Presidential visit once in a lifetime event for local press

Mary Lou Montgomery, who was police and fire department reporter for the Hannibal Courier-Post in August 1979, was granted the opportunity to ride the Delta Queen - with President Carter aboard - from Hannibal to Saverton on Aug. 23, 1979. Hundreds of locals greeted the boat when it arrived at Saverton. A spectator snapped this photo, and later gave a print to Montgomery. She is seen carrying two cameras, one containing black and white film, and the other color, and is holding a Delta Queen kite as a souvenir. During the cruise from Hannibal to Saverton, Amy Carter flew a kite off the back end of the sternwheeler. Photo contributed by Mary Lou Montgomery.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

For the Courier-Post

After leaving the Historic District on Thursday, Aug. 23, 1979, the Presidential entourage proceeded down Missouri Route 79, where they were greeted at the Mark Twain Cave by Robert Bogart, who personally offered the visitors a tour.

The original plan was for the presidential party to next tour Rockcliffe Mansion. Just like the museum properties, the mansion itself underwent security checks, including bomb sniffing dogs. Spectators lined the property’s parameters in order to get a glance of the president and his motorcade.

But due to delays caused by the boat’s late arrival, at the last minute, the mansion stop was canceled.

Linda Whelan Geist, who at the time was Courier-Post community and food editor, was stationed at Rockcliffe Mansion, awaiting the motorcade, when they learned the president wasn’t coming.

“I felt a little disappointed,” she said. “I did go to the riverfront and saw him before he left Hannibal.” During her journalism career that followed, “I got to see several presidents and their wives, and some siblings; most notably President Obama. I owned the (Monroe City) Lake Gazette at the time of Obama’s visit, and we published a special edition that was quite good.”

Photojournalist

Mark Prout, just a few years out of the University of Missouri’s Journalism School, was disappointed by the lack of access local media had to the president on Aug. 23, 1979. “They didn’t let us anywhere near him,” Prout said. “I might as well been watching it on TV.

“I think I did get a picture of the president, but I lost the negatives,” he said. “It was just another news event; I took all the pictures I could then went into the darkroom.”

He remembers that Amy Carter looked lost. “That poor girl. They gave Amy a Becky Thatcher dress; they didn’t make her wear it, did they?” he asked.  “I bet she never did.”

Note: The Courier-Post published three photos of the president, taken by Mark Prout, in its Thursday, Aug. 23, 1979 edition.

Gathering ‘color’

Laurie Vincent, a young reporter for the Courier-Post at the time, was among the crowd during the presidential visit on Aug. 23, 1979.

“Each reporter had an assignment. Mine was to gather ‘color’ — sights and sounds to help recreate a sense of the visit. I remember agents with rifles on the rooftops of the Main Street buildings.

“Hill Street, in front of the Ice House Theater, was completely repaved, from the boat landing to Main Street. The weeds were gone. So was the trash. The graffiti on the curbs and walls had been painted over. Downtown had never looked so good.

“It was a simpler, more unified time. We weren’t thinking of Republicans or Democrats; we were Americans. He was our president.

“Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter stepped from the Delta Queen surrounded by Secret Service agents, staff members and well-wishers. Both of the Carters looked surprisingly small, like normal human beings. 

“I stepped off the sidewalk and into the street, snapping photos as the Carters approached. The relaxed, friendly Secret Service agent I’d been chatting with kindly warned me not to get any closer. I nodded but ignored him for just one more shot — when suddenly YANK! — he lifted me off my feet by the back of my collar and deposited me back onto the curb. Well, okay! 

“There was Amy Carter, just 11, dressed up like Becky Thatcher in a yellow-flounced dress, peeking up from beneath a matching yellow parasol. She seemed shy and miserable, maybe from the stress of being on display for so many days. By the time her father reached the stage set up in the Historic District, her freckled face crumpled into tears in the summer heat.

“Carter made his way along the route with Rosalynn following a few steps behind. I couldn’t reach him for a handshake, but here was Rosalynn! Moving gingerly, she reached out toward me, but something about her hand wasn’t right. It looked wounded. The hand was petite, bent and cramped, the skin red and chapped. I took it gently in my own, barely touching it, like I was holding an injured, immobile bird. She made no move to grasp my hand. How could she? I imagined: how many thousands — maybe tens of thousands! — of enthusiastic, powerful hands had seized hers on this trip through the heartland? Each hand grip must have sent shocks of pain through her bruised knuckles, yet she endured. She continued to offer this small gesture of human connection, no matter the pain.

“At last the captain sounded the horn to announce the boat’s departure. Just then, I caught a glimpse of a confusing sight — one of my coworkers was on board. Mary Lou was standing among the people crowded on the boat’s first level. In her hand was the long, slender reporter’s notebook we carried on every assignment. Around her neck was the camera strap cradling her standard issue Canon AE-1, loaded with a roll of Fuji film. (Yes, film. Remember film?) 

“The warning sound blasted again, but Mary Lou didn’t rush toward the gangway. Instead, she stepped behind a wall. I was confused. I thought, wait! The boat’s departing for Saverton! And then, with a sudden rush of admiration, I understood.

“That sly, savvy girl! In that innocent time before security checkpoints and metal detectors, before bomb threats and semi-automatic weapons and live shooter drills, Mary Lou Montgomery had talked her way onto the boat.

Ride of a lifetime

Mary Lou Montgomery describes this iconic boat ride:

“My role, as a fledgling police and fire reporter, was to cover the Carters’ stop at Saverton later in the day. Once my daily reports were filed with Thom Gross, the managing editor, I headed down toward the Ice House Theater on Hill Street where the national and state press representatives were assembled.

“I conversed with a friendly Secret Service agent while we waited for the president to pass by. How wonderful it would be if a local reporter could ride from Hannibal to Saverton in the president’s company, I suggested. He took down my name. Then he went on his way, and I went on my way.

“Then, very unexpectedly, he returned. He pointed my way. ‘You’re on!’ he said.

“Me????”

"I returned to the nearby newsroom, seemingly floating from excitement. I told Thom Gross the news. He packed me up with two cameras, one for black and white film, and the other for color. He gave me political questions to ask the president should I have the opportunity to meet him, face to face.

“I called my parents, and asked them to pick up my young children from day care and to meet me at Saverton, where I would get off the boat.

“Aboard the Delta Queen, I watched as Amy flew a kite off the back of the boat. I listened as the calliope played ‘Georgia on my Mind.’ I visited with passengers from all over the United States. And I talked to members of the Press Corps, many of who seemed to be traveling with the president, begrudgingly.

“Then, as I strolled along the boat’s top deck, I looked ahead, and saw the Carters walking in my direction. What were the questions Thom wanted me to ask?

“Finally, as the presidential couple was at my side, I spoke to the president.

“I said: ‘Hi,’ while shaking from inside out.

“‘Hi,’ President Carter replied.

“And he and Rosalynn continued on their stroll.

"As we docked at Saverton, I looked out into the crowd. There were my parents, my sister, Sarah, and my children. And there was Laurie Vincent, who took my picture, waving from the Delta Queen’s deck.

“And as for the pictures … the roll of color film I had purchased at the Camera Shop prior to my departure didn’t ‘catch’ when I loaded the film into my camera. So there were no color images of Amy flying a kite, of the myriad of boat passengers, or of the President. Disappointing, to be sure.” 

Saverton

The President’s last stop in the Hannibal area was when the Delta Queen reached Saverton Lock and Dam 22.

Judy Cernea, who for a time worked as a proof reader for the Courier-Post, and her young son, Jamie, were among those waiting to see the president as the Delta Queen locked through the dam.

“We were surprised when President Carter started climbing over the railing,” she said. “A Secret service guy (dressed) in black went right with him.”

As President Carter approached, Judy was poised to get a photo. Then the Secret Service agent “put his hand over my camera and pushed it down when the president shook hands with Jamie. That was the one photo I really wanted.”

An invitation

Susan Steers Denkler, city editor for the Courier-Post, wrote an op-ed piece in the form of a letter to the Carters:

“I’d like to invite you back, Mr. President, when you’re retired and writing books and in the mood for a real vacation. You won’t have to make any energy speeches, you won’t have to worry about your re-election campaign, or concern yourself about saying all the right things about Hannibal and Mark Twain. … We’ll show you what Hannibal is really all about.”

Note: Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal Courier-Post on New Year’s Eve, 2014, after a 39-year career writing for her hometown newspaper.

As the Presidential party makes its way from Hill Street to North Main on August 23, 1979, two business signs become visible. To the left is a sign for Cassano’s Pizza and Seafood Restaurant, which was located at 415 N. Main. At far right is a sign for Murphy Motors, located at 422 N. Main. The back of Rosalynn Carter’s head is visible at far left. The Becky in the photo was Cindy Mobley. Laurie Vincent, a young reporter for the Courier-Post, with short cropped brown hair, can be seen in the far right side of the photo, in-between the patrol officer and a man in a tan suit. Photo by Mary Lou Montgomery of the Courier-Post staff.

Otis Howell, pictured at left, long-time Hannibal Courier-Post photographer, was on hand on Aug. 23, 1979, for coverage of events leading up to the visit of President Jimmy Carter. A secret service agent can be seen in the background, upon a makeshift platform, while a press representative gives reporters a briefing.  Photo by Mary Lou Montgomery of the Courier-Post staff.