1976: President Ford Swoops Through El Paso

April 11, 1976

President Ford swooped into El Paso and out again Saturday afternoon on a quick campaign visit that saw three speeches delivered and a few hundred hands shaken and perhaps, if the President succeeded, a measurable number of new believers in his candidacy and the Republican party.

Ford was cheered by almost all of those who turned out on a warm Saturday afternoon to see a President and see him dedicated a war memorial to 203 American servicemen from El Paso who died in Vietnam. The crowd was estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 by the Secret Service and at 5,000 to 6,000 by the El Paso Police Department.

The President placed a wreath of red roses on the memorial, a project of the El Paso Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, in City Hall Park, a small patch of grass and marble on the corner of Kansas and San Antonio near the Federal Courthouse.

City Hall Park had never looked so good.

The grass was painted a rich, dark green.

Red chairs from the Civic Enter were set in net rows to be filled with invited guest whose red badges got them past the Secret Service and police cordons.

The quasi-Corinthian columns of the Federal Courthouse hadn’t looked so clean in years, but maybe it was just the hot, bright blueness of the day and the easy breeze. Or maybe it was the rich blue banner draped over the side of the building, commemorating the bicentennial.

U.S. Rep. Richard C. White, who addressed the crowd a few minutes before the President arrived, said the war memorial dedication was “one of the most moving incidents in the history of El Paso,” and “the culmination of the efforts of men and women of good will and great patriotism.”

Ford’s speech was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm – even the screams of teenage girls – but also present were isolated indicators of dissent. Two red, white and blue signs shot up the instant Ford stepped to the podium, reading “Jobs Now!” and “Veto Ford.”

Evidently the presidential visit put Mayor Don Henderson in a pleasant frame of mind. “This is truly a historic day for all the people of El Paso,” the mayor said.

“I was telling the president how warm and how gracious the people of the city are – how they really are,” Henderson said. “He can go all over the United States of America, but there’s no place that ‘mi casa es su casa’ means more than it does here,” the mayor said.

“Mi casa es su casa” is a Spanish phrase “my house is your house.”

Henderson presented Ford the key to the city and said it “comes from the hearts of the warmest people and the friendliest people in the U.S.” The mayor also gave the President the Conquistador Award, a framed scroll described as “the highest award given by the City of El Paso.”

Earlier, Henderson gave Ford two other gifts. At a 11:30 p.m. reception in the Civic Center for about 650 campaign volunteers and invited dignitaries, the mayor gave the President a cowboy hat (he called it “a real ten-gallon hat”) and a pair of Cowboy boots, made in El Paso. Henderson said the boots were “hand made by Tony Lama” and that they were “about five hundred and some odd dollar boots, how ‘bout that.” The mayor told the President, “We’re gonna make you a cowboy.”

Ford reached into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper containing a statement which he read aloud. “Like hell it’s yours!” The note said. “Put it back.”

Ford jokingly referred to Henderson then as an “Indian giver.”

Gil Rendon, leader of a mariachi band that played at the reception, serenaded the President personally, singing a popular Mexican tune, “Cielito Lindo,” and then shaking the President’s hand.

Ford told the campaign volunteers he is counting on them to deliver four delegates pledged to him from the 16the Congressional District in the May 1 Republican primary.

“I know that you can, with the effort that can come out of this group, elect those four delegates to the national convention in Kansas City,” Ford said.

“I’m going to be watching you,” the President said, “and I’m going to count on you, and we won’t let you down.”

The reception crowd kept shouting “Viva” and “Ole.”

U.S. Sen. John G. Tower, a Texas Republican accompanying Ford, praised Ford’s El Paso campaign workers as “probably the most spirited volunteers you have in America,” then rephrased it to say “the most spirited volunteers … in quality and energy and intellect and dedication. I can promise,” Tower said, for Ford delegates from this District.

Ford said he is the underdog in Texas but said, “We’re going to win.”

He told the volunteers he has some “conversation points” they can use to persuade voters to vote for him. These were listed as a reduction in inflation from 12 per cent when he took office to 6 per cent now and an increase in employment of more than 2.6 million jobs.

Ford’s El Paso trip was kicked off with a brief press conference for local news media at the Transit Terminal of El Paso International Airport. Then the president addressed a convention of the Texas Grain and Feed Association in the Civic Center Theater and went directly from there to the reception.

In the hour or so between the time Ford left the reception and showed up at the war memorial dedication, the President was in a private room in the Civic Center, on what a press aide termed “staff time.” The President, the aide said, probably used the time to “freshen up.”

Comments

[EV]

Writing from LA here ... I saw President Ford's appearance at City Hall Park. At the time, I was a UTEP freshman working at the Factory Store which was situated at the NE corner of Stanton and Myrtle. In the period leading up to his appearance, I was excited that I'd have a chance to see a US President without having to compromise my Saturday employment. We employees could see him from the store since the podium, about a block away to the east of us, was high enough.

The Factory Store had a Mexican national clientele, and at the time Ford was speaking, there were a number of shoppers in the store, simply shopping away, oblivious to our excitement over what was going on outside of the store.

My mother was in the crowd (8k sounds like a gross overestimate, by the way) gathered before the podium. She had had the pleasure of shaking President Kennedy's hand when he had been in EP in the previous decade, and by another lucky stroke, had the chance to shake Pres. Ford's hand when he walked by.

Although I've since had the opportunity to meet and be in the presence of men who have run for President, I have never seen another US President in person.

No, El Paso history is never dead. Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce.

[bachelor of arts]

this El Paso is really good, if you never post here, people will forgot it somehow.