The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-05-14
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS
BY HAL BOYLE

III dIcO O1Q COW lOWn Is IOOkIuS
forward with somewhat worried
pride to the return next month of
one of the local boys who made
good.
He used to work at the creamery
here, where other employees taught
him how to shoot craps.
There wasn't much of crowd
at the railroad. station to see him
off when he went East, years ago.
But Abilene, a town of about
1000 population, is expecting So
600 to 100000 visitors to help well
come back its favorite son-Gen.
Dwight d. Eisenhower.
Residents here aren't sure
whether the event will tear the
town apart. But it is no secret
that most hope it will springboard
Ike" into Republican presiden-
tial nomination.
During the 2-day Homecoming
celebration starting June A Gen.
Eisenhower will lay the corner
stone for a museum to house his
war trophies, address a throng in
Eisenhower Park. hold a news con-
ference and review a mammoth
parade containing SO floats SYM
bolizing his career.
''Ike" definitely has replaced
Wild Bill Hickok as the No. / hero
of Abilene. Hickok was the peace
officer who brought law and order
to the town N the wild and woolly
days when it was Americas top
cattle shipping center and its sa-
looms outnumbered its business
houses.
Summarizing home town senti-
ment for Eisenhower. Charles NJ.
Harger, S9-year-old publisher of
the Abilene Reflector Chronicle,
said:
IF you want to know how the
people here feel about Ike, 60 out
on the street and call him a bad
name--and see how quick some
thing happens to you"
Above the Main Street floats a
giant sign saying: Eisenhower
for President" 1t has fallen down,
or been blown down, four times
since last November. Now it is
firmly cabled to two banks.
We've spent $3.50 to keep that
sign up" said Henry B. Jameson,
young newspaper executive here
who served as war correspondent
with Eisenhower's forces in Eu-
rope. "It'n stay UP now even if
the bank walls fall down"
Despite the sign, Jameson, one
of the committee members in
charge of the Eisenhower celebra-
ton, said that 'his welcome home
is not set up on a political basis.
We have Democrats on the COM
mittee."
The planners are expecting at
least 10 state governors for the
festivities. Among the scores of
special trains will be two from
Texas-one containing lis Texans,
the other containing the horses
they will ride in the parade. Some
700 peace officers from all parts
of Kansas will be brought here to-
handle traffic.
One of the more delicate issues
involved is how long Gen. Eisen-
hover plans to remain in this first
visit home.
Naturally, we want him to stay
on as long as he can." said one
resident, and added obviously:
But / don't see how the town
can handle the crowds for more
than two days"
The mecca of most visitors here
is Ike's old family home. The Ell
senhower boys turned it over to
the Eisenhower Foundation after
the death of their mother in 1916.
II has been kept just as she left
it. Her dust cap still hangs from
a rocking chair in the room in
which she died. On the wall of
the second-floor bedroom where
Eisenhower slept as a boy is hung
the old-fsshioned motto: Thy will
be done"
j. Earl Endacott. executive d.
rector of the Eisenhower Founda-
ton, said loo. 900 people had visited
the home in recent years. They
came from every state of the I'm.
hon and rs foreign countries.
zone of them," remarked En-
dacott, was an ex-eannihal from
South Sea island"
Just how be became an Ike fan
nobody knows. But in Abilene to-
day it's enough to be an Essen
hover supporter. You don't have
to explain your past.