How Chicago newspapers reacted to Kennedy assasination - and its aftermath
ChicagoNow blogger Jack Silverstein did a post earlier today about the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While visiting his friend's grandmother, he was able to take pictures of the first pages of the major Chicago newspapers from the day of the assassination and a few days thereafter. This was back in the day when Chicago had four major daily newspapers - Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago American and Chicago Daily News. And while the first two came out in the morning, the Chicago American and Chicago Daily News came out in the afternoon. That's why their issues for November 22 had Kennedy's assassination front and center, while Tribune and Sun-Times had to catch up
The ChicagoNow galery seems to be a bit buggy - at least for me - so I decided to re-post the pictures here, with comments from Silverstein copy-pasted above the corresponding image in italics.
Chicago Tribune, Friday, November 22, 1963. The last of the non-assassination papers for a WHILE
Chicago Daily News, Friday, November 22, 1963. The Daily News was an afternoon paper, and the assassination occurred at 12:30 pm CST with time of death placed 30 minutes later. The paper had little time to gather this story prior to putting the paper to bed, hence the other stories above the fold.
Chicago Tribune, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Sun-Times, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Daily News, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Sun-Times, Sunday, November 24, 1963. [The color photo on the front page was a rarity for daily newspapers at the time - which just underscores how big of a deal the assassination was]
Chicago Tribune, Monday, November 25, 1963. Two interesting notes. First, the two photos used here may have seemed equal at the time, but the one on the right became an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning shot, while the one on the left is but a historical footnote. (See body of this post for links to a marvelous story about the two photographers.) Second, the man in the light suit is Dallas PD homicide detective Jim Leavelle, a former navy man who was on board the USS Whitney during Pearl Harbor. Leavelle is still alive, and lives in Texas.
Chicago's American, Monday, November 25, 1963. The American was another afternoon paper, note-worthy for being part of the inspiration of the classic journalism play (and later film) "The Front Page." [which, in turn, was eventually adopted to film as His Girl Friday]
The ChicagoNow galery seems to be a bit buggy - at least for me - so I decided to re-post the pictures here, with comments from Silverstein copy-pasted above the corresponding image in italics.
Chicago Tribune, Friday, November 22, 1963. The last of the non-assassination papers for a WHILE
Chicago Daily News, Friday, November 22, 1963. The Daily News was an afternoon paper, and the assassination occurred at 12:30 pm CST with time of death placed 30 minutes later. The paper had little time to gather this story prior to putting the paper to bed, hence the other stories above the fold.
Chicago Tribune, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Sun-Times, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Daily News, Saturday, November 23, 1963.
Chicago Sun-Times, Sunday, November 24, 1963. [The color photo on the front page was a rarity for daily newspapers at the time - which just underscores how big of a deal the assassination was]
Chicago Tribune, Monday, November 25, 1963. Two interesting notes. First, the two photos used here may have seemed equal at the time, but the one on the right became an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning shot, while the one on the left is but a historical footnote. (See body of this post for links to a marvelous story about the two photographers.) Second, the man in the light suit is Dallas PD homicide detective Jim Leavelle, a former navy man who was on board the USS Whitney during Pearl Harbor. Leavelle is still alive, and lives in Texas.
Chicago's American, Monday, November 25, 1963. The American was another afternoon paper, note-worthy for being part of the inspiration of the classic journalism play (and later film) "The Front Page." [which, in turn, was eventually adopted to film as His Girl Friday]