The Press: Lindbergh v. Hearst (Cont’d)

Last fortnight Hearst editors looked dazedly first at a telegram, then at a photograph. The wire was from Publisher Hearst’s secretary: “Some of the papers are printing trivial items relating to Lindbergh. … As he has shown himself distinctly unfriendly, Chief cannot see any reason for helping any publicity efforts relating to him. . . . ‘Trivialities are not news’.” The picture, hot off the telephoto, an apparently exclusive shot by the Misses Selby and International News Photos showing Baby Charles Augustus (“Eaglet”) Lindbergh, Mother Anne, Grandma Morrow and Great-Grandma Mrs. Charles Long Cutter. Fearfully the Hearst editors stalled for time, each waiting to see what the other would do with the picture. Finally they “played it down” on inside pages. The picture, never intended for Hearstmen’s eyes, had been sent by Lindberghs & Morrows to intimates as a New Year’s greeting. Great-Grandma Cutter’s cousin, Mrs. Charlotte Reeve Conover of Dayton, Ohio, could not resist giving hers to the Dayton News—upon which picturemen pounced.