Newspaper Articles


Charleston Daily Mail
September 27, 1960

7,500 To Welcome Nixon In City Tonight

Civic Center's Event To Turn Spotlight Here

By Chuck McGhee
Of The Daily Mail Staff

Vice President Richard M. Nixon carries his campaign for the presidency to West Virginia tonight.

It is estimated that 7,500 persons will be present when he speaks at the Civic Center here.

Perhaps a million more of the state's citizens will see and hear him on television. Stations in seven cities - Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling, Bluefield, Clarksburg, Fairmont and Parkersburg - will televise the address.

Nixon, accompanied by his wife, Pat, and personal staff will arrive at Kanawha Airport at 7 p. m. Preceding him will be a press plane carrying 55 reporters covering his national campaign.

Brief Airport Talk

Gov. and Mrs. Underwood will head the official reception committee. Plans call for Nixon to remain at the airport about 20 minutes. He is expected to make a brief address.

From the airport a motorcade will move directly to the Civic Center, via Greenbrier, Washington and Reynolds streets.

Present to welcome the vice president at the Civic Center will be 10 "Nixon Girls" wearing red, white and blue attire, and a 500-member choral group - "Voices of Nixon."

The massed choir, drawn from nearly 50 Kanawha county churches and other organizations, will sing several selections under the personal direction of one of America's outstanding choral directors, Ralph Hunter, director of the Collegiate Chorale of New York City. The choir will sing a number of selection (sic) between 7 and 7:30 p. m.

Republican State Chairman Daniel P. Louchery will be master of ceremonies for official ceremony, which will start shortly before the Nixon party arrives.

Once he reaches the Civic Center, the vice president and his wife will rest in a lounge until his introduction at 8 p. m.

Singing Of Anthem

The program will include the National Anthem sung by the massed choir; the invocation by Bishop W. C .Campbell of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia; welcoming address by Mayor Shanklin and the introduction of Republican state candidates by Louchery.

D. Boone Dawson has been chairman of the "West Virginia Salute to Nixon" rally.

All Republican state candidates will attend along with GOP leaders. Seats for them have been reserved on the stage. Their wives will have reserved seats in front of the state.

Nixon's appearance here follows by eight days his opponent, Sen. John F. Kennedy. Neither candidate has announced plans to return to West Virginia in the less than six weeks that remain before the general election.

Nixon will arrive here from Memphis, Tenn., where he campaigned today. Last night in Chicago he and Kennedy participated in the first of their series of historic televised debates. Tomorrow he will campaign in New York.

Aid Topics Probable

The subject of the vice president's address has not been announced. Speculation is that he will likely touch upon President Eisenhower's vetoes of the depressed areas bills. Both were heavily criticized by Kennedy and Sen. Hubert Humphrey during their primary campaigning in the state last spring. They have been very much of an issue between state Democrats and Republicans.

For Nixon there will be no question period such as that which ended Kennedy's televised appearance at the Civic Center.

The Nixon party is scheduled to depart Kanawha Airport at 9:10 p. m.


Whirlwind Campaigners

Nixons And Underwoods Arriving Tonight For Rally; Mansion On 'Stand-By Alert'

By Wilma Higginbotham, Daily Mail Women's Editor

Mrs. Cecil H. Underwood, wife of West Virginia's Governor, will head the official committee of Republican Women who are to greet Mrs. Richard Nixon when she arrives at Kanawha Airport Tuesday evening with her husband, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, for a whirlwind campaign visit to the city.

Others in the official reception committee to greet Mrs. Nixon at the airport will be Mrs. Perle T. Harmon of Bluefield, national committeewoman; Mrs. E. K. Stevens, associate state GOP Chairman; Mrs. Regis Heinzer, president of the W. Va. Federation of Republican Women; Mrs. Arch Moore of Moundsville, wife of Congressman Moore; and Mrs. Harold E. Neely of Hinton, wife of the Republican candidate for governor of West Virginia.

Being on hand to greet Mrs. Nixon is a bit of whirlwind travel on the part of West Virginia's Executive Family. Mrs. Underwood accompanied her husband to the Conference of Southern Governors in Hot Springs, Ark. They will return to Kanawha Airport by plane just a few minutes ahead of the plane carrying Vice President and Mrs. Nixon.

When Mrs. Nixon steps from the plane, she will be presented with an arm bouquet of red roses by little Miss Cecilia Underwood, the eldest daughter of Governor and Mrs. Underwood. Cecilia and her brother, Craig, will be taken to the airport from the Executive Mansion to take part in the ceremony. Craig plans to stand with his sister when she presents the flowers, to give her moral support.

Seeing Mrs. Nixon again will be a special pleasure for West Virginia's First Lady. Mrs. Underwood and Mrs. Nixon have been together on many occasions, the last being the Republican convention in Chicago when they lunched together and had several occasions for brief chats.

West Virginia's Executive Mansion has been on a stand-by basis since word came of the pending visit of Vice President Nixon and Mrs. Nixon. At first, plans were for the Nixons to have dinner at the Mansion and dinner menus were duly prepared. Then word came that the schedule was too rushed to include time for dinner. Now the mansion is on a stand-by alert and will be ready to serve a buffet supper to the Nixon party after the rally at the Civic Center, if enough time is available. A member of the mansion staff emphasized that their plans are on a stand-by basis only. "We are hopeful they can come for the buffet supper and are on the alert to do anything we can to make their visit pleasant."

Having places of honor in the reception committee at the Civic Center will be Mrs. John Shanklin, wife of Charleston's mayor' Mrs. D. Boone Dawson, wife of former Mayor Dawson who is chairman of the Nixon Rally; Mrs. Chapman Revercomb, wife of former Senator Chapman Revercomb; wives of candidates for state offices including Mrs. Carl Weimer, Mrs. Martin Chapman, Mrs. Elmer Dodson and Mrs. Litz McGuire; wives of candidates for congress including Mrs. Latelle M. LaFollette, Mrs. George W. King and Mrs. Clyde Pinson.

Women who are working to make the Nixon visit memorable for both the Vice President and his wife include Mrs. W. W. Wertz, chairman of decorations; Mrs. Robert Trost and Mrs. I. M. Seamans who are in charge of the group of Junior High Republicans and the young Republicans from Morris Harvey College; Mrs .Stanley Cavendish, who is serving as co-chairman for Mrs. E. K. Stevens on the music committee; Mrs. Frank Clark, chairman of the telephone committee.

Also holding a special place among those greeting the Nixon party are 10 young students and career girls of Kanawha Valley who will be dressed in official uniforms as the "Nixon Girls." They are Miss Jeannie Irvin of Dunbar who is Miss Kanawha County Majorette; Miss Ellen Klein, Miss Mary Stacy, Miss Lela Aliff, Miss Barbara Scherr, Miss Kay Skeens, Miss Lynn Crislip, Miss Rosanne Gillispie, Miss Yvonne Newsome and Miss Sally Orr.


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