Asked the Atlanta Constitution's Editor Ralph McGill: "Why did he have to do it Saturday night?" For newspapermen, President Truman could hardly have picked a worse time to announce he would not run again (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS). Many dailies had only the usual weekend skeleton crews on hand to handle one of the biggest political stories of the year, and their presses had already rolled off a big chunk of their fat Sunday editions when the big news came through. Most had been decoyed into a false security by an advance text of Truman's speech sent out at 11 a.m. which...
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