Truman, Harry S.

Photograph annotated, signed ("Harry Truman") and dated 26 March 1956 (7 3/4 x 10 in.; 197 x 255 mm), depicting an elated Truman holding a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman."

Sale, Christie's New York, 14 June 2005, lot 456 (undesignated consignor)

"Truth in reverse!" A signed  and annotated copy of the photo of Truman holding up the the most famous gaffe in the history of American political journalism. The headline of the Chicago Herald Tribune reads:  "Dewey Defeats Truman." Col. Robert McCormick hated Truman, the Democratic Party, and all its works, and missed no opportunity to use the pages of the Tribune to bash them. "Mr. Truman," he said in one editorial, "has added his name to the long list of political crooks and incompetents who have regarded The Tribune as first among their foes" (Gies, The Colonel of Chicago, 226). Ironically, McCormick didn't support Dewey at first either. He had endorsed Robert Taft in the GOP primaries, and only backed the New York governor in November 1948 as the lesser of two evils.