On Tue, 27 Aug 2002, Jaskula, Gary wrote:
> Thanks to everyone who responded. Many referred to an amusing quote in
> the Washington Post in 1976. The version below was found on the google
> newsgroup archive of alt.quotations by Scott Matheson:
>
> "I'm not going to rearrange the furniture on the deck of the Titanic."
> Rogers Morton (1914-1979)
> American public relations officer
> Comment after having lost 5 of the last 6 primaries as Gerald Ford's
> campaign manager; quoted in Washington Post (May 16, 1976)
I checked in with my friend on the staff of the Yale Dictionary of
Quotations. He said that the YDQ files had Rogers Morton in 1976 as the
originator of this expression, but that he would do a little further
research. A few minutes later he came back having searched ProQuest
Historical Newspapers and with the following earlier occurrence:
"Administrators [at Lincoln Center] are running around straightening out
deck chairs while the Titanic goes down."
N.Y. Times, 15 May 1972, p. 34
He thanked me for saving the YDQ from printing the erroneous Rogers Morton
source for this.
Fred Shapiro
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