Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Oliphant spoke about his book “The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK’s Five-Year Campaign,” on the 60th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's campaign stop in Hays.
By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Sixty years ago on Nov. 20, 1959, U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Mass., was in Hays during a campaign swing through Kansas in his race for president.
A dinner organized by Hays attorney and Democratic party leader Norbert Dreiling brought 645 supporters together to dine with Kennedy at Jefferson West school in Hays.
The event was commemorated Nov. 20, 2019, by the Ellis County Democratic Party in the same building, now the former Kennedy Middle School.
Keynote speaker was Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Oliphant, who co-authored a best-selling book about Kennedy’s 1960 campaign for the presidency.
Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie wrote “The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK’s Five-Year Campaign,” in which they detailed Kennedy’s unconventional path to the presidency.
Instead of relying on party leaders to choose a candidate at the national convention, Kennedy ushered in a new era, traveling from state to state to win delegates.
About 100 people gathered Wednesday evening to enjoy the same meal served 60 years ago and to hear from Oliphant.
Mayor Henry Schwaller IV emceed the 60th anniversary dinner in the former Kennedy Middle School.
"Some of you have never seen these foods and some of you haven't seen these foods in 60 years," joked emcee Henry Schwaller IV, Hays mayor and chairman of the Ellis County Democratic Party.
The menu included a first course of lime Jell-O with pineapple and green grapes served with a glass of tomato juice.
"Green Jell-O was one of my favorites," quipped special guest Lynn Rogers-D, Kansas lieutenant governor.
Servers from FHSU Chartwells bring the same foods to guests as were enjoyed in 1959.
Relish dishes of pickles and carrots were already on the tables draped with white cloths in the school gymnasium. The main course was chicken-fried steak covered with white gravy and green peas on the side. A smaller plate held spiced pears. Dessert was apple pie "a la Democrat," with a piece of donkey-shaped cheddar cheese atop the pie.
Kennedy, a devout Catholic, ate fish at the fundraising dinner. Dreiling had the bishop grant a dispensation allowing Catholics in attendance to eat meat on that Friday. The provision was noted in the banquet program.
The 60th anniversary event was coordinated in cooperation with Hays resident Randy Gonzales, who graduated from Fort Hays State University in May 2019 with a master’s degree in history. Gonzales wrote his thesis about Kennedy’s trip to Kansas and had interviewed Oliphant.
Thomas Oliphant autographs a copy of his book for Hays resident Randy Gonzales, whose FHSU master's thesis researches Sen. John F. Kennedy's 1959 presidential campaign stop in Hays.
Several times during his 90-minute talk, Oliphant encouraged Gonzales to expand his research and pursue his doctorate in history, saying "there's nothing more important to history than local history."
"Randy's level of research detail in this night 60 years ago is mind-boggling, but the extra added attraction is the context of the bigger things Kennedy was involved in that lead him here, and the things he influenced because he came here," Oliphant said.
"This is a honey and if I'd known about it three years ago, I wouldn't have had to to so much research myself," he joked, drawing a hearty laugh from Gonzales and the rest of the audience.
Kennedy had a thin resume when he decided to run for president, Oliphant said, and wasn't well known, even in Washington. He figured he was not going to be chosen to run by national party leaders in smoke-filled rooms.
Kennedy began campaigning early, in 1957, for the 1960 election and he went at it as a "people business" to win delegates, Oliphant said. He made five other stops in Kansas that day, meeting with residents and local Democrats in Kansas City, Wichita, Dodge City and Salina.
Kennedy was the first presidential candidate to hire a campaign pollster and the first to successfully use television and other mass media.
John Ivan, 80, of Mission, Kan., was president of Fort Hays State University Young Democrats and introduced Sen. John Kennedy to the crowd in Hays in 1959.
A few people in the audience were present at Kennedy's dinner including John Ivan, an 80-year-old practicing attorney now living in Mission, Kan.
In 1959, Ivan was president of the university's Young Democrats group and gave the welcome speech for JFK.
"I had stage fright and my legs were shaking," Ivan recalled. Kennedy noticed and walked over to Ivan to reassure him. "He was just wonderful."
"When Kennedy came to this campus we had four members in the Young Democrats Club. After he was in Hays our group had 125 members, the largest one in Kansas," Ivan said.
Ivan later was elected president of the Kansas Collegiate Young Democrats and eventually became a member of Kansas governor George Docking's administration.
Several other club members went on to be elected mayor of their towns.
"Kennedy was so incredible and so inspirational," Ivan said after Oliphant's talk. "It makes us realize his speeches are relevant today, but unfortunately we don't have that today."