Jun 21, 2018 - Sale 2483

Sale 2483 - Lot 216

Price Realized: $ 10,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMAN SAYS "TOO BAD!" FOR DEFEATED THOMAS DEWEY TRUMAN, HARRY S. Photograph Signed and Inscribed, "Too bad!," showing Truman smiling broadly and holding up a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" as St. Louis Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann laughs. Inscribed in the image, middle right. 8x10 inches; remnants of prior mounting verso at upper edge and lower center, few scattered dings, "Wide World Photo" ink stamp on verso. Np, nd

Additional Details

This history-making photograph was taken from the train platform of Union Station in St. Louis on November 4, 1948, by an unknown photographer for the Associated Press's Wide World Photo Service. Truman, who was on his way to Washington, DC, from his home in Independence, MO, emerged at the rear of his presidential observation car to greet the assembled crowd when he was handed the newspaper, which he promptly held up for the cameras. The headline incorrectly stated that Dewey had won the presidential election, held two days before. A strike of linotype operators at the Chicago Daily Tribune caused delays in the production process which, on the night of the election, encouraged the editors to rely upon early polls. When the polls projecting a Dewey win proved false after the edition had already begun delivery, an attempt was made to recover the copies with the erroneous headline, but some, like the copy in this photograph, evaded recovery.