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Manual detaling duties of Rally Man (cont. from Folder 9). 14pgs. [Report], n.d.
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Manual detaling duties of Rally Man (cont. from Folder 9). 14pgs. [Report], n.d.
Manual detaling duties of Rally Man (partial duplicate of previous manual - not scanned) 24pgs. [Report], n.d.
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
White House Special Files Collection
Folder List
Box Number Folder Number Document Date Document Type Document Description
21
10
n.d.
Report
Manual detaling duties of Rally Man (cont.
from Folder 9). 14pgs.
21
10
n.d.
Report
Manual detaling duties of Rally Man (partial
duplicate of previous manual - not scanned)
24pgs.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Page 1 of 1
CHAPTER IV
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (First Visit)
1.
The itinerary and instructions will be furnished from the
National Tour Director. You will be supplied with a contact
sheet (including Secret Service agent and advance man) and
a pretty complete listing of events the candidate will under-
take, with approximate times.
2.
You will be supplied with:
A. A personal staff identification badge and lapel identifi-
cation pin;
B. An air travel card supplied by the Republican National
Committee;
C. A telephone credit card supplied by the Republican National
Committee;
D. Expense account forms supplied by the Republican National
Committee (your supply is found in the back of this manual)
E. A car rental card supplied by the Republican National
Committee;
F. A "Nixon Staff" baggage tag to be used on the few occasions
that you travel on the press plane after a candidate's event
if you are headed for your next rally assignment in the same
direction the candidate is traveling;
G. Thank You note forms.
H. The name and phone number of the advance man who will be
working with you SO that you can (before your arrival in
the city where the event will take place) contact the
advance man to coordinate your arrival with his. Names
and home phone numbers of advance men can be found in the
back of this manual. An attempt will be made to make pair-
ing of rally and advance men who work several assignments
together as a team.
3.
Before departure call the advance man and arrange to meet with
him as soon as you get into town. Under no circumstances begin
making local contacts until you meet with the advance man.
4. Should the advance man arrive late, just sit tight and wait for
him even if it means 24 hours, which is possible if the rally
and advance man's schedules become tight moving from event to
event.
-11-
5.
Meet with the advance man and cover everything you can with him
in advance of the meeting with the local volunteers. He will
arrange that meeting at which you will both attend.
6.
Before meeting with the local volunteers, however, drive the
entire route with the advance man, physically viewing the airport
docking area, the motorcade route, and the rally hall. Get a map
of the area and generally familiarize yourself with the city,
main streets, freeways, and other local information.
7.
When at the hall thoroughly cover all details with the building
superintendent or manager, meeting with his sound, stage and
lighting engineers to determine who has authority for what.
Possession of the hall must be secured for the whole day if
it's an evening event, and possession the night before if a
noon event. Carefully go over with the advance man the complete
physical layout of the hall entrances, exits, rooms, and par-
ticularly, the candidate's entrance, exit, rooms, and movement
in the hall.
8.
The advance man will arrange with the local committee that all
expenses of the candidate's visit will be borne by the local
committee and he will SO advise you of the name and address to
whom all billing will be directed.
9.
At your first meeting with the local committee, the advance man
will go over the event, assign committee chairmen and describe
their general responsibilities. The committee set up will no
doubt look like this:
Publicity
Physical press facilities
Airport/Railroad arrival facilities
Invitation committee
Telephone campaign
Transportation
Hotel arrangements
Meeting arrangements and program for mail public rally
During this period of general give and take start picking out who
you want for your particular chairmen, but, of course, do not
pick people already assigned other responsibilities by the advance
man.
Don't pick the chairman for who he is, but for how hard he can
work. He should have the respect of the other volunteers and
the drive to follow through on every detail for you.
For your rally responsibilities the following is a good committee
format to follow:
-12-
Entertainment (bands, girls, ethnic groups, etc.)
Balloons
Confetti (if crowd plans motorcade)
Decorating (hand signs, banners)
Promotion (hand bills, sound trucks, posters)
10. From the very beginning of the meeting take thorough notes and
get everybody's full name (Miss or Mrs.) , home address, and all
phone numbers (office, home, special lines). This is the basis
for your Thank You list (see Chapter X)
11. As soon as the advance man has ended the meeting and you have
picked your chairmen, get together with them and go over all the
details of their responsibilities. Be sure they all take thor-
ough notes, and if any do not be prepared to find replacements.
12. Impress upon your chairmen the absolute necessity of starting
immediately to line up their volunteers, equipment and supplies.
