THE PRESIDENCY: Lady with a Doughnut

A strange vehicle rolled down Denver’s Ivanhoe Street one day last week and pulled to a stop in front of No. 626. It had once been a bus until Mrs. Ellen Harris, G.O.P. candidate for Congress in Colorado’s First District, gave it the jawbreaking name of “Congrelephant,” and made it over. From the front hung an elephant’s trunk spouting smoke. It had a tail and four-foot ears, and big blue eyes were painted on the windshield. To the housewives of Ivanhoe Street, the Congrelephant was not nearly so exciting as a simple black Chrysler limousine that pulled up 15 minutes later. The limousine brought Mamie Doud Eisenhower to do some politicking for her friend Ellen Harris.

Mamie smiled her way through some 200 persons spilling around the sidewalk (mostly women and children) and entered the Congrelephant. She pinned a Harris-for-Congress button on her coat and began to shake hands with the women crowding into the bus, which had been redone into a sort of traveling living room. One of the first housewives in line was Mrs. Robert M. Johnson, who brought her son Randy. “You don’t know what this means to us,” she gushed. “You see, Randy was born the day Ike was elected President.” He got a hug from the President’s lady. Two teenage boys stuck their heads in the rear window and shouted: “Hey, Mamie, how about your autograph?” She obliged. The volunteer workers serving coffee and doughnuts had a bad case of nerves. One confessed later: “My knees were so weak that I was afraid I’d pour coffee on the First Lady.” Diet-conscious Mamie was a little unsettled herself by the doughnuts, but reached for one reluctantly (“Oh dear me, I would take the one with the most sugar”).

Later, outside the bus, Mamie slipped her arm around Candidate Harris’ waist and made her first solo political speech of the campaign. It would also be a big boost in Mrs. Harris’ uphill fight to unseat Democratic Congressman Byron Rogers. “Ladies,” said Mamie, “I hope you’ll all vote for her. We women have to have a voice in things.” The home movie cameras ground away, and people with Brownies worked furiously while Mamie met a dachshund pup named Ike, told him: “Why hello, Ike, I’ll tell Ike I saw you today.” She shook more hands and gave more autographs in a big, scrawling hand. When she climbed into her limousine, she was still clutching her doughnut. A thoroughly captivated crowd watched her wave it as the car pulled away.