Distinctly Montana Magazine

57 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m going on and was interested... His manner—that he cared about you projected—you felt 'this guy is a tremendous man!'" At the fundraiser dinner that night, he gave a 21-minute off- the-cuff speech emphasizing the importance of the American West to the future of the country. In the next forty years, the West would "be the brightest part of the U.S.," he told the audience. Then he quoted Thoreau: "Eastward I go only by force. Westward I go free." After the speech, he ate a little ice cream in lieu of the ban- quet meal and, finally, seemed to give in to his exhaustion. "Can I get out of here?" he asked a member of his team. Outside, however, his ride was gone. Marie Merrill and two others, including Ted Kennedy, had driven it back to the ho- tel to watch JFK's speech. Now the speech was over, and the car was gone. Walt Marshall, owner of the Brewery Theater, sensed an op- portunity. He was more than happy to offer up his 1957 Pon- tiac Safari as a presidential limousine. The only problem was that it was festooned with foot-high letters reading "BREW- ERY THEATER—BROADWAY'S FINEST PLAYS—LAST CHANCE GULCH—MONTANA," and contained four large dogs to boot. Protests were made that the candidate couldn't ride in a mobile advertisement like Marshall's Safari. Well, fine, Marshall told them. Call a taxi, then. Kennedy reluctantly got in the car, and right away Marshall was driving them away from the airport—the wrong direc- tion. Maybe they could stop by the Brewery Theater for a moment? There was a couple there he'd like Kennedy to meet, as they were from Boston. The whole way there, Mar- shall's dogs lapped at the back of Kennedy's neck. Kennedy arrived at the airport on time, but "irked," as Christopherson wrote, and with a wet neck. It wouldn't stop there. Kennedy's pilot and crew were miss- ing. When they returned at last, Kennedy may well have still 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 3900 BROOK S S T, MIS SOUL A M T | 406.549.1100 | big sk ybilliar dsupply.com DESIGN | S A L ES | SERV IC E BEST BILLI A R D & GA ME SUPPLY IN MONTA NA Best Wedding Venue 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 (406) 270-6436 AtanahaEventCenter.com

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