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Boston-born and bred U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy will be in Beckley tonight, giving Raleigh County voters a chance to see and hear their second candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in four days.

Kennedy will speak at a 7:45 p.m. reception-rally in the Raleigh County Criminal Courtroom. His opponent in the May 10 presidential primary, Hubert H. Humphrey, wheeled through Beckley Friday night. The Minnesota Senator is waging his campaign in other parts of southern West Virginia today.

Today's schedule put Kennedy in Parkersburg for an 8 a.m. breakfast rally, followed by an airplane trip to Charleston and an afternoon automobile ride to Huntington.

His arrival in Beckley will be by air from Huntington. He is scheduled to arrive at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport at 7:10 p.m.

Don Hodson, chairman of the county Kennedy For President Club, and other supporters of the candidate will meet him at the airport. A press conference is set for 7:30 p.m. in the courthouse.

Following the reception, the senator will visit a mine of the Slab Fork Coal Co. and talk briefly with residents of the coal mining community. He then will board his private plane and return to Charleston.

Although Humphrey got the jump on Kennedy with his Friday visit to the state, the Massachusetts senator has had an advance party, including Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., trailblazing through the state since the middle of last week.

Kennedy defeated Humphrey in the Wisconsin primary by more than 100,000 votes.

A proven vote getter, Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in 1946 and first won his Senate seat in 1952, defeating highly popular Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

He won re-election to the Senate in 1958 by an 870,000-vote majority, the largest majority ever achieved by any candidate in Massachusett's history.

At the Democratic National Convention in 1956, Senator Kennedy came within 20 and one-half votes of capturing his party's nomination for Vice President.

A graduate of Harvard University, Kennedy has been awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees by 18 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and the University of South Carolina.

High among his achievements is winning a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "Profiles In Courage."

Humphrey, appearing in a television interview Sunday night, in reference to some of the conditions existing in West Virginia coal fields he visited, said:

"It seems to me it would be helpful, and it is long overdue, for the President of the United States, the Vice President, or one of the members of the Cabinet, to tour this area and make a direct report to the Congress.

"We have a government today that just doesn't care - and I repeat that - just doesn't care."

The political trails of the two Democratic aspirants for President are destined to cross tonight in Beckley.

While no specific times are known, it was announced Humphrey's tour is to end in Beckley tonight - although no public appearance was planned. Kennedy's rally is scheduled in Beckley tonight.

Further inquiry brought the understanding that Humphrey was planning to catch a plane tonight for Washington at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport. A check with the airport brought the answer that if Humphrey plans to fly to Washington tonight from here, he obviously will be a guest of his opponent, Kennedy, who'll be using his private plane for transportation.