Bobby

The guy curled up on the floor of an airplane is Bobby Kennedy, and that bit of fluff under the seat near his head is his dog Freckles.  The year is 1968 and RFK was running for President.  This photo was taken by Bill Eppridge; more are posted in a slideshow at Vanity Fair.

The comment on this pic over at BAGnewsNotes is that

[n]obody symbolized the politics of hope more than RFK (if the term even bears credibility anymore).  And then, this photo is so syrupy innocent (sleeping on the airplane floor!  curled up with his dog! THE AMERICAN WAY!), it makes the vibe of the current Presidential race feel about as dank as that ashtray compartment.

Maybe.  My reaction, though, was different.  I don't believe this photo was published during the campaign.  Perhaps it wasn't considered newsworthy, or perhaps the journalistic sensibilities at the time precluded publication of such an intimate image.  If such a picture was to be printed of a Presidential candidate today, however, it would be a net negative for the man running.  I can just hear the chattering classes and the candidate's opponent now:

He  doesn't look very Presidential.

Look, he's all curled up the way babies sleep.

It's so dirty on his plane; look at the litter and the mess.  Is that how he'd run the Oval Office?

There's something pathetic about a grown man who sleeps with a toy dog.

It's undignified.  I mean, how can a guy who conducts himself like this ever hope to stand up to Putin?

Normal people don't sleep like bums on the floors of airplanes.

He looks like a guy who's finished off one too many Irish whiskeys.

Why is he sleeping on the floor?  Can't his campaign afford a plane with a reclining seat?  Maybe his campaign is in financial trouble.

And on and on.  It might even become the visual equivalent of the Dean Scream, an image broadcast over and over, dissected endlessly, nattered about in tones of mock disappointment and concern.