Let them know that a full blown confetti operation will require
no less than 75 volunteers, the hand bill distribution - 100
volunteers, the poster distribution - 25-50 volunteers, the hand
painted sign operation - 25 volunteers, and the balloon and hall
decoration operation no less than 75 volunteers. Helium and air
compressors must be ordered, as well as balloons, paper shredders,
sound trucks, etc.
Conflicting with the requirement for volunteers is the fact that
everyone will want to see the candidate's arrival at the airport
and hotel on the day that much of the work must be done. You
must also anticipate school class conflicts in raising volunteers.
In other words, all details must be specifically assigned, and 11 of
these problems anticipated with your committee chairmen in that
first meeting.
13. At the conclusion of this first meeting, schedule a second meet-
ing with your committee chairmen for the day of your return.
Advise them to be prepared to report on exactly what they have
done in the interim.
14. Be sure to be with the advance man when he sets up the program
so you will know the program and the M.C., and he knows you.
15. The local United Citizens for Nixon Organization should be con-
tacted to determine the availability of buttons, hats, balloons,
banners, etc. Much of the things you will need may already be
available and warehoused locally by that citizens organization.
-13-
The following is a list of local groups from which you can
usually obtain large numbers of volunteers:
United Citizens for Nixon
Young Republicans (YRs)
Teenage Republicans (TARs)
College Republican Organizations
State Federation of Republican Women
County Republican Committee
All Civic Groups
16. Always keep the tour office advised of where you are and where
you plan to be with appropriate phone numbers.
-14-
CHAPTER V
GENERAL STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (Second Visit)
1.
When possible arrive in the city 3 days before the event.
First, call the advance man to meet with him and go over any
last minute changes in the schedule.
2.
Advise the tour office of where you are staying and the appro-
priate phone numbers, and maintain daily communication with that
office as to where you can be reached at any time.
3. Before meeting with committee chairmen, drive through the
downtown area to see whether posters and hand bills have been
distributed.
4.
Meet with all your chairmen and as many volunteers as possible
to go over exactly what they have accomplished. From this point
until the time when the candidate walks into the hall, you must
be prepared to personally insure that all details are followed
through.
5.
Because of the importance of the hand bill operation, be person-
ally on hand when the volunteers assemble for the hand bill
distribution.
6.
Personally check to see that all supplies, balloons, hats, helium,
air compressors, etc., have been delivered and distributed. Stay
in daily communication with the advance man and various chairmen
and keep them advised as to where and how you can be reached. With
the advance man, if possible, meet with the manager or building
superintendent of the hall and cover any last minute changes. Also,
meet with the electrician, sound, stage and lighting men, to go
over any last minute changes that would affect their areas of
responsibility.
7.
On the day of the event be at the hall as soon as it opens; organize
your decorating and balloon teams to get them to work immediately.
It is essential that these teams move fast and hard, and nothing will
encourage them more than your pitching right in with them. Decor-
ating the hall is a mammoth undertaking and there is little spare
time in which to do it. This doesn't mean you stay and blow
balloons, but by starting physically working with the volunteers
you put them in the spirit. Then move on to your other responsi-
bilities.
Meet with the advance man and M.C. and go over the entire program.
It will be your responsibility to blend in the band, Voices for Nixon,
and any other stunts or events that are part of the program-or more
likely, the pre-program.
-15-
8.
Before the candidate arrives at the hall, you should have:
(a) Phoned the advance man at the airport or hotel to determine
any last minute changes; and
(b) Cued the Master of Ceremonies, the band director, the
balloon drop man, the Nixon girls and choir director for
the candidate's entrance.
-16-
CHAPTER VI
PHYSICAL FACILITIES AT HALL
The physical arrangements at the hall are the responsibility of the
advance man. However, because you, rather than he, will no doubt
be the one at the hall most of the day of the event, you should know
how to execute and set up the sound system, lighting system, platform
area, press area, and TV platforms, should he need assistance.
1.
BACKDROP
A. The backdrop should be huge, at least as long as the stage and
to the ceiling if possible. An extremely large American flag
(garrison) is suitable, since it gives patriotic and rally
atmosphere. TV is shot in color, so avoid browns, golds, and
other odd colors. Light to medium blue is okay for breakfast
and luncheon meetings. For rallies however, red/white/blue
striping is best (run vertically). If you're using a decorating
firm to do the bunting, etc., at rally they have the long
red/white/blue bolts which can be stapled to a batten and hung
behind the stage. If you are doing it yourself, find cloth bunt-
ing. Avoid crepe paper which costs less, but can tear easily.
