Tuesday. March 19, 1968
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9
RFK calls
Continued from page 1 administration's policy of continuing escalation of the war effort.
"The people of South Vietnam are ultimately going to determine and decide their own future," he said. He stressed that the South Vietnamese should do more of their own fighting.
He deplored the heavy toll in American lives taken by the Vietnam war. "I think we have to make the effort to fight, but I don't think we should have to carry the whole burden of that war."
Kennedy's normally flat, laconic speaking tone raised and nearly broke at times, as he spoke of his convictions concerning America's problems and tried to battle the surges of applause, foot-stamping and screaming.
Students applauded longest and loudest when Kennedy said that if American soldiers are to be drafted at the age of 18, then the government of South Vietnam must also draft 18 year-olds.
A brief, uneasy silence greeted Kennedy's tacit acknowledgement that there are those students who are "turned on with drugs, and turned off with America." He spoke sadly of those who have lost the hope which he holds for the future of America, pleading with the students to confront the
issues which affect the country today.
Kennedy startled his audience saying, "The more riots that come out of our college campuses, the better the world of tomorrow." He then acknowledged that the quote was not his, but from the pen of the late William Allen White, Pulitzer Prize - winning editor of the Emporia Gazette.
When questioned about Sen. McCarthy's campaign, Kennedy replied that he would work "as closely as humanly possible" in the primaries in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Kennedy said he did not believe this would injure the Democratic party.
"I need your help," Kennedy concluded. "This is a difficult campaign, a difficult year."
His final words were drowned by roars from the crowd as students surged toward him, tearing at his jacket, straining to touch his hands or catch a glimpse of the magic grin.
East exits from the Field House were blocked by an estimated 20,000 people, as the Senator wedged his way through a screaming, solidly-packed mob.
"It was the largest crowd we've ever had in Allen Field House," said James E. Gunn, administrative assistant to the chancellor.
Wow-
Continued from page 1
By the time Kennedy arrived at Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe's residence for lunch another crowd had gathered.
"The people at K-State want me to give you their love," he announced before disappearing into the house. "As I got on the plane at Manhattan someone yelled, 'Three cheers for Villa-nova!'" he said, referring to the basketball team KU defeated in the National Invitational Tournament in New York Monday night.
However, what had gone before was relatively calm compared to the senator's reception in Allen Field House. Instead of going directly to the podium Kennedy wandered around the basketball court shaking hands and waving to the students. It was a full minute-and-a-half before the initial applause faded out and he took his seat.
By the time the senator tried to make his exit it seemed likely that KU's enthusiasm would pull him apart. Throughout the speech the audience had crept closer to Kennedy like rising floodwater. Then, when he tried to make his exit, he discovered that he would have to fight his way through 500 feet of human barricades.
Eventually Kennedy reached his car, where he climbed onto the trunk and told the crowd that blocked his path, "I'm going to need all your help." Meanwhile two of his aides joined him on the car, holding onto his legs while a third grabbed his belt to keep the candidate from being pulled off into the crowd. The car inched its way through the cheering crowd, while a steady drizzle soaked Kennedy and supporters alike. The entire scene was reminiscent of a Palm Sunday pageant, with a green limousine substituted for the traditional donkey.
That was the last glimpse most KU students had of RFK. About half a block down Naismith Drive he crawled into the car and continued his side trip to Haskell Institute before driving to Kansas City's Municipal Airport.
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A tieclasp is ticket enough to get aboard RFK plane
By Rich Lovett Kansan Staff Reporter
Because of a gold tieclasp, two KU students were invited aboard Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's plane in Kansas City Monday and asked by the senator to start a Lawrence campaign for him.
Gary Sallee, Greeley, Colo., senior, and Jill Wright, St. Louis, Mo., senior, said the meeting aboard a TWA 727 jet in driving rain came after they followed Kennedy's motorcade from Lawrence to Kansas City.
Sallee attributed the five-minute encounter to a gold PT boat tieclasp worn by a Kennedy alde.
Sallee explained he once was given a clasp exactly like it by the late President John F. Kennedy's personal secretary. He received it in JFK's Washington office while on a high school educational tour from Greeley, Sallee said.
"In 1960 when JFK was campaigning for the presidency, I had drawn a portrait of him and sent it to him to be autographed," Sallee said.
Sallee told Kennedy's secretary of the portrait and the secretary said JFK remembered it and wanted Sallee to have the tie-clasp he was wearing that day. Sallee and the late president did not meet, however.
Sallee said he was reminded of the clasp when he saw the one the aide was wearing at the Kansas City air terminal. Sallee told his story to the aide, Jerry Bruno, and Bruno asked Sallee and Miss Wright if they would like to board Kennedy's plane and meet the senator.
RFK greeted them at the door of the plane, "where we exchanged small talk for about four or five minutes," Miss Wright said.
"We have decided to fly back with you," Sallee said he told Kennedy as they shook hands. "He kind of chuckled over that."
Miss Wright said Kennedy autographed two Daily Kansans they were carrying and asked them politely if they would "support me and get a campaign started in Lawrence."
Meanwhile, Bruno had given them an address where they could obtain campaign posters, lapel pins and form letters.
"Kennedy was very personable," Miss Wright said. "He put his arm around me and acted like he had known us for years."
She said the jet apparently was a regularly scheduled flight because while Kennedy was autographing their newspapers, another girl holding an airline ticket boarded.
"She looked really shocked," Miss Wright said. "She held up her ticket and said, "Would you autograph this, too?"
The senator obliged.
Sallee said the jet was still waiting in the downpour for takeoff when he and Miss Wright left.
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