Chapter Five - The Ferdinand Magellan Comes to Ohio

“Ladies and gentlemen! So I am asking you – when somebody asks you, ‘what do we do here in Ohio? You look them straight in the eye and you tell them we feed the country! And you tell them we put our people work! And you tell them that our banks are back in business and you tell them that we are free to buy and sell goods all over America. And you can say to them, if you don’t believe me, you can ask our good friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt!!! Welcome to Ohio, Mr. President!”
A familiar figure took away any fears the assembled citizens of Gomer may have had about that man who sharing the stage with the beloved President.
“You know, I shall tell you I was very pleased to receive the nicest telegram from you, my old friend Mr. Kasner….”
The crowd howled. Briefly holding up and waving menu from the dining car on his private train, the President looked at it and read from the telegram.
“He said to me, my dear Franklin…I am so sorry, but Mrs. Kasner and I will have to take a rain check on your invitation to luncheon at the White House. You see you asked me to come down there, to the Executive Mansion, on the very day that we in my hometown are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of our town, and I must attend to the festivities!”
The President continued.
“So I called my friend Senator VanderWall and said, ‘Byron, did you know Gomer, Ohio has been around for One Hundred Years already?’ And Byron said, ‘But everyone knows that Mr. President’ – “
With a trademark cock of the head, and a million-dollar smile, the President said, “Well Byron – why didn’t you tell me!”
The audience roared its approval.
“And Byron – you send Mr. Kasner a letter and tell him Mrs. Roosevelt and I will come to his house for dinner!”
If the citizens of Ohio had been concerned at Lex’s sensibilities surrounding the draft, they weren’t any longer. The President made sure of that. And for reasons known to very few, after the festivities of the ended, Lex Kasner rode with the President on his train to the town of Sandusky, where the President was staying for the night. Lex and the President – among a very small group of others – visited well into the night. Senator VanderWall dropped Lex off at his home in Gomer at seven o’clock the next morning. Upon returning to Washington, VanderWall – a Republican – introduced Roosevelt’s bill to introduce a peacetime draft. VanderWall sent two telegrams – one to FDR, one to Lex, and commenced to make plans for the assumed defeat he would soon suffer as a result of his political courage.