Published: September 01, 2009 11:42 pm      

POLITICS: A Kennedy retrospective in NT

When Sen. Edward Kennedy spoke before a crowd at the Dom Polski Club in 1972, more than a decade had passed since JFK first rumbled down Oliver Street on his way to the White House.

North Tonawanda’s mayor at the time, Edward Wiater, now 83, remembers meeting the youngest Kennedy at the social club in what was still the city’s predominantly Polish neighborhood. He also remembers the Secret Service paying him a visit a few days before the lion of the Senate roared for a packed crowd.

It was four years since the Massachusetts Senator’s brother Robert was shot dead in a Los Angeles hotel while celebrating the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. The atmosphere was still tense, Wiater recalled.

“I remember being at home and three or four men came in, well dressed, real husky guys. And they said, ‘we’re from the Secret Service,’ and I said uh-oh, what did I do,” he said Monday, two days after Ted Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

The senator had determined to give a speech in support of Max McCarthy, a three-term Democratic congressman from Buffalo who at the time was seeking a U.S. Senate seat of his own.

Wiater, who had been elected to his first term as mayor the year before, also worked as a reporter and later a headline writer at the now defunct Courier-Express in Buffalo, much to the consternation of his editor, he said, who viewed the dual role as a conflict of interest.

“They said Senator Kennedy is scheduled to come here on behalf of Max McCarthy. He was kind of a wild guy but I liked Max,” Wiater continued.

“They said first of all, he’s going to be at Dom Polski ... ‘Who lives across the street from Dom Polski? ... Well, at the time it was a jeweler. What they were doing was making sure that the entrance of Senator Kennedy would be without incident,” he said. “We were all on edge as it was because of the assassinations at that time.”

As it turned out, the jeweler across the street was also related to a local pastor.

“I said they’re fine. I would vouch for them because I knew them.” he said. “They asked, do you think the hall will be filled? And one said, we don’t want to hear footsteps behind us — so he asked could we fill the hall.”

Apparently, Wiater’s character reference was good enough, as Kennedy later made his appearance to a packed crowd including even local children eager to hear the politician speak.

State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, was one of them.

“I was in high school. It was great to have this renowned figure on Oliver Street,” Maziarz said, adding the downtown neighborhood was booming at that time.

While Maziarz looked on, Wiater was in the unusual position of a reporter also in a position to officially hob-knob with Kennedy.

“We had talked about the situation in New York state and about politics in Washington. And he asked are you interested in it? And I said I’ve got a problem because I work for a newspaper and I’m not a rich man, I’ve got four kids.”

Wiater said Kennedy acknowledged the predicament.

“What he was referring to is it takes money. Fortunately for him the family was rich enough to fund his campaign ... and he understood.”

With the assassination of both his brothers still a sore point for the entire nation, the two briefly exchanged views on the tumultuous politics of the 1960s in general. War had touched a generation and the events that would lead to President Richard Nixon’s forced resignation a short time later were, in part, underway.

“He said, you know, I think we’re going to pull through all of this very well. He was very ... patriotic, I guess you could say, and he saw that Americans had the might to get through it.”

Whether Wiater’s job at the paper was a help or a hindrance in speaking candidly with the national figure may never be known. But ask Wiater and he’ll freely admit it wasn’t easy on a day-to-day basis.

“It wasn’t a comfortable time for me, but I just wanted to do some things locally,” he said, explaining his decision to hold public office despite the tremendous potential for perceived conflict, and the reduced job security that came with it.

“I said whether I’m a journalist or not I’m going to run for office. I got a lot of grief for it from the courier management, but I said the hell with it. The union saved my (butt).”

Living in the Lumber City for most of his life, Wiater found participation in local issues irresistible.

With his tenure came the creation of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, the expanded library that continues to this day serving the public on Meadow Drive and the construction of Deerwood Golf Course.

Incidentally, five years before Ted came to town, the burgeoning public figure and champion of public works Wiater was peeking his head into the Courier’s editorial room one day and caught a glimpse of Robert Kennedy. It was 1967, and “Bobby,” then senator from New York, was making the rounds just a few short months before beginning his campaign for the presidency.

Wiater recalls he didn’t really get to meet Bobby, mainly because, as he remembers it, he was under nearly constant scrutiny by the newspaper’s managing editor, who did not approve of his active role in politics. At that time, however, the extent of his participation had been speaking up at a city council meeting here and there.

“When Bobby came I was already in a little bit of hot water with the managing editor for speaking out at common council meetings — I didn’t cover them mind you, I was a general assignment writer at the Courier ... I didn’t even wait to talk to him because I knew damn well that the managing editor was looking at me,” he said.

Back at Dom Polski, he recalled Kennedy was a crowd pleaser. Wiater said posters reading “We love you Mamma Rose” were waiting for Kennedy when he arrived, a tribute to his mother Rose Fitzgerald.

“I remember pointing out to him, saying, hey do you think they like you? And he said, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ ... and the funny part of it was I didn’t see any Max McCarthy posters there.”

State Supreme Court Judge Richard Kloch also remembers Kennedy as “a man who could suck the air out of a room,” but in a good way.

Kloch had a campaign flier signed by JFK in 1960, and his father helped secure a signature from Bobby on a different visit to Buffalo in 1967.

When JFK toured North Tonawanda City Hall, it was a moment in his life that was significant on many levels.

“He appeared in City Hall. My father worked in City Hall,” Kloch said. “He told my father what a beautiful building it was because my father told him that he was in charge of (it) and then he went on campaigning ... Unbeknownst to me my wife to be was across the street in Brauer Park, hanging out of a tree, looking at him,” he said. “When John Kennedy came through the whole city was on fire,” he said.

He admits things have changed, with the state largely a politically foregone conclusion regarding an overwhelming Democratic majority.

“I think we’ve seen the last of a president going up and down Payne Avenue and Oliver Street campaigning,” he said. “And I think that’s the case for New York as a state. How many people in the Tonawandas have been up close to a president — you lose that connection to your president ... and it’s sad.”

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.