LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Look magazine photographer Stanley Tretick is known for his personal, behind-the-scenes shots of the Kennedy family. One longtime friend said the photographer was so close to the family that he had to set aside his career for several months after Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

Tretick's relationship with the Massachusetts political family is evident in his images of Robert and John F. Kennedy, which are on display in an exhibit through Oct. 5 at the Frazier International History Museum in Louisville, Ky. The show, "Bobby, Martin, & John: Once Upon an American Dream," also features Tretick's photos of Martin Luther King Jr.

AP Photo / Look Magazine, Stanley Tretick (ENLARGE)

Stanley Tretick's photographs of the Kennedys (as well as Martin Luther King Jr.) are on display at the Frazier International History Museum in Louisville, Ky.

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Tretick, who died in 1999, was also an official White House photographer; his famed shot shows President Kennedy in the Oval Office as his son, John Jr., peers out from underneath the desk. In another photo, the president is swarmed by nieces and nephews while he is driving a golf cart. The photographs in the exhibit show the three slain leaders of the 1960s interacting with their families, campaigning and making personal appearances.

"The Kennedy family is once again in the public's mind as the world rallies to support Ted Kennedy during his recent health issues and commemorates the tragic assassination of his brother," Frazier Museum spokesman Mark Zanni said. He also noted this year was the 40th anniversary of King's assassination.

Zanni said this is the first public display of the Tretick exhibit.

The exhibit, which has received mixed reviews from museum visitors, includes a videotape of King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" address at the Washington Monument. It also includes music from the 1960s, including Joan Baez singing "Blowing in the Wind" and Aretha Franklin's "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman."

Buttons and other souvenirs of campaigns are shown along with memorabilia of the decade, including a 1969 Volkswagen Bug, G.I. Joe dolls and a fallout shelter, reminiscent of Cold War fears of nuclear war.

Details at fraziermuseum.org.

• Associated Press reports