President Campaigns For Dems

So read the headline in many newspapers this week. Hmmmm!

Have you ever been any place where any U.S. president visited? Let me tell you about one such visit.

When President Eisenhower died he was buried in his boyhood hometown of Abilene, Kansas, location of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. Then-president Richard Nixon attended the funeral. Abilene is a small city. The airport there will not accommodate Air Force One. The president would have to land at Salina, Kansas and helicopter to Abilene, 24 miles away.

Some days before the funeral, the government commandeered the largest hangar at the Salina airport, flew in three large helicopters and put them in the hangar. All private aircraft normally hangared there were moved and a 24-hour guard was placed at the hangar.

Near the hangar, the telephone company installed a special telephone line. They placed on a table an encrypted telephone of some sort, connected to the line. Two areas were set up for reporters. One, to which I was assigned, was for reporters covering the "event"... the arrival of the president. The other was for reporters covering the president. There job was to report anything that may happen to the president. All reporters were subjected to careful background checks.

A carpet was laid out on the ground, running alongside the table with the phone. Before Air Force One landed, the three helicopters were brought out of the hangars, one parked at the end of the carpet. When the president's plane landed, the pilot taxied up to the other end of the carpet.

I stood next to a reporter from some national publication. He explained the purpose of the phone. On Air Force One, the president has extensive communications facilities. Ditto on the helicopter. But, during the walk from the plane to the helicopter, he would have neither. thus the phone on the table.

Members of the White House Press Corps deplaned first boarded two of the helicopters. Then President Nixon deplaned. He waved to the crowd, walked along the carpet, past the telephone table and boarded one of the helicopters. Why three helicopters, I wanted to know... could the reporters not make the 24-mile trip by bus. "Decoys ", I was told. I laughed. Anyone could watch which chopper the president boarded. "Watch", I was advised. Then the helicopters took off. They flew very low over the hangars and other buildings at the airport. Like a huge, airborne shell game, the three identical aircraft circled and dipped behind the buildings. One moment all were out of sight. Then you saw one. Then another... or was it the same one again? Finally they rose and all three headed for Abilene. "Now which helicopter is the president on?" my new acquaintance asked.

When the helicopters left, an armed guard surrounded Air Force One. They remained in place until the funeral ended and the three helicopters returned to the Salina airport. When the president left his helicopter, he again walked back past the telephone on the table and boarded Air Force One.

When the President's plane took off for Washington, the helicopters were returned to the hangar. I don't know how long they remained, I didn't stick around.

The point being, it costs tens of thousands of dollars to bring a sitting U.S. president in for any event. Think how that is multiplied if he is to visit multiple cities. At each point, all sorts of people are brought in to do all sorts of security checks. If the event is not at the airport, special arrangements must be made to transport the presidential party from the airport to the event.

Once, President George W. Bush visited Las Cruces. A special large plane brought the president's fully secure, communications capable limousine in to transport the president to the event. In that case, that heavy aircraft damaged the runway and the Air Force paid the city $10,000 for repairs.

How much of all this is paid by the president's political party and how much is paid by taxpayer dollars, when the event is purely partisan political in nature? I don't know. But, regardless of party, I think it should all be paid by the political party.