Revolt at Key West

One sunny day last week, President Truman lolled on a Key West beach, chatting with Chief Justice Fred Vinson. A Navy blimp buzzed in low. Looking up, Harry Truman saw five White House press photographers taking pictures. He gave them a big wave and a grin.

But Charles G. Ross, the President's long-faced press secretary, did not smile. He did not know that the photographers had arranged the flight with one of the President's naval aides. Ross confiscated the photographers' plates and 400 feet of movie film, because nobody had his permission for the trip.

Grunts & Groans. The Associated Press's Byron Rollins suggested that Ross let the photographers develop their pictures and submit them for approval. Said Ross, grimly: "These pictures will not be published." Cried International News Photos' Al Muto: "All we ever get from you is a lot of grunts and groans." Grabbing back his plates, he deliberately exposed them. Rollins and Acme's Milton Freier did the same. The movie men, who did not want to waste footage taken before the flight, let Charlie Ross ship their films to Washington to be developed by the Navy.

Later, Ross lamely explained that he feared photos "pinpointing" the President's hideaway might endanger his security, and that they "constitute an invasion of his privacy." But newsmen pointed to a Chamber of Commerce map identifying the Winter White House's location.

Shears & Shorts. When the newsreels came back, Truman aides trimmed out 21 feet (showing the Winter White House and a nearby naval installation), and Ross's face was saved, technically at least. They released all the informal beach scenes that Ross had wanted to suppress. Later the President did his best to bail out Ross. Jokingly, he told newsmen that "the Boss" (Mrs. Truman) had warned him: "Don't you have any pictures taken of you in a bathing suit. One slipped by at Bermuda [in 1946] and it's been a disgrace to the family ever since." Charlie Ross wasn't trying to censor anybody, the President said; it was just "a measure to make it safe for me to come home."

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