These memorable headlines capture some of the most important historical events, from John F. Kennedy's assassination to the Titanic sinking to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Some say that journalism is a first rough draft of history. And nothing shows that more clearly than famous newspaper headlines.
Some of these headlines broadcast shocking events — like assassinations — without offering a hint about what they'll lead to. Others capture the horror of tragedies, like the 9/11 attacks or the Titanic sinking. And some stories, operating on inaccurate information, get the story wrong.
In the gallery above, look through 33 of the most famous newspaper front pages from history, headlines that capture everything from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the election of Barack Obama.
Famous Newspaper Headlines Covering Major Historical Events
As news of the Titanic sinking spread, many people heard the story from newspapers. It took time, but the magnitude of the tragedy became clear.
Public DomainCoverage of the Titanic disaster, which happened in April 1912.
It was especially shocking because the world had followed the construction of the Titanic in newspapers from the beginning — many people knew about its size, its luxurious amenities (including a gym), and the details of its maiden voyage. Then, after the ship sank, newspaper audiences read about the Titanic's survivors, its most famous victims, and the iceberg that sank it.
By the 1920s, radio had become a popular way to report the news as well, but people around the world continued to rely on newspapers to learn about the day's events. Famous headlines in the 20th century announced the ascension of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, the 1963 March on Washington — and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech — and the historical resignation of President Richard Nixon. But these first rough drafts of history often only captured the moment. They usually didn't reveal what would come next, or how one event could lead to another.
And, indeed, some of these drafts were very "rough."
Newspaper Headlines That Got The Story Wrong
National Science and Media MuseumEarly reports of the Titanic sinking were upbeat, with some newspapers even reporting that no one had been killed.
When the Titanic sank in April 1912, more than 1,500 people died, including the ship's captain, its band, and many of its passengers. But early reports about the Titanic tragedy were upbeat — at first, some newspapers reported that everyone on board the doomed ship had survived.
Other famous headlines similarly got things wrong. One of the most well-known came in 1948, when the Chicago Daily Tribune confidently declared: "Dewey Defeats Truman." In fact, President Harry Truman had won an upset victory over his political opponent Thomas Dewey, meaning that Truman would serve another term in office. The photo of Truman triumphantly holding the newspaper is among the most famous in American history.
But while most of the famous newspaper headlines in the gallery above are accurate, they often show only a small piece of the history that they're covering. Initial coverage of 9/11, for example, simply expresses the horror of the terrorist attacks, before more specific details about the perpetrators, the victims, and the heroes of the day emerged — and Americans had a better idea of where the attacks would lead their country in the future.
Similarly, newspaper headlines about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand certainly couldn't have predicted how the aftermath of the murder would lead to the widespread violence of World War I, or that a "rare cancer" infecting gay men in the early 1980s would balloon into the AIDS epidemic.
Indeed, famous headlines are something of a rough draft of history. But they also capture the immediacy of a moment, the thrill or tragedy of a major world event. In the gallery above, look through some of the most famous newspaper headlines from the 20th and 21st centuries.
After reading about some of the most famous headlines in history, discover the stories of fascinating historical events that aren't that well known. Or, look through these famous photographs that changed the world forever.
