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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
THE MISTAKEN NEWSPAPER HEADLINE
On election day, November 2, 1948, President Truman and his wife cast their vote in Independence, Missouri. Later in the day Harry Truman went to Excelsior Springs, Missouri and spent the evening at the Elms Hotel, where he waited for election returns. He went to bed early, not knowing the final election results. He had no way of knowing that newspaper history was being made by a headline in a Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper that printed the outcome of the election as "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN".
There were several factors involved in the printing of this infamous newspaper page. The election results were slow in coming in and the Tribune was running out of time before the printing deadline. Governor Dewey was leading by a substantual amount in the early election returns and had been predicted to win by all of the election polls. The editorial staff believed that Thomas Dewey would win. In addition, many of the regular Chicago Daily Tribune employees were out on strike, therefore inexperienced people were putting out the newspaper.
President Truman was losing the election When he went to bed on election day. When he awoke the next morning, he learned that he had won. He took a train back to Washington, D.C. after calling his Secret Service protection. During a short stop in St. Louis, President Truman was presented with one of the "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" newspapers while he was standing on the back platform of the train. This was when the famous photo of Harry Truman holding up the newspaper was taken. When he was asked to make a comment, President Truman said "This one is for the books."
On election day, November 2, 1948, President Truman and his wife cast their vote in Independence, Missouri. Later in the day Harry Truman went to Excelsior Springs, Missouri and spent the evening at the Elms Hotel, where he waited for election returns. He went to bed early, not knowing the final election results. He had no way of knowing that newspaper history was being made by a headline in a Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper that printed the outcome of the election as "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN".
There were several factors involved in the printing of this infamous newspaper page. The election results were slow in coming in and the Tribune was running out of time before the printing deadline. Governor Dewey was leading by a substantual amount in the early election returns and had been predicted to win by all of the election polls. The editorial staff believed that Thomas Dewey would win. In addition, many of the regular Chicago Daily Tribune employees were out on strike, therefore inexperienced people were putting out the newspaper.
President Truman was losing the election When he went to bed on election day. When he awoke the next morning, he learned that he had won. He took a train back to Washington, D.C. after calling his Secret Service protection. During a short stop in St. Louis, President Truman was presented with one of the "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" newspapers while he was standing on the back platform of the train. This was when the famous photo of Harry Truman holding up the newspaper was taken. When he was asked to make a comment, President Truman said "This one is for the books."
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