Heading: (Truman, Harry S.)
Author:
Title: "Dewey Defeats Truman." Front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune
Place Published: Chicago
Publisher:Daily Tribune
Date Published: 17840
Description:

Newsprint broadside, 15½x11" (visible). Matted and framed, overall 17x22".

Original front page of the famous Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper from November 3, 1948, mistakenly announcing Dewey's victory over Truman in the 1948 presidential election. Folded so only the portion "above the fold" is visible. During the 1930s and 1940s, editor and publisher Robert "Bertie" McCormick used the Chicago Daily Tribune's editorial pages to promote his conservative agenda. The Tuesday, November 2, 1948 headline was "Go to the Polls Today! / Landslide / for Dewey / is Expected / Democrats Cling / to Wisp of Hope." Most polls in the presidential campaign of 1948 showed the Republican candidate, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, with such a commanding lead over Truman that some pollsters even quit polling voters weeks before the election, missing out on Truman's last-minute surge in popularity. On election night, Truman, aided by the Secret Service, sneaked away from reporters covering him in Kansas City and made his way to nearby Excelsior Springs, Missouri, a small resort town. There, he took a room in the local hotel, had a Turkish bath, and went to sleep. As East coast returns came in, Dewey took an early lead, winning all the northeast states from Maryland to Maine, except for Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Then Truman started to pull ahead. However, some radio commentators, such as H.V. Kaltenborn of CBS, confidently predicted that once the "late returns" came in, Dewey would overcome Truman's lead and win. At midnight, Truman awoke and turned on the radio in his room; he heard Kaltenborn announce that, while Truman was still ahead in the popular vote, he couldn't possibly win. For the rest of his life, Truman would gleefully mimic Kaltenborn's voice predicting his defeat throughout that election night. Around 4 a.m., Truman awoke again, heard on the radio that his lead was nearly two million votes, and decided to ride back to Kansas City, and from there, take the train back to Washington, D.C. The Tribune had endorsed Dewey and the entire republican slate. In fact, 85% of the nation's daily newspapers supported the New York Governor. Returns were coming in slowly and the Tribune staff was running out of time before the printing deadline. The lead story in this newspaper by reporter Arthur Sears Henning begins: "Dewey and Warren won a sweeping victory in the presidential election yesterday." The next evening, Thursday, November 4th, McCormick spoke at the annual dinner of the "Tribune's" advertising department. He never mentioned this headline. He did however speak of the man he had endorsed for President. He stated, "We were not for Dewey... Dewey would have been a Republican New Dealer, using the full force of his office to make the Republicans into New Dealers with all of their vicious intentions."

Short tear with small loss at lower right corner; very good.