LIFE - When Newspapers Mattered

JFK Assassinated

Fri, 01 Nov 1963 03:00:00 EST

Commuters read about President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Nov. 22, 1963.

'Dewey Defeats Truman'

Tue, 02 Nov 1948 02:00:00 EST

President Harry S. Truman triumphantly displays the headline from the Chicago Daily Tribune on Nov. 3, 1948, after winning re-election. Perhaps the most famous newspaper flub in history, the erroneous headline came about when the paper's conservative editors, confident that New York governor Thomas Dewey would defeat the man they called a "nincompoop," went to press before all the results were in.

William Randolph Hearst Writes His Orders

Tue, 01 Jan 1935 03:00:00 EST

William Randolph Hearst writes up his daily list of commands for his publishing empire in 1935. According to legend, when he sent Frederic Remington to Cuba in 1897 to cover the revolution, the illustrator complained that there was no fighting going on. Hearst replied: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." The story is likely apocryphal, but only slightly exaggerates the power Hearst wielded.

Hearst Plays With Marion Davies

Tue, 01 Jan 1935 03:00:00 EST

Hearst plays croquet with longtime mistress Marion Davies at his palatial estate near Sam Simeon, Calif., in 1935. Among the acts often attributed to Hearst: leading the U.S. into the Spanish-American War, criminalizing marijuana, covering up the murder of Thomas Ince, ruining the career of Orson Welles (whose Citizen Kane was a thiny veiled biography of the publisher), and if not inventing then at least perfecting "yellow journalism" (sensational reportage that emphasizes selling papers over delivering accurate information).

Mickey Cohen, Gangster King of Los Angeles

Sun, 01 Jan 1950 03:00:00 EST

Mickey Cohen sits among the front pages of newspapers that helped make him the most infamous citizen in Los Angeles, in 1950. As the flashy kingpin of L.A. crime, the gangster thumbed his nose at the police, seemingly courting publicity and, according to some, selling more newspapers than anyone else in America. He even claimed friendship with William Randolph Hearst.

Beginning of the End

Thu, 24 Oct 1929 03:00:00 EST

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle sets the tone on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929 -- often considered the very beginning of the Great Depression that would sweep the world and wreak global economic havoc until the onset of WWII.

The More Things Change ...

Fri, 01 Jan 1937 03:00:00 EST

Daily Express, 1937, London.

The Whole World Over

Wed, 01 Jan 1941 03:00:00 EST

Romanian newspaper vendors in Bucharest hold up papers announcing the Nazi invasion of Greece and the Blitz in London, 1940.

Entering World War II

Mon, 08 Dec 1941 03:00:00 EST

A young boy from the Madison Square Boys' Club carries a large bundle of newspapers shouting news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

'Think of the Children!' British Tabloid Screams

Sun, 01 Jan 1939 03:00:00 EST

A British newspaper begs citizens to remember the babies, while discussing a random death and local theater as World War II breaks out in 1939.

Walter Winchell Wields His Whip

Wed, 01 Jan 1936 03:00:00 EST

Walter Winchell checks a script before his radio broadcast at an NBC studio in 1936. The razor-tongued commentator broke the taboo about reporting on public figures' private lives, and ushered in the age of gossip columnists.

The Chicago Tribune Building Shimmers

Wed, 01 Jan 1947 03:00:00 EST

The Chicago Tribune Building shimmers with lights in 1947. A famously Republican and conservative paper (the only Democrat it has ever endorsed for president in its 161-year history is Barack Obama), it made news in 1974 when it published all 246,000 words of the Watergate tapes within 24 hours of their release.

Don't Stop the Presses!

Thu, 01 Jun 1944 03:00:00 EWT

A printing press stamps out copies of the Lassen Advocate in Calfornia in 1944. When editors yelled "Stop the presses!" they were being literal: If a late-breaking story were important enough, the printers could go through the costly and expensive process of stopping the printing and re-jiggering the type to include the new material.

Samuel I. Newhouse Commands

Tue, 01 Jan 1963 03:00:00 EST

Samuel I. Newhouse steers the Advance Publications empire through a strike in 1963. Its Conde Nast subsidiary was the first to come up with the idea of lifestyle magazines, publications catering to specific interests. That helped to make Advance the 41st-largest private corporation in the U.S., and garner Conde Nast's publications a reputation as the "high-brow" set of American publishing.

Hot Off the Press

Wed, 01 Jan 1947 03:00:00 EST

The 100th anniversary edition of the Chicago Tribune comes out of the presses in 1947. Squeezed on all sides by free sources of information like television and the Internet, and starving from dwindling advertising dollars, newspapers today face an uncertain future.

A Newsroom Buzzes in 1908

Wed, 01 Jan 1908 03:00:00 EST

Reporters work in the telephone room of a British newspaper office in 1908. "A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier," wrote legendary newspaperman H. L. Mencken.

D-Day

Tue, 06 Jun 1944 03:00:00 EWT

The Worcester Telegram, published in Worcester, Massachusetts, blares news of the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Roosevelt Dies

Tue, 01 May 1945 03:00:00 EWT

A French newspaper man hawks a paper announcing the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR died on April 12, 1945.

Victory in Europe

Mon, 07 May 1945 03:00:00 EWT

New Yorkers devour news of Nazi Germany's military surrender to the Allies and the Soviet Union on May 7, 1945. The next day, known as V-E Day, Germany signed its unconditional surrender, ending Nazi rule and the war in Europe.

A Paperboy Delivers

Mon, 01 Jan 1945 03:00:00 EWT

Twelve-year-old newsboy John Southern (who happens to be a third cousin of then-Vice President Harry S. Truman) delivers papers in Independence, Missouri, in 1944.

Making a Point

Mon, 21 Mar 1977 03:00:00 EST

Actor Peter Sellers points to a headline in The Sun which speculates about his current period of hospitalization, in March, 1977.

Falklands War

Sat, 01 May 1982 03:00:00 EDT

An Evening Standard headline on a London newspaper stand during the Falklands War, May 1982.

Daniel Ellsberg Leaks the Pentagon Papers

Wed, 16 May 1973 03:00:00 EDT

In 1973, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg testifies to a congressional committee about leaking the Pentagon Papers. In 1971, Ellsberg gave the top-secret analysis of American involvement in Vietnam to the New York Times. The paper published excerpts revealing many of the government's shady dealings in prosecuting the war. The federal government sued to keep the papers secret, but a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision sided with newspapers in a powerful victory for the First Amendment.

Nixon Resigns

Fri, 09 Aug 1974 03:00:00 EDT

On Aug. 9. 1974, President Richard Nixon reads his farewell speech to his staff in the White House. Thanks to intrepid reporting by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, a seemingly innocuous burglary case at the Watergate Complex turned into revelations about a White House "dirty-tricks squad," and eventually toppled the president.