A smiling President Truman enjoys the headline on the front page of the Chicago Tribune that falsely touted the election results of 1948 presidential election – Truman won!

In this time of pervasive social media and instantaneous information sharing, the Chicago Tribune headline doesn’t seem possible – but it happened. For all the fans of President Harry S. Truman, for the presidential history buffs and political junkies, this reminder from history.com ~

On this day – November 2, 1948…

In the greatest upset in presidential election history, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats his Republican challenger, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, by just over two million popular votes. In the days preceding the vote, political analysts and polls were so behind Dewey that on election night, long before all the votes were counted, the Chicago Tribune published an early edition with the banner headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”

The full story here: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-defeats-dewey and from the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-deweydefeats-story,0,6484067.story