The Press: Damned Lie

New York's tabloid Daily News splashed it on Page One: TRUMAN ASKS 4 JUSTICES TO QUIT. In Washington, Cissie Patterson's sister paper, the Times-Herald, gave it a black bannerline buildup. It was one of the biggest news stories of the year—if true. Never in U.S. history had a President told Supreme Court justices to get out. The story even named the four justices: Black, Jackson, Frankfurter and Murphy. To devoted News and Times-Herald readers, it looked like the straight dope. To newsmen, it did not: the "scoop" was signed by poison-penman Columnist John...

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