B. The TV crews will want to backlight the candidate to keep him
from disappearing in the picture, so leave sufficient space on
stage for lighting tripods (they usually put one on each side
of rear stage).
2.
PLATFORM AREA
A. The candidate (as you face the stage) will sit on the first
seat 'o the left of the podium (stand-up microphone) The seat
directly behind the candidate must always be reserved for a
Secret Service agent. The candidate's wife will sit directly to
the right of the podium and the seat behind her will always be
reserved for a Secret Service agent. All platform guests must
have a badge with his name and "platform guest" on it, and the
name and address of each person allowed on the stage must be
given to the Secret Service agent 24 hours before the event, and
there will be no last-minute clearances. It is as simple as this--
if the Secret Service agent does not have the platform guest's name,
he does not get on the stage.
B. The candidate normally does not use a podium. Instead, he uses
a single stand-up microphone (note that one microphone is achieved
by the use of a bridge system-see chapter on sound) and the sound
man will carry a watch with him and a small clipboard which will
be attached to the stick of the microphone. The watch is very
important for the candidate's timing, particularly if he is doing
a live TV address, and the clipboard must be available should the
candidate wish to make a particular prepared statement. However,
-17-
normally the candidate does not use a podium because he speaks
without notes. This may give you some difficulty with other
speakers speaking at the rally before the candidate speaks who
can only speak from a prepared statement and would want to use
the podium.
C. Behind the podium an aisle 15 feet wide must be roped all the
way to the back curtain. This serves two functions - (1) security,
and (2) to be sure that no one is moving behind the candidate
while he is speaking (this would detract from the TV picture.) The
curtain behind the candidate must meet all requirements for TV
(see Section no. 4 following).
3.
PRESS AREA
A. At least three rows of press tables, i.e., enought to accommodate
up to 150 national and local press, should be arranged immediately
in front of the platform and on the tables there should be 25
long distance phone lines, 5 local call telephone lines, and a
Western Union representative. The Western Union may wish to
supply a teletype machine to place in this area. Do not allow
this because the teletype is too noisy and interferes with the
candidate's speech. You should, however, encourage the Western
Union to put a teletype at least 200 feet away from the candidate,
so that he cannot hear it and his microphone will not pick up
any of the feed-back.
B. The candidate's speech must be recorded on a Norelco type, 45
minute tape plugged into the bridge (see Section no. 7 following)
This tape should be given to Ziegler as soon as the speech is
finished.
C. The entire press area must be roped off with only one exit-this
is the same opening that is used to move the press into this area.
No one is allowed in this area unle S they have press credentials.
The Secret Service will make sure this happens. But, in addition
your local press facilities chairman should man this position at
least one hour before the candidate speaks. This is necessary
because there will be considerable pressure from early arrivals
at the hall (including political VIPs who did not get a seat
on the platform) to sit in this area, and they are not allowed
to do SO.
4.
LIVE TELEVISION CAMERAS
A. The platforms for live cameras must be strongly constructed, and
most times are provided by the crews.
B. They usually want something about 40 inches high and 40 inches
square for each camera, which results in a very acute angle if
the cameras are placed too close. Therefore, it is desirable
to have the live cameras further back than film cameras.
-18-
C. Usually, the live cameras are set up together in a row, depend-
ing on the desires of the crew chief. If the live TV cameras
are high enough to clear, they can be placed behind the film
cameras. If they have to be placed to the side, try to get
live TV to shoot favoring the right side of the candidate.
5.
NEWSREEL CAMERAS
A. These should be on a riser about the same height as the candidate's
and the platforms placed on either side starting in the center.
B. They prefer to work fairly close to the candidate (about 25 feet).
6.
PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
A. Public address systems should be provided so that not only can
the candidate be heard by all, but to provide an audio bridging
system for both newsreel cameras and radio recorders. The
newsreels are used to this.
B. However, the radio people are using a wide variety of recorders:
Japanese, German and American. It is sometimes not possible to
have all recorders plugged into an audio bridge (which is merely
a multiple plugging device built for this purpose) It then
becomes an easy matter for the P.A. man to also supply a small
speaker, near the recorders, for the radio people to place the
mics in front of, to pick up the candidate's remarks.
C. The purpose of all this is to enable the candidate to make his
remarks in front of one microphone instead of a battery of mics.
This makes for a neater picture.
D. A good P.A. system and a knowledgeable engineer are essential
to th technical success of a press conference, or any public
speaking engagement.
7.
