Newspaper Articles

Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass) brings his "new look" to Huntington tonight, where he will guest of honor at a reception from 8 to 10 p. m. at the Hotel Prichard.

Kennedy's "new look" developed yesterday when he accepted a challenge for a face o face debate with his primary opponent, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn).

The aroused Kennedy got his Irish up and promised to "fight back" against what he called "the current attacks" against him. He doubtless will have more to say on that tonight.

The public is invited to attend the reception and meet the Massachusetts senator.

During the past week end, first Humphrey supporters in the state and later Humphrey himself made accusations that Kennedy and his supporters were exaggerating the effects of anti-Catholic sentiment so results of the primary could be treated as unimportant if a bad showing made that necessary.

Kennedy reacted first by bringing up his religion on his own instead of waiting for questions about it, and then by agreeing to the debate, which he had been avoiding.

Today is the last of three days for Kennedy in the state. He will return to Washington after tonight's reception. Neither he nor Humphrey, who has been away since his first tour, will be back this week.

Next Monday, with the primary only 15 days off, both will return. Kennedy has three more days planned then, and other appearances later. With few exceptions, Humphrey will stay in the state from that day on, continuing with his touring by chartered bus.

Starting in the north central section this past Monday, Kennedy moved on to Wheeling, the big city of the Northern Panhandle, with its population about as Catholic as Wisconsin.

Once again he denied that his religion would interfere if he became President. His phrasing this time was, "I don't take orders from above."

The change in the religious situation from yesterday to today couldn't have been greater. The southern counties Kennedy passed through are overwhelmingly Protestant.

Stops on his itinerary, in order, included Beckley, Mount Hope, Oak Hill, Fayetteville, Gauley Bridge, Montgomery, Cedar Grove, Cabin Creek, Charleston and Huntington.

Earlier today Kennedy spoke at Fayetteville. He criticized the Eisenhower administration's failure to make more and better surplus foods available to the needy in this country.

At nearby Mount Hope (pop. 2,500), standing on the hood of an automobile, he said 4 million Americans depend on surplus foods distributed by the Department of Agriculture.

"But what kind of food is it? Flour, rice and corn meal - sometimes some butter, cheese and dry skimmed milk - and more flour, rice and corn meal," he said.

"Perhaps they'll soon be receiving lard - sometimes there is a small amount of dry egg solid or dried beans - but it is mostly flour, rice and corn meal.

"That diet is not the basis of a decent existence."

Kennedy said such fare as beef, chickens, turkeys and ducks have been sent abroad in recent years under the overseas surplus food disposal program administered by Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson.

The Department of Agriculture has not "expected our friends overseas to get by on such a subsistence diet" as is provided in this country, Kennedy said.

He added that a Democratic administration would see to it that people in this country who depend upon surplus foods "receive a diet of real substance and variety."