For my California readers who also like dull boring history. But first a short background on Joe Rucker.

Rucker was one of the earliest staff news photographers in the US, having started a century ago back in 1914 with Universal. From there he shot for Pathe and Paramount, covering the major and minor stories of the Bay Area – from the construction and opening of the Golden Gate Bridge to stories about trained cats.

In the early 50s, Rucker would eventually switch from shooting news for the silver screen to news on that young upstart called television with NBC News out of their San Francisco bureau until he retired from the news business in 1955.

Despite covering many wars, including both World Wars and many bloody skirmishes in Asia in the intervening years between, his last battle before his retirement would be a forgotten minor one he had with the State of California that finally ended in January of 1953.

Judging by newspaper articles of the era, it was a one-photog campaign of Rucker’s to get a news camera into the capitol building in Sacramento and to film the Legislature in action. From the Assembly Journal of January 7, 1953 – the change of heart by the California State Legislature in regards to cameras invading their turf: