Distinctly Montana Magazine

53 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m One One Handshake Handshake at a Time: at a Time: JFK's JFK's Courtship Courtship of Montana of Montana by JOSEPH SHELTON illustrations by ROBERT RATH J OHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY FACED A DIFFICULT TASK IN MONTANA. The state voted Re- publican. Kennedy was wealthy, from a powerful New England family, and car- ried an aura of glamor—all the wrong credentials for winning over ranchers and miners. He was good-looking, yes, and young, but he wasn't exact- ly a cowboy. Even among Montana's Democrats, he seemed a long shot. The state's Senators, Mike Mansfield and James E. Murray, backed Lyn- don Johnson for the 1960 nomination. Montana Secretary of State Frank Murray favored Stuart Symington. Others wanted Adlai Stevenson. Mon- tana had already denied Kennedy the votes for Vice President in 1956. He faced an uphill battle. It was a state he could never hope to win, and yet its people could just maybe be won over, one handshake at a time. Kennedy's courtship of Montana began modestly when he stepped off his plane in Billings in 1958. It was a warm and sunny Father's Day, and the Senator from Massachusetts arrived to no great fanfare: there was a crowd assembled to greet him, but it was hard to tell how many of them were there to see him and how many just happened to be attend- ing the concurrent dedication of the new Airport Administration building and decided to see the young politician off his plane, too, while they were at it. Definitely there for him were two "hos- pitality queens" from the Chamber of Commerce and seven representatives of the Crow tribe, who presented him with a pair of cuff links and a ceremoni- al headdress. JFK accepted them both, all smiles. Then, seven Crow natives named Kennedy "Chief Curley" of the "family of Strong Eagle."

• Cover