Sometimes history is made and even the underdog shines. It does not happen too often in politics - where power rules. In the 1948 Presidential elections in the US, Harry Truman was that underdog. Thomas E. Dewey was the frontrunner. And a big one! IN the last few months, Truman traversed the country in a personal railcar and travelled around 22000 miles delivering some 300 speeches. And when he was done on election night - as he slept he was predicted to lose. When he got up the next morning.. he had won. And he won by a popular vote with margin of 1 million and almost 3 times the electoral college votes! But he was supposed to lose! So, much was the people's expectation that he will lose that even the Chicago Tribune printed the morning edition with the headlines "Dewey defeats Truman"! A faux pas, that became famous with his picture with one of the paper's copies. There were many factors involved in producing this error edition. Returns were coming in slow and they were running out of time before the printing deadline. The staff, based on early returns, "felt" Dewey would win. In addition, many of the regular Chicago Daily Tribune staff were out on strike so inexperienced people were setting the type. They did the front page, and portions of a few others, on a typewriter. Rather than erasing typos or incorrect numbers, they simply "x"ed them out with the "x" key on the typewriter. In the far right hand column, there are even 5 lines of type upside down! All issues went out this way. Read more