50

1948 HARRY TRUMAN Signed Press Photo DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN, Chicago Daily Tribune

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:4,500.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD
1948 HARRY TRUMAN Signed Press Photo DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN, Chicago Daily Tribune
Autographs
Iconic “HARRY S. TRUMAN” Signed “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” Error Chicago Daily Tribune Press Photograph
HARRY S. TRUMAN (1884-1972). Thirty-Third President of the United States, who Authorized Dropping of the First Atomic Bomb on Japan to End World War II.
“Dewey Defeats Truman” was an incorrect banner headline on the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune (later Chicago Tribune) on November 3, 1948, the day after incumbent United States President, Harry S. Truman, won an upset victory over Republican challenger and Governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey, in the 1948 presidential election. It was famously held up by Truman at a public appearance following his successful election, the photo image showing Truman smiling triumphantly at the error. B&W Press Photograph Copy Signed, “Harry S. Truman” as President, directly on his sleeve in black fine point pen measures 7.75" x 6.5" (by sight), being nicely professionally framed under UV Plexiglas to 14.25” x 13” overall. Not examined out of frame. This wonderful press photo captures a jubilant President Truman holding up the error newspaper that declared in bold headlines "Dewey Defeats Truman". The erroneous headline of the Chicago Daily Tribune (which later shortened its name to Chicago Tribune) became ill-famed after a jubilant Truman was photographed holding a copy of the paper during a stop at St. Louis Union Station while returning by train from his home in Independence, Missouri, to Washington, D.C. The Tribune, which had once referred to Democratic candidate Truman as a "nincompoop", was a famously Republican-leaning paper. In a retrospective article some 60 years later about the newspaper's most famous and embarrassing headline, the Tribune wrote that Truman "had as low an opinion of the Tribune as it did of him". On election night, this earlier press deadline required the first post-election issue of the Tribune to go to press before even the East Coast states had reported many results from the polling places. The paper relied on its veteran Washington correspondent and political analyst Arthur Sears Henning, who had predicted the winner in four out of five presidential contests in the past 20 years. Conventional wisdom, supported by polls, was almost unanimous that a Dewey presidency was "inevitable", and that the New York governor would win the election handily. The first (one-star) edition of the Tribune therefore went to press with the banner headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN". Just a copy of the famous newspaper alone, without any signature in nice condition sells for about $1,500 or so, with Harry Truman’s authentic signature more. Our research finds that a similar signed photograph sold at public auction offered at Christie’s, NYC, March 27, 2002, Lot #175 which fetched $16,500 and a worse quality example brought over $12,000 in a Chicago-based auction. The last example of this “HARRY S. TRUMAN” Signed “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” newspaper Press Photo sold by EAHA was in our December 13, 2003 auction. Lot 183 in Choice Very Fine (together with a front page only of the newspaper), which sold for $9,200. The Signed Photograph is many times more rare than the newspaper itself. An outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the most famous and historic of all recorded “blooper” moments in American history.
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), the 33rd U.S. President, assumed office following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945).

In the White House from 1945 to 1953, Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, helped rebuild postwar Europe, worked to contain communism and led the United States into the Korean War (1950-1953). A Missouri native, Truman assisted in running his family farm after high school and served in World War I (1914-1918).

He began his political career in 1922 as a county judge in Missouri and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934. Three months after becoming vice president in 1945, the plain-spoken Truman ascended to the presidency. In 1948, he was reelected in an upset over Republican Thomas Dewey (1902-1971). After leaving office, Truman spent his remaining two decades in Independence, Missouri, where he established his presidential library.

The erroneous headline of the Chicago Daily Tribune (which later shortened its name to Chicago Tribune) became ill-famed after a jubilant Truman was photographed holding a copy of the paper during a stop at St. Louis Union Station while returning by train from his home in Independence, Missouri, to Washington, D.C.,

The Tribune, which had once referred to Democratic candidate Truman as a "nincompoop", was a famously Republican-leaning paper. In a retrospective article some 60 years later about the newspaper's most famous and embarrassing headline, the Tribune wrote that Truman "had as low an opinion of the Tribune as it did of him".

For about a year prior to the 1948 election, the printers who operated the linotype machines at the Chicago Tribune and other Chicago papers had been on strike, in protest of the Taft–Hartley Act. Around the same time, the Tribune had switched to a method by which copy for the paper was composed on typewriters, photographed, and then engraved onto the printing plates. This process required the paper to go to press several hours earlier than usual