The Big Mistake

When I went to the Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair last Sunday, I saw the above front page of the Chicago Tribune on sale (for a mere $750, by the way).  It was journalism's biggest mistake (at least that we know of), proclaiming Thomas Dewey the winner of the 1948 presidential election, when in fact Harry Truman was elected.  There is a famous photograph of Truman holding up this exact headline the day after the election.  The Tribune was owned and published at that time by Robert R. "Colonel" McCormick, a staunch Republican.  My mother told me that during World War II, when she and my sister went down to Abilene, Texas to visit my father, who was in training there, the first question a woman asked her at the boardinghouse was what newspaper she and my father read.  My mother answered "The Chicago Tribune." The woman looked at her, said "Oh - Roosevelt haters,"  turned, and walked away.  However, Colonel McCormick did leave behind a great estate / museum called Cantigny, located in the western Chicago suburb of Wheaton.  Cantigny was dedicated to the remembrance of World War I.  My parents took me there as a kid several times. It had - and still does have, I imagine - WWI tanks, re-creations of trench warfare, complete with sound effects, and displays of weapons, uniforms, etc.  It was great fun for a kid.  I can't remember if we even toured McCormick's house, which I imagine is quite nice.  Something else for the bucket list, I guess.  And no, I did not buy the $750 newspaper headline.  Sometimes being a cheapskate is a good thing.