The Press: News for the Home Office

The 16 White House newsmen who normally dog the President’s footsteps decided they could take a breather one afternoon last week. Knowing that Harry Truman was taking a nap and that his next scheduled move was a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, most of them went to lunch off the White House beat. Only a handful were in the White House pressroom when the biggest spot news story of the week broke at Blair-Lee House (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

Their first notice of trouble came when a hatless Secret Serviceman dashed down the hall past the pressroom. The newsmen chased after him down the long block to

Blair House, and saw the wounded lying in the street.

“No Other Details . . .” International News Service’s Robert G. Nixon was the first to flag his office. But I.N.S., working on a telephone tip, had already put out a bulletin at 2:24 p.m. and scored the kind of beat over its wire-service rivals that press-association men love to boast about. Text of the bulletin: “Police reported that one of their officers has been shot in front of the Blair House, official residence of President Truman. No other details were immediately available.”

United Press’s Merriman (“Thank you Mr. President”) Smith, on his way back from lunch when the shooting began, was also beaten—by U.P. Police Reporter Bryce Burke, who picked up the news at police headquarters. U.P.’s bulletin went out at 2:26. Associated Press’s Sterling Green got to the scene with I.N.S.’s Nixon, but waited a few minutes to get a few more details before he called in from a drugstore. A.P.’s bulletin time: 2:32. Its text: “Three men—possibly four—were shot today in a gun battle in front of the President’s home, the Blair House.” Not till about 3 o’clock did reporters pull enough facts together to put out the news that an assassination had been attempted.

“It Was Kaleidoscopic.” In all the excitement, the 200 newsmen who swarmed to Blair-Lee House had a tough job separating the wild rumors from the facts. I.N.S. collared General Electric Co.’s President Charles E. Wilson, who happened to be driving by, got a somewhat incoherent eyewitness account. Said Wilson: “It was kaleidoscopic . . .” Another eyewitness wildly reported: “The President kept poking his head out the window and then they’d take another shot at him.” Some of the photographers, who had arrived too late for good shots, had to resort to such hoary stunts as posing reporters pointing to a picket in the fence that had been sheared by a bullet (see cut). Three hours later, the Secret Service finally straightened out the facts at a conference with White House reporters. Next day, at the President’s regular conference, New York Daily News Reporter Jack Doherty tossed up a question. Would the President, like Franklin Roosevelt,* give his own account of what happened? Snapped Harry Truman: You can read all about it in your own papers.

* In 1933, when an assassin shot at Roosevelt while he was in Miami, and killed Chicago’s Mayor Anton Cermak instead, F.D.R. supplied an eyewitness account: “I heard what I thought was a firecracker; then several more … I looked around and saw Mayor Cermak doubled up … I called to the chauffeur to stop … I motioned to have [Cermak] put in the back of the car … I put my left arm around him and .my hand on his pulse, but I couldn’t find any pulse. He slumped forward . . . That trip to the hospital seemed 30 miles long … I said: ‘Tony, keep quiet—don’t move. It won’t hurt you if you keep quiet.’ “