LIGHTING
Assuming there is no TV advance man, please, as diplomatically as
possible, try to arrange with the TV technicians the following
lighting set-up:
In front of the candidate, about 15 degrees from the horizontal
above his eye level, place two quartz lights, one on each side
and in front of the candidate.
Very important is a back light which shines down on the candidate
and is about 4' in back of him and above him. This is primarily
to light his shoulders and hair and to reduce shadows.
All lighting should be for color TV and these are 3200 Kelvin
color temperature lights.
-19-
8.
SOUND
A. There are two groups who must hear what is said--the audience
and the press. The following are the general guidelines to
help you accomplish this:
(1) Use a reputable audio-sound company, and this can be
judged by determing the following:
(a) How long they have been in business;
(b) The experience the personnel have had, and particularly
the personnel who will be working on the appearance.
(c) If the company handles any one of the following, they
are probably a good company: Altec, University, Electro-
voice, Bogen, Newcomb, Atlas, Collins, McIntosh, RCA;
(d) That they are planning to have sufficient personnel,
equipment and reserve equipment on duty during the
appearance.
(2) Advise the traveling sound man, Ed McDaniel (you will have
to call him on the tour), or his back-up man in Virginia,
George Chapin--( (703) 451-3050 or (703) 354-5981 (home) --of
the following:
(a). The name of the firm you are using and their telephone
number;
(b) The general manager, owner or person in charge of
of setting up the sound for the event.
B. General recommendations on equipment for outdoor appearances:
(1) There are three parts to a sound system:
(a) Microphones (which receive the initial sound) ;
(b) Amplifying unit (pre-am} ifier/power amplifier) which,
obviously, increases the volume level of the spoken word;
(c) Speakers which direct the sound after it has been
amplified.
(2) The minimum requirements are as follows:
(a) Microphones
These must be directional pattern microphones (as
opposed to non-directional). The point here is that
unless you have this type, there is a good chance
all background noises, etc., will come through the
system. The directional will pick up the speaker
only. Your sound company must provide a mike and
stand. If they have no directional type of microphone,
use the non-directional type but be sure there are no
speakers behind the candidate or you will get a feed-back.
-20-
8.
SOUND (cont'd)
B. (2) (a) cont'd
Also be sure there are no speakers behind the mike
or you will get a feed-back also.
The minimum requirement mike, pre-amplifier and
amplifier must be of the low impedence type (50/250
ohms)
Recommended brand names are:
Condenser type mike--Altec, Seinheiser, Byers, Sony,
Akg, etc.
Dynamic type mike
Altec, Electro-voice, Shure, etc.
(b) Amplifying Systems
This must have at least three low impedence mike
inputs so that if any goes bad, you will have other
inputs. For small crowds (less than 500) you will
need a minimum wattage of 100 watts in the amplifying
system. For large places, such as city parks, football
fields, baseball parks, large auditoriums, you will
need a minimum wattage of 200 watts Note here that
the 200 watts (and even the 100 watts) can be made
up by hooking up different power amplifying units
such as two 50 watt units and one 100 watt unit, or
two 100 watt units. Do not use units less than 30 watts,
and. try to use this multiple system SO if one goes
out you will have something in reserve.
Recommended brand names are: McIntosh, Altec, Newcomb,
Bogen, RCA, Collins, etc.
(c) Speakers
You will need 6 paging horn type (University, WLC,
or equivalent) speakers for the first 40,000 square
feet and 1 for each 10,000 square feet behind that.
Note enclosed sketches.
General recommendations on equipment for indoor appearances:
1. It is vitally important that for indoor rallies and
speeches (this does not include a press conference
set-up which is covered in a following chapter) that you
advise the traveling sound man or his back-up man of
the situation. These men have done this before and they
probably know most of the halls in which the candidate
will be speaking.
-21-
8.
SOUND (cont'd)
B. (2) (c) cont'd
2. The critical thing here is to be sure speakers are
not facing the candidate, such as the speakers in
the back of a hall or overhead or a. scoreboard
or in the wall behind the candidate. This will
cause no end of feedback problems.
3. Also be sure to advise who will be handling the
sound in the hall because this person may be
someone other than an employee of the sound
company you have retained. Make a sketch of the
sound system in the hall noting type of microphone,
including manufacturer's brand name, wattage and
manufacturer's style number of amplifying system
and number and location of speakers and how they
are pointed and give to McDaniel when the plane
lands.
4. Sabotaging sound systems is done by: Sticking
straight pins in speaker and mike lines and cables,
cutting lines and pulling plugs. Therefore, have
all cables and lines out of easy reach and set up
at last possible practical moment and keep a con-
stant check on system by using it and guarding it.
-22-
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