Today, the Wisconsin State Journal, Madison’s newspaper, has an article about the last time a sitting president came to town. The year was 1950. The president was Harry Truman. The next day, the big photo accompanying the article showed the Trumans, Harry (a Baptist), Bess, and Margaret, descending the steps of Grace Church after attending services on Sunday.

The photo accompanying today’s article showed Truman breaking ground (laying the cornerstone?) for the “Filene Building” on Sherman Ave. A quick Google search revealed no hits for “Filene” in Madison and the article said nothing about what that photo op might have meant.

It’s a curious thing about the marginalization of Religion in American life, but to choose not to run a photograph of something that remains a landmark in Madison, as it has been for 150 years, in favor of a photo of something only the longest-term residents might know, is telling.

I’ll upload a copy of the photo tomorrow. And I’d be very curious to know why the editors chose the particular photo they did.