He photographed the pope, six presidents, 13 wars and many of the defining cultural and historic figures of his lifetime.

Along the way, New Kensington native Eddie Adams became one of the world’s best known and honored lensmen, receiving more than 500 awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for one of the iconic photos of the Vietnam War.

The legacy of the 1951 graduate of then New Kensington High School, who died in 2004 at age 71, will be honored in Sunday’s opening of a permanent exhibit of his work at the Allegheny-Kiski Valley Historical Society’s Heritage Museum in Tarentum.

The public is welcome to attend a 1 p.m. reception with his family and the unveiling of 21 of Adams’ photos donated by his widow, Alyssa Adams.

She also will sign copies of “Eddie Adams: Vietnam,” the new book that she edited, the first published about her husband’s work. It contains an essay by AP Bureau Chief Hal Buell and contributions by Peter Arnett, Tom Brokaw, David Halberstam, George Esper and David Hume Kennerly.

It has additional photos, articles written by Adams, pages from journals and other artifacts.

The cover is Adams’ Pulitzer honored, riveting photograph of Nguyen Ngoc Loan, Saigon police chief, firing a bullet at the head of a Viet Cong prisoner in 1968. “I think what the photo did was to help contribute to the anti-war movement and make Americans re-think our part in the war,” says Alyssa Adams, photo editor at TV guide Magazine, from her residence in New York City. She previously worked as director of photo stills at Miramax Films and as an award-winning graphic designer.

She says she believes her husband regretted having taken the photo, but never would say so. “He hated being known for it. I was conflicted when doing the book, and especially when putting the execution photo on the cover, but I realized you can’t ignore a photo like that,” she says. “Someone was going to tell the story of that picture eventually, and I wanted to be sure it was Eddie’s story.”

An in-depth look at Adams’ life story will be at 2 p.m., after the book signing, with a screening of the 83-minute “An Unlikely Weapon,” the critically acclaimed documentary. (Parental discretion is advised because of strong language and violent images).

“There’s a great deal of footage of Eddie talking about his photography and his life, which I think will help people make a deeper connection to the photographs hanging in the show,” Alyssa Adams says. “At the end of the documentary, you feel like you have had a one-on-one with Eddie and that he was your buddy.”

She and her son August will answer questions about Adams and his photos.

“Eddie could graphically sum up the essence of a story in one photograph, which can be a very difficult thing to do,” his widow says. “But more important were his storytelling talents, his communication skills, his sense of inclusion and ability to connect with people.”

The late David Halberstam praised Adams as “smart and brave,” adding, “he had that magnificent sense of anticipation that all brilliant action photographers have, the ability to sense what is going to happen before it actually does.”

“He was an artist and a great character, and the humanity of the man always came through,” Tom Brokaw added.

Jim Thomas, museum board president and exhibit organizer, said he always has appreciated Adams’ work. “We are so fortunate that we have been able to get these works of art,” Thomas says.

Several Alle-Kiski residents have shared photos Adams took before he left the Valley. “But there are lots more in attics and scrapbooks. Now that people are aware that the museum has a place for those photos, we expect more to show up in the future,” Thomas adds.

Adams was a former member of Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church, New Kensington, and served with the Marines during the Korean War. He began his career at the New Kensington Daily Dispatch while still in high school. The paper later merged with the Valley Daily News in Tarentum to become the Valley News Dispatch.

“I think that Eddie learned in New Kensington that people-to-people contact was the best way to get the news,” Alyssa Adams says.

In a 1987 interview with the Valley News Dispatch, Adams said he often told people he came “from the wrong side of the tracks in New Kensington.” He did not mean that to disparage his home town, he was quick to add.

“My dad, Edward ‘Pappy’ Adams, died at the age of 50. He was a Second Ward constable in New Kensington, and I guess my grandfather was before him,” Eddie Adams recalled. “My dad worked as a machinist for Alcoa. My mom, Adelaide, scrubbed floors at New Kensington High School to support everybody. That’s what I mean. Nothing was handed to me.”

Still memorable to him was the time he was able to make a New Kensington boy feel special for a day.

Eddie Adams was sent by the Daily Dispatch to the then Fifth Avenue grade school for the traditional first day of class photo.

“The first-grade teacher came over to me, and she said that I should take a photo of Johnny so and so because his father is so and so in the city and very well respected,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Just a minute. Let me look around the class. Then we’ll decide who to take.’ There was this little boy with a dirty face and torn clothes and I photographed him. He was on the first page of the Dispatch. All of a sudden, that boy was somebody for a day. That boy was me.”

Images of a life: Eddie Adams photo exhibit

New exhibit on famed photographer Eddie Adams, a New Ken native, opens at Heritage Museum

Includes book signing and film screening

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Allegheny-Kiski Valley Historical Society Heritage Museum, 224 E. Seventh Ave., Tarentum

Admission: Suggested donation $5; free to Historical Society members

Details: 724-224-7666; www.akvhs.org

(After Sunday, the photos can be seen during regular museum hours: Noon to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Regular admission is $3; $2 for those younger than 12; free to Historical Society members)

---

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---