Parting Swing at Critics
Church No Issue, Kennedy Repeats
By Hugh Maxwell
April 21, 1960
Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass), candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, would up three days of "gloves-off" campaigning in West Virginia with another swipe here last night at those who would make his Roman Catholic religion a factor in the state's May 10 presidential primary.
The senator, paying his second visit to Huntington in nine days - and accompanied the second time by his attractive wife Jacqueline - said that, as president, he would be "just as free to carry out the duties of the office under the constitution as anyone in West Virginia."
He added that, as a combat Navy officer in World War II, as a representative in Congress and as a senator, he had never violated his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Senator and Mrs. Kennedy were guests at a public reception in the main ballroom of the Hotel Prichard. The ballroom was jam-packed with one of the biggest crowds in its history. Estimates of the number present ranged up to 1,000. There wasn't even elbow-room by the time the senator began to talk.
He cast aside a lengthy prepared address, out of deference to the fact the crowd had waited more than a half-hour for him, and spoke extemporaneously.
As he took up the religious theme, it was noticeable that he was more aroused than during his previous visit. He made three principal points as his address progressed. One was his insistence that religion should not be injected into the present campaign.
The second was that "the primary is a democratic institution and should be used to prevent a few men from selecting the presidential nominee."
By implication, the senator denounced any move, as a "stop Kennedy" tactic, to pile up presidential preference votes for his rival, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn). Humphrey is on the preference ballots in West Virginia with Kennedy.
Kennedy's third point was that Republican gubernatorial candidate Harold E. Neely, in deploring the presidential primary contest, "is forgetting that any candidate for President is entitled to and should expose the fact that West Virginia, which has the highest proportionate unemployment in the nation, has the smallest amount of defense contracts among the 50 states."
Kennedy hammered away at the state's unemployment problems and depressed economic conditions, which he said resulted from "eight years of indifference and lack of faith" by the Eisenhower administration.
The reception for Senator and Mrs. Kennedy had a gala air, with an orchestra playing loudly in order to be heard above the din of conversation before and after the senator spoke. Tables bearing fruit punch and cookies were set up.
After Kennedy's speech, the crowd was invited to partake of the punch and cookies and to come to the speaking platform and shake hands with Senator and Mrs. Kennedy.
The senator in his discarded formal speech, which he permitted to stand for record, proposed a seven-point program for West Virginia as follows:
Legislation to assist depressed areas in obtaining new industries
A "bold new program" of coal research and a national fuels policy to benefit the coal industry;
Requirements that federal purchasing be concentrated in areas in West Virginia and elsewhere where there is substantial unemployment;
Creation of a Youth Conservation Corps to give jobs to young West Virginians [sic] and develop natural resources;
Water resource development, pollution control and flood control;
Development of woodlands, parks and similar natural resources, and
Increased efforts to relieve hardship by increasing unemployment and Social Security benefits and expanding distribution of surplus foods.
The visit of the Kennedys to Huntington last night came at the close of a day -long whistle-stop tour across southern West Virginia, where Protestantism is the rule and Catholicism the exception.
Kennedy plans to return to the state next Monday to resume his campaign. That's the same day Humphrey is scheduled to take up his campaign again in West Virginia.
Kennedy's chartered bus tour yesterday included towns along the way from Beckley to Huntington. Many of these towns are located in the state's depressed coal fields.
Usually Kennedy spoke to small groups from a car. At every stop, he took the initiative in bringing up the religious issue, insisting his faith would not hamper him in living up to the President's oath of office.
From Press Photographer to First Lady of the Land
By Walker Long
Publisher, The Advertiser
Visions of a literary career danced through the mind of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy as she looked out on the world after finishing college. Instead of becoming an author she married Senator John F. Kennedy, of Massachusetts, and may become the First Lady of the land.
"When I finished college I wanted to write. I had ambition to write fiction, novels, best sellers" she said yesterday in the Executive Suite at the Hotel Prichard, where the Kennedys stayed during their visit in Huntington.
"Arthur Krock told me I should get some experience writing." Krock who manages the New York Times bureau in Washington and writes on political affairs sent her to the Times-Herald. She took the only job open there. It was inquiring photographer.
"The editors didn't exactly look down their nose at me but they wondered why I wanted to work. They were patient and helpful and wonderful to me. I was terribly in earnest and determined to succeed." She did.
Her job was stopping people on the streets of the nation's capital, asking them a question prepared by the editors, taking pictures and writing short paragraphs containing the answers. It also necessitated lugging around a ten-pound Speed Graphic camera and learning how to operate it.
"I am shy," she said "and when people turned their back on me and walked away, I would hurry to the nearest drug store, drink several cups of coffee to get up my courage for another try."
Her daily column required six pictures and interviews. She used her brothers, sisters and friends until her mother called a halt. Then she went to the circus and other gatherings to catch children.
Mrs. Kennedy's boss was the day city editor of the Times-Herald, who was George H. Clark, now managing editor of The Advertiser. She remembered Mr. Clark and looked forward to seeing him Wednesday evening at the Kennedy reception.
Mrs. Kennedy worked about a year at the Times Herald. She quit to marry Senator Kennedy.
Mrs. Kennedy met her future husband at a dinner party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett is Washington correspondent for the Chattanooga Times. They continued their separate ways but dated occasionally and two years later were married.
Daughter of a wealthy stockbroker, she attended Vassar College for two years, spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris and completed her studies at George Washington University.
She likes campaigning but would rather be at home with her daughter, Caroline. She gives the impression that whatever her husband wants is the thing she will do.
Speaking of her husband, she said, "He has the ability to make quick decisions. He's always right. Because he gets things decided he can sleep. He also has the ability to relax and conserve his energy."
Although her tour of duty as the inquiring photographer helped to overcome her shyness, she still is not the aggressive type. She feels her husband spends most of his day thinking and working at politics and government, so she tries to change the scene when he comes home. She is fond of running a house, planning meals and preparing them.
"The last few months have been hectic," she said, looking backward on the campaign her husband is conducting for the Democratic presidential nomination. It has been a thrilling but exhausting experience. She wouldn't miss it.
Glowing with excitement, she said "My husband is trying to meet all the people. When he speaks to them his honesty, sincerity and integrity shine through. They see the real person he is."
Campaigning and the convention in Los Angeles in July will delay Mrs. Kennedy's plans to go to Hyannis on Cape Cod to spend the summer in their home. This is a quiet vacation resort where she can relax from the tensions of Washington; where she can pursue one of her favorite sports, water skiing.
Thirty years old, Mrs. Kennedy looks younger. She is strikingly beautiful and very photogenic. Her dark, luxuriant hair is so thick on top it makes her look taller. A soft, well modulated voice without the "down East" twang surprises many listeners.
Her campaigning has been a great help to her husband. She feels committed to do whatever she can to assist in reaching the goal. Prospects of living in the White House as First Lady do not daunt her. A background of wealth and social position plus brightness and charm will enable her to carry off the duties which may come to her next January.
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