(1948 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION) | Two issues of the Chicago Daily Tribune reporting the results of Truman-Dewey presidential election. Vol. CVII, No. 264. Chicago, Wednesday, November 3, 1948 & Vol. CVII, No. 265. Chicago, Thursday, November 4, 1948 

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(1948 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION)

Two issues of the Chicago Daily Tribune reporting the results of Truman-Dewey presidential election. Vol. CVII, No. 264. Chicago, Wednesday, November 3, 1948 & Vol. CVII, No. 265. Chicago, Thursday, November 4, 1948 

2 large folio newspapers (23 1/2 x 16 3/4 in.; 600 x 425 mm), both "Home" editions. No. 264 the complete two-section paper, no. 265 the complete first (of two) sections only; browned, no. 264 creased at central fold with minute loss to first page and a little frayed at spine; no. 265 with a larger loss to first page (ca. 3 x 1 in.) below the fold and frayed at lower margin. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

"Dewey Defeats Truman": the most notorious journalistic blunder in the history of American newspapers. Most Americans, including President Truman's own campaign staff, were certain that the incumbent was going to lose to New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. The majority of the nation's newspapers had endorsed him and even a slight drop in the polls late in the campaign would be of little or no concern. Truman and his family voted in Independence, Missouri, on 2 November 1948, and retired early, unaware that the Tribune was going to press with two alternate headlines: "Dewey Defeats Truman" and "G.O.P. Wins White House." The erroneous headlines resulted from a series of missteps. The returns were coming in slowly and the paper was fast approaching its deadline. Moreover, most of the editors on Col. Robert C. McCormick's rabidly anti-Democratic paper were convinced that Dewey already had one foot inside the White House door. After delivery of the paper, the gap between Truman and Dewey started to close, as the old New Deal coalition all came out for Truman. As the tally shifted in favor of the Democrats, panic seized Tribune officials. They sent staffers out to stop delivery trucks, even to swipe copies from people's porches, and tens of thousands of copies were pulped. A framed copy of this issue was hung in the Truman White House. "Mr. Truman always looked at that headline as if he had never seen it before. He never said anything about it. No need to. He just stood there and grinned" (Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, p. 406).

In this instance, the erroneous paper is accompanied by the Tribune's next issue, which ruefully conceded in a banner headline "Truman Wins by 2 Million." Further down on page one, the Tribune good-naturedly acknowledges its mistake under the heading "Jubilant Democrats Telephone Tribune To Boast of Victory." One of the callers asked "if editorial men of the paper were going to eat their stories with or without salt," while "A subscriber of 20 years announced in a 15 minute speech that he was switching to the Breeder's Gazette."