It is Apr0il 15, 1912.

President Taft and his wife have gone to an evening theater performance.

The afternoon papers had been reassuring.

‘All passengers and crew aboard the Titanic have survived the collision with the iceberg,’ they said.

That would include Taft’s friend and White House aide, Archie.

But as Taft sat in the theater, waiting for the curtain to go up, a White House messenger arrived.

Within minutes, Taft left the theater for the telegraph office in the Executive Office Building and began reading the latest reports.

The afternoon newspapers had been wrong.

Hundreds were feared lost.

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