In those days there were very few paved roads. The road from here to St. Louis was dirt. If the roads were too bad, we didn't notice it, as we were walking on clouds anyhow. Just a couple of years married, both working, a fine son, and in love. In a situation like that, we didn't pay any attention to the roads.
Things continued to go very well with the job. The company was expanding and striving desperately to get a bigger slice of the cake. We were successful, although the money spent to get this larger share of the business was stupendous.
In 1933 the company came up with an idea of consolidating some of their operations with those of different telephone companies throughout the country that were not consolidated with the giant Bell system. In 1933 I was sent to Nebraska to set up working arrangements with the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph. I spent most of the summer working this out. The arrangement worked, but I always felt that the additional revenues spent were more than we received.
In June of 1936 I was sent to Topeka, Kansas, to handle the press services of the Alf Landon presidential campaign. I arrived there on the 6th of June to handle his acceptance speech, and stayed with Mr. Landon until after the election in November. My job was to see that facilities were available and in working order when any news became available. There were 25-50 or more news representatives there all the time, coming and going, and we went all out to see that everything was in working order and staffed at all times.
In my opinion, more money was spent than taken in, but my company always seemed to come up with the necessary funds to take care of any and all requirements for propaganda broadcasts as well as all others.
We were in Estes Park, Colorado for two weeks twice that summer, and from coast to coast several times.
I was assigned an apartment on the train with Ernest K. Lindley, a very well-known and famous writer who was writing a book entitled, "Half Way with Roosevelt" while traveling with the Landon train. Mr. Lindley gave me an assist notice in the book, although I had nothing to do with the writing except cover some of the Landon press conferences for him while he was busy on the book.
The experience was a glorious one, and I enjoyed every minute of it. On election day we went with Mr. Landon to Independence, Kansas, his home town, where he was registered to vote. On the train coming back to Topeka, the first report I received were from some small town up in Maine. The results were handed to Mr. Landon, and his face fell when he read the telegram: Roosevelt - 42, Landon - 6.
When we returned to Topeka that evening, we all went out to the Landon Mansion to await the final returns. His entire family was there with him. While the party was jovial, and everyone was in a happy frame of mind, there was an uneasy feeling, deep down, that the Chief was going to lose, but no one showed any outward feeling of any such thoughts. As the early wire reports came in, the indications vividly showed the underlying strength of the Roosevelt party.
About midnight we all went down to the Jayhawk Hotel where there was a direct wire waiting that was hooked up with Roosevelt's headquarter office in New York. By this time it was quite evident that the Landon Group was on the losing end of the most gigantic landslide decision that had ever been witnessed.
All of the reporters and party members who had worked so long and vigorously in handling the governor's campaign were crestfallen, and sensed that defeat was certain, but no one was ready to admit it.
Finally, near 2 am the governor came to me with the message that everyone knew was inevitable - a message of defeat. I personally sent it on the Morse wire that had been set up for them.
(Note: SERIOUSLY? MY GRANDPA IS THE ONE WHO SENT THAT WIRE?)
The message was addressed to Mr. President Roosevelt, and was as follows. These words are not verbatim, as time has dimmed my memory somewhat, but were approximately as follows:
"According to the information that I have at hand, you have apparently won the office of the Presidency of the United States. Congratulations, Alf M. Landon."
Mr. Landon was and is a wonderful man. I have treasured for several years the notes he has written me.
The only thing wrong with his campaign was that it was at the wrong time, and against the wrong man. No one could have won against Franklin Delano Roosevelt at that particular time.
With the Landon tour over, I was happy to return home to Della and Jim, and resume our lives together as a family again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Landon
Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887 – October 12, 1987) was an American politician who served as the twenty-sixth Governor of Kansas, a position he held from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential election, but was defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Born in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, Landon spent most of his childhood in Marietta, Ohio, before moving to Kansas. After graduating from the University of Kansas, he became an independent oil producer in Lawrence, Kansas. His business made him a millionaire, and he became a leader of the liberal Republicans in Kansas. Landon won election as Governor of Kansas in 1932 and sought to reduce taxes and balance the budget in the midst of the Great Depression. He supported many components of the New Deal but criticized some aspects that he found inefficient.
The 1936 Republican National Convention selected Landon as the Republican Party's presidential nominee. He proved to be an ineffective campaigner and carried just two states in the election. After the election, he left office as governor and never sought public office again. Later in life, he supported the Marshall Plan and President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs. He gave the first in a series of lectures, now known as the Landon Lecture Series, at Kansas State University. Landon lived to the age of 100 and died in Topeka, Kansas, in 1987. His daughter, Nancy Kassebaum, represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997.
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