The Washington Post’s famous 1915 typo

It’s a Washington institution, but The Washington Post’s influence extends well beyond the capital. Since 1933, when Donald Graham’s grandfather, Eugene Meyer, bought The Post at auction for $825,000, it’s been the standard-bearer of exemplary political coverage–a testament to the management of the Graham family over the last 80 years.

However, it wasn’t always considered first rate. In the early days, The Washington Post actually had the dubious distinction of printing one of the most famous newspaper typos in US history. It was a 1915 article about Woodrow Wilson’s love life–the paper reported that President Wilson had been “entering” his bride-to-be, Edith Galt. They obviously had meant to say “entertaining” his bride-to-be. We’ve tracked down the original article, as it appeared in print in 1915:

It read, “The President gave himself up for the time being to entering his fiancee.”

Needless to say, it was a source of amusement in Washington. The Post even had the paper recalled.

See my segment on Hardball on MSNBC.