Kansas Playwright William Inge might have written the script for the affair. The V.F.W. color guard lined up in the center of the street in front of the Art Nouveau county courthouse, hard by the Russell County farm bureau. The high school band was almost in tune as it entertained under the elm and locust trees. The ladies of the town grilled hot dogs and served potato chips and salad on paper plates. The sun was full and hot as the crowd of about 2,000 gathered to welcome back the local boy who was bringing to town the President of the U.S.
Suddenly the motorcade was there and Senator Robert Dole was moving easily through the crowd, introducing folks to Jerry Ford. When he finally made it up to the platform, Dole told how the President had called "and asked me if I would like to be on the ticket with him. I thought about one second and said yes." That drew a laugh —Bob Dole has always drawn laughs, even growing up in Russell—but later, unexpectedly, his mood changed abruptly. "You can come from a small town in America and you do not need wealth to succeed," he was saying. "If I have done anything, it was because of what you did for me..."
He was crying. His left hand shot up to wipe the tears away and he stood for a long moment, head bowed, unable to go on. He did not turn away from the crowd. Seated on the platform behind him, his mother, Bina Dole, his 21-year-old daughter Robin, Governor Robert Bennett and Ford stirred uncomfortably. Then Dole's old friends out front in the street began to clap. The President and the others rose to their feet, applauding. Slowly Dole regained his composure and went on, never alluding to the incident.
Dole introduced the President as "a man I consider to be a friend of America, a friend of rural America, a friend of small-town America." When his turn came to speak, Ford vowed that his Administration would be a friend to the farmer in towns like Russell and states like Kansas. Then, as quickly as they had come, Ford and the Senator who was his surprise choice to share the Republican ticket with him were gone. But the campaign had begun.
Two days before he was chosen for the job, Senator Dole relaxed and chatted with a group of TIME editors and writers about the kind of man Ford should pick to run for Vice President. From his manner, Dole clearly indicated that he did not at all consider himself to be the likely selection, but the man he described began to sound remarkably like Bob Dole. Ford's Veep, he said, should be helpful in the farm states. These would be critically important for the G.O.P.'s chances, the states where the Democrats' Walter Mondale —a Minnesota populist—would surely be making hay. The President's running mate should be able to help out with the party chores. And, Dole added, the man should be able and ready to do "some of the gunslinging."