 The problem we had at that hour (you will fill the man in on the agony over whether to drop from 104 to 96) involved a substantial remake of the whole news section, since the dummies are generally fairly well completed -- and a good proportion of the live news copy cleared -- by 4 or 5 a.m. We had Jimmy Breslin on the scene and two reporters -- Judy Michaelson and Carl Pelleck -- immediately booked from New York on the first available non-stop to Los Angeles -- 8 a.m. We took Breslin's eyewitness file, from the hospital, right up to 8:10 a.m., 20 minutes before the lockup, and made the following stories in the first edition with an on-time lockup -- + The shooting. + A full-page magazine cover on RFK in the campaign, written by Helen Dudar, who had been working on a series about it and was called in from home. + A recap on the tragedies which had befallen the family over the years. + A sidebar on Ethel Kennedy and her tragedies. + Robert J. Donovan on how the shooting figured to alter the '68 race. + A wrapup on the world reaction, leading with LBJ statement. + A full account of the primary results from California -- in preparation at the moment the shots were fired. + A story on how Jackie Kennedy heard the news. + A story on the priest who was at RFK's side. + A background piece on RFK and John F. Kennedy. + A story on earlier political assassination attempts. + A file from Saigon on how the GI's took the news. + An editorial written by James A. Wechsler and cleared with the publisher toward 6 a.m. or so. + And the best spot news photos on the shooting -- including a full back page taken from Sports (and involving considerable makeover there). The moves, of course, involved tearing up quite a few pages and just about locked before the first flash.
The two reporters sent from New York were both on the phones PAUL SANN
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