3/jfk-rfk-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Head to Head: JFK and RFK, Los Angeles, July 1960 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2014 4:52 PM CUT  Senator and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy (left) and his campaign manager, Robert Kennedy, confer in a hotel room during the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, July 1960. Senator and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy (left) and his campaign manager, Robert Kennedy, confer in a hotel room during the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, July 1960.Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2014 4:52 PM CUT In July 1960, Democratic delegates from around America gathered in Los Angeles to nominate the party’s candidate for president. While a number of experienced and respected Democrats had their hats in the ring — including Missouri’s Stuart Symington, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson (the party’s nominee in ’52 and ’56) and Lyndon Johnson — ultimately it was the young senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, who won the nomination on the first ballot, and went on to beat Richard Nixon, by the very slimmest of margins, in the general election. Kennedy’s aggressive, efficient campaign leading up to Los Angeles was led by his brother, Robert, and most of the old guard of the Democratic party was caught off-balance by the energy and the charisma that JFK exuded on the stump. He was, as many commentators have pointed out, greeted as something of a rock star wherever he went; the other candidates, to their great misfortune, were treated as mere politicians. That John Kennedy had a beautiful, sophisticated wife by his side, a young daughter at his knee and another child on the way only added to the image of a dad who could very likely relate to the concerns and hopes of young American families of _every_ political persuasion. Here, LIFE.com remembers Hank Walker’s famous photograph of JFK and RFK conferring in a Los Angeles hotel suite during the 1960 Democratic convention — a photograph that speaks volumes about the bond between these two intensely ambitious and pragmatic brothers. In fact, Walker made his picture at the very moment when that brotherly bond and the vaunted Kennedy pragmatism clashed head-on. In John Loengard’s excellent book, [_Life Photographers: What They Saw_](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Photographers-What-They-Saw/dp/0821225189 "undefined"), Walker described the scene playing out in front of his lens — a scene far more fraught than a cursory glimpse at the photo might suggest: --- > “” --- All these years later, knowing the awful fate in store for both of these complicated men, this quiet moment — shared, through Walker’s tough, sensitive artistry, with the rest of us — feels like the end of something. At the time it was made, though, Walker’s evocative photograph probably felt like the very beginning.  Senator and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy (left) and his campaign manager, Robert Kennedy, confer in a hotel room during the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, July 1960. Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Hank Walker's contact sheet from Los Angeles in July 1960, including the circled frame of the famous photo of John and Robert Kennedy conferring in a hotel suite. Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/"},"headline":"Head to Head: JFK and RFK, Los Angeles, July 1960","datePublished":"2014-05-24T16:52:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:28.127Z","description":"Remembering Hank Walker's famous photo of John and Robert Kennedy in a hotel suite during the 1960 Democratic National Convention","url":"https://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/","keywords":["politics","John F. 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