Distinctly Montana Magazine

56 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 6 They took meetings all day. Eventually, Kennedy got hun- gry. Wally Wong, the owner of House of Wong, was phoned and asked if he could arrange an off-the-menu request; Sen- ator Kennedy would like some cream soup. Wong indicated he would provide it, and every indication suggests Kennedy thought it was excellent, if not Wong's typical fare. The hotel kept a line on their switchboard open as calls were made to 17 states. "They really believed in using that tele- phone," Marie would remember. Marie asked him, during a break, how he could maintain the brutal pace. Kennedy told her that he had a secret: "I've learned to relax. If I have 10 minutes, I lie down and get everything out of my mind, and I find myself completely refreshed." It was a small ritual he repeated throughout the day—perhaps on that stiff board. "Though he was in Helena, he was thinking days ahead," Marie related later. "He was organized in his own mind. He didn't convey the pressure he must have been under." The delegate vote was held around noon. Kennedy secured 26 of the 34 half-votes. At the convention, one more would switch, giving him 27. Ultimately, it would be enough to make him his party's candidate for President of the United States. He celebrated by attending a lawn party at the house of Joe Reber where he mingled with the 400 guests and drank Coke. Susan Reber, a four-year-old girl who had been hit by a truck a couple of weeks before, insisted that Kennedy meet her nurses. Kennedy walked across the street to say hello to some neighbors too shy to come over. Joe Reber Jr. would remember that "Everyone he talked to felt he knew what was Where Gallatin County's Past Comes Alive 406.522.8122 317 West Main Street Bozeman, Montana gallatinhistorymuseum.org Tues – Sat, 10AM – 4PM H oused in Bozeman's original 1911 county jail, the Gallatin History Museum holds over 20,000 historic images plus exhibits on pioneer life, medicine, frontier women, agriculture, and more. 621 3rd Street South Glasgow, Montana (406) 228-3500 .fmdh.org Best Rural Clinic/Hospital Best Orthopedic Office Best Audiologist Caring for What Matters Most 2026 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F T O P T H R E E E L I T E THE WHOLE WAY THERE, MARSHALL'S DOGS LAPPED AT THE BACK OF KENNEDY'S NECK

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