Vice President Agnew Support Trips (1969)-revised

Vice Presidential Support Trips
Vice President Agnew
Type Of Activity	Political Fund Raiser
Location
Location		New Orleans LA
Date of Activity		02 December 1969
Coordinates

02 Dec 69 to New Orleans LA-Political Speech

It was almost a year after the election when I was sent to New Orleans to support Vice President Agnew. The Vice President had just delivered a hard line speech concerning media bias toward the Nixon White House. We expected his speech in New Orleans to continue along the same lines as his Cedar Rapids speech and we were correct as he continued to criticize the network news media. The Secret Service was also expecting some demonstrations and public protest during the period of time he would be in the city.

  

Vice President Agnew in Cedar Rapids IA                            

I departed Washington DC with two WHCA personnel and enough radio equipment to support the VP and the USSS. Our first stop after landing at the New Orleans International Airport was at the local USSS Field Office and review the Itinerary of the upcoming trip with the Advance Agent.  When we were finished at the field office we went to the Royal Orleans Hotel where we were staying.

The Royal Orleans Hotel on Bourbon St

The next morning we met with the Hotel Manager and the local TELCO representative to survey the Suite where the Vice President would stay and the room that we would set up the USSS command post. We also conducted a survey of the hotels mechanical room and the roof for a location to install the B/C base station and its antenna. All circuits were then ordered from the TELCO rep. and we started the installation of our equipment. The suite had several key telephones installed with ring down circuits to the USSS CP. Key phones were also installed in the CP along with the remote console for the radio’s. When we were finished installing the radios we conducted a radio survey of the motorcade route to insure we had necessary coverage. 

I first had the pleasure of getting to know the DEX-1 in 1969 and 1970 while traveling with Vice President Agnew. The last piece of equipment that was installed for the VP staff advance was a DEX1. Now back then the DEX-1 sent tones on a POTS telephone line so we would have to order 1ea 1MB specifically for the fax machine. When testing , if you got dial tone and able to send and receive fax, the circuit was as good as you could get. Unfortunately a lot could change with every attempt depending on the Area code you were dialing the audio strength and the amount of noise on the circuit would affect the quality of the fax. call after call would have to be made until a circuit with a good signal to noise ratio was found and the quality of the fax was acceptable. almost every report that the fax machine wasn't working was because of bad quality telephone circuits.

I don't know why we ever took these pieces of crap with us because the Vice President didn't use it, only the White House staff.

The Dex-1 was always placed in a closest or a room outside the VP suite or CP because of the horrible smell the machine would emit as it burned the paper.... a Thermal copy fax machine ...6 minutes per page or a DEX1A ...which doubled the speed to 3 minutes per page. It operated on a POTS telephone line and had an acoustical coupler for the telephone handset. You would get that odor on your hands and clothes. DEX1 odor resembles that of burned brake pads on a car. The staff received the daily news summary every morning on the DEX machine, and it took forever to send or receive the multi-page unclassified Daily News Summaries were horrible. Three minutes per page, 45+ pages with delivery target of 0800 AM local time and would not start transmitting until 2 hours before caused a lot of problems in the field, plus competing for resources preparing the other morning CLASSIFIED deliveries. Some Trip Officers thought that watching the drum spin made the process faster!… There was a bank of DEX-1s sitting in the corridor right outside the Comm Center/13a in the White House basement. If you were assigned to send or receive DEX messages it was considered cruel punishment because we knew we would be sitting in that hall for hours.

SOP required that an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Team conducted a sweep of the hotel prior to any visit. The EOD team checked the entire hotel and declared it Clean!  We were all set for the VP and Mrs. Agnew to arrive.

The Royal Orleans Hotel near the VP's Suite

The Vice President and Mrs. Agnew landed in New Orleans about noon on Dec.4, 1969 and traveled by motorcade to the Royal Orleans Hotel. The speech was scheduled for that evening and the Vice President continued his attack on the media and the unfair coverage of the Nixon administration’s policies. Patrick Bucannon and William Safire were the two speechwriters that were responsible for these speeches. They eventually toned them down over a concern that they were too inflammatory.

The VP speaks at a Republican fund raiser 

The Agnew’s on the way to Brennan's Restaurant

The Vice President’s popularity had increased with Republicans ever since his now well-known speech attacking the Network media by saying “A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.” and by calling them “nattering nabobs of negativism”. The Vice President became the Nixon Administrations most prolific fund raiser and was in great demand. The Agnew speech criticizing the news media came out of a personal and political context of personal enmity against the press and in favor of building a new political coalition.

The Vice President continues to blast the National Networks 

Vice President Agnew went to New Orleans and, as everyone now knows, he wowed not only the audience, but millions who saw him on television. Overnight, the Vice President lifted the country out of its depression and had everyone laughing.

There were a few protesters present but no large demonstrations like the Secret Service had anticipated. The Vice President and Mrs. Agnew departed the next day, and we removed and packed all of our equipment and prepared for our return trip to Washington and home.

23 Feb 70 to Phoenix AZ-Political Speech

I was again assigned to support Vice President Agnew and was sent this time to Phoenix AZ where he was speaking at another fund raiser. Which we found out would be held at the Del Webb Town House Hotel.

The Vice President’s popularity had increased with Republicans ever since his now well-known speech attacking the Network media by calling them “nattering nabobs of negativism”. The Vice President became the Nixon Administrations most prolific fund raiser and was in great demand.

This trip was a pretty routine trip.  The Vice President would motorcade from the airport to the Del Webb Townhouse where he would also stay and the event would take place. We would install all of our equipment there as well as installing the USSS Command Post and our radio base stations so everything would take place at one location. We did have a moment when the Hotel received a caller who claimed that there was a bomb hidden in the hotel and would be detonated when the Vice President entered the hotel. After a review the EOD team assured us that they had found no evidence that a bomb was present.

Del Webb’s Townhouse in Phoenix AZ in 1970 

Vice President Agnew arrived made his speech and departed the following day. It was time for us to pack up and return home. I was leaving temperatures in the mid-eighties to the subzero temperatures in Greencastle PA.

When I returned from Phoenix I found out in Early March of 1970 that the Microwave Towers including Cannonball were going to be closed and all of us would be sent to other locations which were to be determined. This was to be accomplished by June and I would be assigned to the San Clemente Communications Detachment as the NCOIC of the San Clemente Communications Contingency Team. The CCT was a new concept that we would develop and refine once all of the team members arrived in California.