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7346467
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Pool Report - Press Pool No. 36 - After the Villanova Speech
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7346467
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27
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1976-10-27
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10
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1976
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nara-archive
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1ad5b5b738d1945e
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Digitized from Box 33 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library OCTOBER 27, 1976 POOL REPORT - PRESS POOL NO. 36 - AFTER THE VILLANOVA SPEECH The President met with a group of Villanova students for about 15 minutes. The pool was excluded. There was no report on what was said. Meanwhile, the motorcade was formed outside the Field House and Joe Garagiola entertained a couple of hundred students. He went to a barbed wire topped cyclone fence and shouted at the students who were gathered behind police lines across the street about his dandruff and a toupe: "Geez, I lost it. " Asked about his business of making TV commercials for the President, Garagiola said: "Of all these commercials I've ever done, this is the first time I've done anything for Ford. There were a few boos. Garagiola said, "There was a joke there. " Holding on to the cyclone fence, Garagiola said, "I feel like I'm talking to a monkey." He was talking to some students up in a tree. Asked what he might do in a Ford Cabinet, he said, "I'll be his first-base coach. " He also passed out some baseball cards. John Deardourff, the President's head of Campaign '76, confirmed that the first 2 television broadcasts were taped, not live as indicated in the bible and by various White House aides. Deardourff said the first one was finished 8 minutes before it rolled; the second, 15 minutes. He said there was no editing because there wasn't any time for it. The President came out of the back of the Field House with a couple of university officials, waved to the students and said, "Hi everybody," and climbed into his limousine. There was one sign on the wall passed which he drove. It said, "Amnesty is just.' He stood up in his limousine and talked through the wheel base loudspeakers, saying the usual but this time adding, "Don't forget to vote now." He rode over the same streets that got him to Villanova to West Conshohocken, and then down the Schuykill expressway to City Line Avenue, which is the turn-off for the TV station. But there was to be a surprise. Mr. Ford continued right past the studio, 15 blocks, to Cardinal Avenue and turned onto the property of John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia. Mr. Ford last met the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia, who is the past President of the U.S. Catholic Conference, at the Polish-Ame rican Congress on the day following the first of the Great Debates. They had met earlier this year at the Eucharistic Congress at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium on August 8. Father Leo McKenzie, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said that the Cardinal had received a phone call from the White House yesterday. Asked if the President had requested a meeting with the Cardinal, McKenzie replied, "I believe so, yes." Nessen entered the conversation to say that the "Cardinal was invited to attend the speech at Villanova University, but could not because he was required to be in addendance at a priest's funderal. He invited the President to stop here. He and the President are well acquainted, Nessen said. (MORE) -2- Tweleve minutes after he had entered the handsome residence, the President and the Cardinal, who wore a black suit with a gold chain across the upper part of his chest, came out the door and walked slowly, chatting in low voices to each other. Your pool, as close as possible, could not hear a thing. They got to Mr. Ford's car, shook hands, and Phil Jones asked the Cardinal, "Are you supporting President Ford next Tuesday?" The Cardinal said, "I can't hear you. " Jones said, "Do you want Mr. Ford to win on Tuesday?" The Cardinal seemed not to hear. The motorcade was rolling slowly by the Cardinal when the reporter leaned out and asked his question again, adding, "Is that a yes or a no?" The Cardinal said, "Hi, nice to see you. " Jones said, "Yes or no? " The Cardinal said, "Have a nice trip." It took 10 minutes, through some traffic, to get the President from the Cardinal's residence to the TV studio. Nessen was pressed by the pool to be admitted to the taping. He said that it was a commercial taping and the pool was not going to be admitted. Mr. Ford was greeted by some station officials and, as far as your pool was able to determine through the double glass doors, a reporter and camera crew from the TV station. Garagiola trailed behind and as he reached the top steps he said, "I guess they got a razor or something." Larry O'Rourke - Philadelphia Bulletin Bill Ringle - Gannett Phil Jones - CBS # # #