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After the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, where John F. Kennedy won the primary and received the party nomination on the first ballot, Logan County, WV, native Carmelo Cottone traveled on to Washington, D.C., to work on the general election campaign.
Cottone recalls:
"I met with some of the staff that I had previously worked with in Logan County. They arranged for me to have a meeting with Bobby Kennedy, who was then managing the campaign. He hired me as an advanceman and immediately told me to get ready to go to Michigan. It all happened that quickly. That was the first week in August 1960."
"In early August, I, along with four other advance workers, went to Michigan to set up Kennedy's visit to the state. It was traditional that the Democratic nominee for president would kick off his campaign on Labor Day, at Cadillac Square, in Detroit, Michigan, and then visit other cities throughout the day.
"I was sent to Muskegon to make arrangements for Kennedy. It was going to be the last stop of his day. He was going to Detroit, Flint and Pontiac, and then around 6:30 p.m. he would arrive in Muskegon.
"Upon arriving in Muskegon, I met with local party officials, labor heads and community leaders to begin putting Senator Kennedy's visit together. I went to the airport and made arrangements to meet Kennedy's plane, the Caroline. I then made preparations for transportation for Kennedy, staff, press and others to leave the airport and go to the hotel, where the senator would freshen up and have dinner.
"I made sure that Kennedy's dinner-medium-rare steak, baked potato and salad-was ready for him. However, I made one mistake: he wanted Heineken beer at his meal, but because I had never heard of this kind of foreign beer, I bought the wrong kind.
"In good humor, I got yelled at by the staff-but it all worked out," he laughed. Actually, Mel ended up running a couple of blocks up the street to get a six-pack of the desired brand so that everything would be perfect for the candidate's eventual arrival.
In those days, the advance man was also in charge of security for the candidate. "Today's advance staff has the assistance and support of the Secret Service, not only for security but also for movement. This wasn't so in 1960.
"I would meet with the local police chief and sheriff; they volunteered a few detectives to give me a hand. They were not used to protecting a celebrity like Kennedy so it wasn't as good as the Secret Service. The local police were needed to control the traffic on the roadways as we left the airport for the hotel, event site and back to the airstrip.
"In Muskegon, I decided Senator Kennedy should speak on the shore of Lake Michigan, where the union was having their annual bull roast; and, if the weather was nice, I figured a big crowd would already be there. So, I arranged for a speaker stand to be available for Kennedy on the beach; and I had electric wires for the mike put into place. I also decided who would meet Kennedy at the airport and ride with him to the event. I also had to decide who would introduce him at the beach."
In the meantime Mel continued to work with community leaders, union officials and the media to ensure a crowd would come out to see Kennedy's speech. "I distributed flyers and encouraged labor groups to bring members and family to the beach. I met with the local newspapers and radio stations for interviews to promote the trip," he recalled.
"I can recall a fun thing that happened to me while visiting an editor at a newspaper office there. A very beautiful young lady happened to be in the office talking to the editor at the same time I arrived. He introduced me to her as Miss Michigan [Nancy Anne Fleming]. She was en-route to the Miss America contest. I gave her a Kennedy PT109 boat pin, one of the campaign buttons were handing out, and assured her that it would bring her good luck. Sure enough, she eventually won the Miss America crown in 1961. I hope she still has the pin!"
"Since Muskegon was my first big assignment, I will never forget how nervous I was waiting for Kennedy to arrive at the airport. I had left a local official in charge at the hotel, another one was at the beach, but I had no way of keeping in touch with them the way we can today with mobile phones. I had no idea how big the crowd was going to be at the airport, along the route or on the beach. I was worried about his safety and getting him through the crowds. I worried whether the microphone would even work along the shoreline."
Finally, at around 6:00 p.m., the Caroline broke through the cloud cover and soon landed with Kennedy and staff members. A second plane soon landed with the press that traveled along with campaign route. Mel had arranged for Kennedy to ride in a limousine with local political and civic leaders, and everyone else would ride on a chartered bus.
"A large crowd had assembled at the airport; I could not believe my eyes! Senator Kennedy graciously worked the crowd, and finally we left the airport. When we turned on the main road into town, I was sitting in front of the bus watching the street intently. I was stunned! I had never before seen so many people lining up along the road. They were three deep for miles.
"JFK stopped several times to shake hands; and my heart was beating miles a minute..."
It was a gorgeous day for the beach, and the multitude was estimated to be over 100,000 people.
"You can imagine how I felt, a young boy from Mt. Gay seeing all those people in one place-unbelievable. After the rally, we all went back to the airport where I had arranged a farewell gathering in a hanger for Kennedy and the people who had helped me put the day together. Word had gotten out that a meeting was taking place and the hanger became packed. Hundreds of people were on the runway at the airport. It all became a little hairy, to say the least, since I had to take Kennedy through the crowd to the plane and the crowd was shoving forward to meet him. Luckily we made it to the plane, and I went onto the plane and met many of the folks on board. Senator Kennedy told everyone what a great day he had had in Michigan.
"I got off the plane and watched as the Caroline took off for Pocatello, Idaho. I went back to the hotel and could not believe what a day I'd just experienced in my life. I joined my fellow advancemen, and we drank the rest of the wrong beer that I had gone out and bought!'"
Cottone went on many, many more such assignments as an advanceman during Kennedy's campaign, including Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio.
* * *
In 1960, Mel was in Hyannis, Massachusetts [Kennedy's national campaign headquarters], on election night, staying up all night waiting for the returns to come in. "When John F. Kennedy was finally declared the winner early the next morning, I was happy he won, of course; but I was also sad in another way, because the Secret Service came out of the bushes. My access to Kennedy was over. It would never be the same.
"After the election, we came back to Washington, and in those days, contrary to today, there was no transition office. Therefore, we were out of work until the new administration took office. Nevertheless, I was very lucky and was appointed deputy director of transportation for the Inaugural Committee. I was in charge of all the cars and transportation for the committee. I arranged transportation for many dignitaries, including movie stars. During that time I got to meet several of them, including Frank Sinatra.
"After President Kennedy took office, I was appointed to the President's Committee on Equal Employment. I worked directly with assistant secretaries in each agency to implement the goals of the committee of insuring equal opportunities in getting jobs in the federal government to everyone, regardless of race, creed, national origin or religion.
There were many memorable moments to come for Mel during that time. One unforgettable example was when he was in attendance during President Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration on May 19th, 1962, sitting at the same table as President Kennedy and the First Lady, Jacqueline. That was the famed night when Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in an especially sultry voice.
"That same year, in 1962, I was appointed Coordinator of Congressional Elections at the Democratic National Committee." In this role, Mel was responsible to work with the House and Senate Congressional campaign committees in using resources of the Democratic national committee, and using executive branch political appointees to assist in winning the mid-term congressional elections, "which normally result in the incumbent's presidential party losing seats."
Yet, in this case, under Kennedy's leadership-and with Mel Cottone's assistance-the party gained seats.
(See the final part of this series in tomorrow's edition of this newspaper.)
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