John Shearer: Remembering Richard Nixoon’s Enthusiastic Visit Of 1968

As he addressed the crowd, he spoke about the failed policies of a recent administration domestically and in foreign affairs, and talked enthusiastically about a group he referred to as the forgotten Americans.

 

Although this could have been part of the theme of a President Donald Trump rally anytime since his 2016 presidential campaign, it was actually part of then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign visit to Chattanooga.

 

On Sept.

27, 1968, in the heat of a close campaign between him and Democrat and Vice President Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota – as well as strong support for George Wallace -- Mr. Nixon stopped at Memorial Auditorium and other local places.

 

It was a visit that seemed to have created more local excitement and desire to cheer loudly than any other visit by a future or current president to Chattanooga over the last half century until President Trump’s visit to the UTC Arena on Nov. 4.

 

As evidence, not only did 5,000 people jam the inside of Memorial Auditorium that day in 1968, but another 5,000 also gathered outside to see him briefly and listen to his talk on speakers.

 

In 1968, basically no one knew he would have flaws that would eventually result in his resigning from the presidency in 1974 following his handling of the Watergate burglary and cover-up scandal. The large number of conservatives in Chattanooga only saw him as a viable candidate who eloquently promoted issues they believed in, and who was a lot better to them than the liberal Mr. Humphrey or the upstart or long shot Mr. Wallace.

 

Due to the similarity of enthusiasm apparent at both the Nixon visit and the 2018 Trump one among their supporters, and since it was exactly 50 years ago this fall, I thought it might be neat to go back and look at that 1968 visit.

 

Mr. Nixon and his wife, Pat, as well as his support staff and members of the media, flew into Lovell Field in Chattanooga about 11 a.m. that Friday on two United Air Lines jets. After greeting those who had come to the airport, including local Republicans, he gave a brief interview with members of the media collectively as about 20 Secret Service agents watched.

 

With a state police helicopter flying above, Mr. Nixon and a caravan of cars and Greyhound buses went first to Chickamauga Dam, where he and Mrs. Nixon were given a 30-minute tour of the powerhouse facility by TVA director Aubrey Wagner.

 

It was then on to Memorial Auditorium, where some had arrived as early as 6:30 a.m. to see him. Those who arrived after 11:30 a.m. had to stay outside, but local Republican organizers had anticipated this and had installed speakers outside.

 

As Chattanooga News-Free Press reporter Buddy Houts described the downtown scene, “Upon his arrival, overflow crowds were lining both sides of the street in front of and behind the building. Mr. Nixon stopped before entering the auditorium, got out and stood on the rear of the car to address the crowd briefly.”

 

Once inside, Mr. Nixon noticed all the young people helping with the campaign and in attendance and contrasted them sharply with the hippies and others who had started appearing as protesters in America in the last couple of years or so.

 

“These are the forgotten Americans,” he said, according to News-Free Press reporter Bob Poe. “Now they are being heard and seen in the right way.”

 

Talking about the administration of President Lyndon Johnson and his predecessor, the late John Kennedy, he also said in his 25-minute address that the country had struggled domestically and abroad. For example, with the Vietnam War continuing to heat up, he said it had not been fought properly.

 

“The present administration has made a sport of the war in Vietnam,” he said. “We have failed to recognize the character of the war …. by not using our military might.”

 

Regarding the policies at home, he criticized the social problems of Washington, D.C., and blamed it on the Democratic administration, too. “Washington, D.C., is the crime capital of the nation,” he said. “When we see this in the nation’s capital, we should have new leadership.”

 

He also praised TVA and said he would not sell the public utility as president, saying the prospects for its future growth were virtually unlimited.

 

After his talk, a band played and he shook hands with several people, including some “Nixonette” girls and other teenagers. Young people seemed to be more a part of this campaign than some campaigns of more recent years.

 

Among the numerous signs in the auditorium, one banner hanging in the balcony said with rhythm, “Chattanooga Choo-Choo carries Pat and Dick to Washington, D.C. Track 29. On Time. Will arrive 1-20-69.”

 

After his address, the presidential candidate was taken to the Holiday Inn Southeast at 6712 Ringgold Road for a short press conference, a brief rest, and a shower and a shave. Mrs. Nixon also held a press conference for four women reporters.

 

Chattanooga writer Marianne Ozmer, who was among the four, wrote that the campaigning couple had met when they were in a small play production. Ms. Ozmer added that three attributes impressed her about Mrs. Nixon, a former schoolteacher, during the interview: “her firm handshake, the warmth and ease of her ready smile, and her direct gaze.”

 

She also said Mrs. Nixon did not offer canned answers, but seriously considered the questioner, the question and the answer.

 

While the Nixons were at the motel right next to Interstate 75, the security helicopter also landed on the lawn and remained there.

 

The motel – then operated by “Innkeeper” S.B. Micheletta -- was located at the corner of the I-75 and Ringgold Road exchange across from where the new Chick-fil-A sits today. A Rodeway Inn and a Quality Inn & Suites now sit at the site along with a swimming pool, and it looks like at least parts of these buildings might have dated to Mr. Nixon’s visit, although they may have been updated since then.

 

An adjacent LaQuinta Inn closer to the interstate was apparently built later.

 

When the president left to arrive back at the nearby Lovell Field airport about 4 p.m. on that day in 1968, some network cameramen who were riding in convertibles were still shooting film of him.

 

At the airport, he stopped for a few minutes to thank the local leaders and then soon climbed in his plane and left for Key Biscayne via Miami for a weekend break from the campaign.

 

As N-FP writer Mr. Houts, who had been following him all day, wrote, “With a smile and a wave, he boarded the big jet and the door closed, marking an end to a hectic day for all Chattanooga newsmen.”

 

When the election was held about five weeks later on Nov. 5, Mr. Nixon won with 301 electoral votes, to Sen. Humphrey’s 191 and to Gov. Wallace’s 46, which included winning five Southern states.

 

However, the election was not assuredly given to Mr. Nixon until well into the next morning after breakfast time.

 

Despite Mr. Nixon’s rally in Chattanooga that had been described as drawing a larger crowd than had Mr. Wallace’s a few weeks before under tighter security, Gov. Wallace actually won more of the Hamilton County vote.

 

The county results were 32,080 who voted for Gov. Wallace of the independent – and white Southern-supported – American party, 29,302 for Mr. Nixon and 23,441 for Sen. Humphrey.

 

President Nixon did carry the state of Tennessee.

 

This election had come after the tragic assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April and Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Robert Kennedy in June, as well as after the anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic national convention in Chicago. So it was quite memorable.

 

I can remember being at Bright School as a third-grader and hearing the news at school that Mr. Nixon had won after the tabulations had finally been determined. I remember the News-Free Press that afternoon had some large banner headline that said something like “Nixon Victorious.”

 

Chattanoogans who voted for Mr. Nixon could take pride in having enthusiastically supported him at the rally. I remember my father, Dr. Wayne Shearer, said he had left his optometric office that day probably around lunchtime and excitedly recounted standing just a few feet away as Mr. Nixon got out of his automobile and greeted those outside before going in to make his speech.

 

Unfortunately for Mr. Nixon, he would later be brought down by the Watergate scandal that would be considered one of the worst to ever hit a presidential administration. That would cause his 1968 Chattanooga visit to not be brought up much over the years with any glowing or bragging memories by Chattanoogans.

 

But on that Friday 50 years ago, Chattanooga area supporters of Mr. Nixon were about as excited as people had ever been locally toward a visiting president or presidential candidate – at least until a man named Donald Trump came to town in 2018.

 

Jcshearer2@comcast.net