|
Last
month, Ruth Staudt provided us with a review of the book Truman by David
McCullough. One of the events highlighted was that of a jubilant Harry S. Truman
holding the front page of the Chicago Tribune, which proclaimed “Dewey Defeats
Truman.” A reader of Ruth’s review ran across a website (www.shsw.wisc.edu)
that included a letter to the editor which provides us with, as Paul Harvey
would say, “the rest of the story”. We thought this would be a interesting
follow-up to Ruth’s review.
Letter
to the editor: "Dewey Defeats Truman,"
The Inside Scoop
From
George Vogt, Society Director,
I
recently received a fascinating letter, excerpted below, from Edward W. Baumann
of Kenosha, a Society member, retired Chicago Tribune employee, and past
president of the Chicago Press Veterans Association. Mr. Baumann had read the
January/February, 1999, Columns piece on the incorrect headline, "Dewey
Defeats Truman," in the November 2, 1948, early edition of the Chicago
Tribune and wrote to share the inside story.---GLV
Dear
Mr. Vogt,
As a longtime Chicago Tribune employee (retired), perhaps I can add a
little to the history of the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" edition
featured in the January/February newsletter.
On
Tuesday, November 2, 1948, Tribune printers were out on strike
and
getting
the newspaper to readers was no simple task. When reporters turned
in
their stories, they were given to typists (secretaries, wives of the Trib
executives,
volunteers) who typed up the articles in column form, about two
inches
wide.
Headlines were added, and the typewritten stories were
laboriously
pasted onto an eight-column dummy sheet. The entire page was then
photographed and sent to the engraving department, which produced an
engraving of the page, just as they would normally do with a two-column
photo. This is what was eventually affixed to the printing presses and run
off--a lead plate made from a giant photo of each page of the paper.
As the clock ticked away for the Home Edition deadline, the election result
was still in doubt. While the Trib could normally get an edition on the
streets
in twenty minutes under pressure, the photo process without the printers took
much, much longer.
The
Tribune editors faced a dilemma. Should they come out with a paper
under tomorrow's date without election results, and look foolish, or should
they make an educated guess and announce the winner?
Continue
on Page 2...
|
