October 30, 2008
Best Head of the ‘70s (1975)
On this day in 1974, when President Ford indicated that he would oppose federal aid for financially endangered New York City, a New York Daily News editor wrote one of the most famous headlines in American journalism.
Sometimes, the "Authors 365" turns its spotlight away from the wild doings of writers and travels down more unexplored pathways. Take headline writing, a profession that combines the glamor of filmmaking with the recognition accorded to the profession of gaffer. The talented headline writer must combine the ability to boil down the essence of a story into a few words with the talent of a poet to select the right words that make it memorable.
For example, in 1975, the city of New York was caught in a credit crunch (sound familiar?). For years, the government had expanded its services — free tuition to its universities, generous pensions to its employees, rent-stabilized apartments and mass transit priced for workers — and relied on short-term loans to bridge its expenditures and tax collections.
During the recession of 1974, tax collections fell and banks began balking at issuing loans without cuts in the budget. Events reached such a critical point that Mayor Abe Beame appealed to the federal government for help.
President Ford balked. In a televised address, he promised to "veto any bill that has as its purpose a Federal bailout of New York City to prevent a default."
The copy editor at the New York Times, for the next day's edition, came up with this gem:
FORD, CASTIGATING CITY, ASSERTS HE'D VETO FUND GUARANTEE; OFFERS BANKRUPTCY BILLAt the New York Daily News, managing editor William J. Brink was at work on a few ideas of his own for the paper's "120", so named because the size of the tabloid's main headline was 120 points tall:
But Brink shook his head. Subtly was not the Daily News way. "What I wanted to do," Brink would say later, "was to get across the idea that Ford hadn't just declined to help us; he had, in effect, consigned us to the scrap heap. He was cutting us adrift, sending us down the drain."This is how he phrased it:
The headline nothing less than a bombshell. Instantly memorable, identifiable, funny and, best of all, pretty much true. Months later, when the city was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, Ford relented and authorized a bailout. But the damage was already done. Despite winning the Daily News' endorsement, Ford lost New York to Jimmy Carter. No one knows how many New Yorkers who voted for Nixon in 1972 changed to Jimmy Carter, but look at it this way: the difference between the total number of votes for Nixon in ‘72 and Ford in ‘76 was over a million votes. Jimmy Carter carried the state by less than 300,000. It was enough. As Ford noted later, if he had carried New York, he would have won.
And all because of six little words.
Born: Richard Brinsley Sheridan, playwright, impresario, politician, Dublin, 1751; Paul Valéry, philosopher, poet, Sete, France, 1871; Irma S. Rombauer, cookbook author, St. Louis, Mo., 1877; Ezra Pound, poet, critic, Hailey, Idaho, 1885; Charles Atlas, bodybuilder, Acri, Calbria, Italy, 1893; Miguel Hernandez, poet, Alicante province, Spain, 1910; Rudolfo Anaya, novelist, playwright, Pastura, N.M., 1937; Larry Woiwode, novelist, poet, essayist, Carrington, N.D., 1941.
Died: Allan Cunningham, poet, London, 1842; Jean-Henri Dunant, author, philanthropist, Red Cross founder, Heiden, Switzerland, 1910; Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet, journalist, Short Beach, Conn., 1919; Arthur M. Schlesinger, historian, Boston, 1965; Conrad Richter, historical novelist, short-story writer, Pottsville, Penn., 1968; Helen MacInnes, novelist, New York City, 1985; Steve Allen, entertainer, author, composer, Los Angeles, 2000.
Quote for the Day: "When I write in a Hurry I always feel to be not worth reading, and what I try to take Pains with, I am sure never to finish." — Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who was born today in 1751. His plays, which have lasted, were written in a hurry. Make of that what you will.
Also from the Reader's Almanac:
- Norman Mailer's song (1981)
- Chance saves Jerzy Kosinski (1969)
- Gore Vidal Takes Down William F. Buckley (1968)
- Desiderata rises from the grave (1965)
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