Kansas City Illustrated; Un-numbered 1984 Episode

Earth. I don't think doctors are involved in preventive medicine. We are a health food stores are that's that's the difference to me. And that's what we try and keep people from getting sick. Doctors are involved and study how to get them well that's completely different. When I made my original stand that I would wait until the convention to make a choice. Jesse Jackson had not announced that he was going to run for the presidency of the United States. I believe that it will be my role to help bring together all of the different factions that have supported various candidates. And I hope to do that I hope to do it successfully so that we won't at least in

our area have bitter divisions among people and we'll all be able to unite and work for one candidate. It may be a long time before we see the likes of Jerry Lewis and again. This inspirational life what it dream for. Is Lebanon's legacy to us. Good evening welcome to Kansas City Illustrated I'm John Masterman. We'll spend some time tonight on political matters past and present. We'll have an interview with the fist District Democratic Congressman Allan wheat Loral defo discussed with him several important issues affecting our afflicting Congress and the country we'll have a talk with Rick Moore a Kansas City public relations executive with an interesting background in politics. We'll show a film Rick Moore had a big part producing It's the story of Jerry Lewis who was the congressman from Missouri sixth district and who died with his wife and two daughters in 1076 in a plane crash. He won the nomination for the Senate. On the night he lost his life. First to health

and to a cautionary note from the leader of registered dietitians in the Kansas City area. Some health food products used to be found only in health food stores. And there weren't many of them. The popularity of some things may seem sad ish but the health food business is booming in standard supermarkets are in on it. Reporter Claire Roberts takes a look at the rise in health food popularity. People oftentimes in America are more orientated towards medicine and curing something after they have it rather than preventing it. So I would say what you eat you know affects your body. You know you've heard the expression you are what you eat. While the nutritional debate rages on from accusations of health food quackery to testimonials of amazing cures Americans including people in Kansas City are being caught up in the trend of taking a closer look at exactly what's going into our bodies. A quick scan of the yellow pages shows around 50 health food stores in the

metropolitan area. There's even a health food chain with 10 stores here most specialize in vitamins and supplements. Grains and herbs. And there's no telling who you might run into in the health food store. We get all kinds of people all sizes and shapes we have. This story's been here for 20 years so we have a lot of regular customers that have come in for 20 years and take taken vitamins for 20 years before it was a trainer a fad and always have and probably always will. Nature food centers is essentially a vitamin and supplement store located across the street from a large retail grocery store. Many shoppers get their basics across the street and stop here for special items vitamins of course can be found in grocery stores but most of them are synthetic and Purists argue that synthetic unnatural vitamins just aren't the same thing. I'm very much for natural vitamins. For starters I wouldn't go to all the trouble to eat good and take such good care of myself and to put chemicals

back in my body just somehow doesn't. It doesn't coincide doesn't make sense to me. But outside of that fact synthetic vitamins your body doesn't react the same to them as they do the natural as most people know they chemically can be the same but you have to take more of more synthetic vitamins than you do. Natural vitamins which will show you right there they are not exactly the same. You can get toxic overdoses on mini synthetic vitamins where you can't on natural vitamins. How do you determine what you will carry and what you won't. We don't the customers do. Right now there are bigger trends than you know there's always something that's big probably right now to be pollen. Again keep it on the shelf and athletes basically started that. That in the media about the Paula it's real good for endurance for energy and that's what

everybody wants right now. Another store clearly nature's own expanded several years ago to carry produce and dairy products almost everything that your regular grocery store carries and more. Business is booming at a million and a half dollars a year in volume. They claim to be the largest health food store between Denver and St. Louis thing that's different is that you have products that do not contain chemicals or preservatives. You have whole grains and you have products basically that aren't tampered with. Nowadays natural seems to be the advertising buzzword. No chemicals no preservatives. That's what people are buying. Although natural is a legally undefined term shoppers here tend to value the unprocessed foods that can be bought in bulk. But I think you definitely lose something you lose the the essence of the food when you break it down or boil it or pasteurize it. Or refine it several times and can't and then try and put all

those vitamins back in you know that people are much more inclined to eat something that's natural with the reasons that people shop in health food stores are as diverse as the kinds of people that you'll find here. As a vegetarian I'm able to find a lot more foods here than I can put into mine diet really get much fresher produce. The bread for instance is made right here in Kansas City. Fresh orange juice for yogurt in large containers beings in bulk that I can buy. To me it's much more economical to shop and it tastes good and it's close to where I work. I'm on a diet. They have good fruit vegetables. Are you into health foods. No we just started a diet my wife and I start a diet. So I come here when I say it's close to where I work. I'm here on the way to the bank and get little things for the snack rather than you know the fattening foods.

Our family is pretty health conscious and we try to buy nothing that has sugar in it even if it's turbo sugar or brown sugar. And even when it comes to salt we try to get it has it. If it's a product that does have salt we try to get sea salt. We try to eat macrobiotic Lee whole grains and foods with no preservatives he said. More expensive than how you used to eat but we no longer eat meat which eliminates a large budget from our family and I think it balances out. And I think we save in the long run by health care. I used to have to go for allergy shots and take pills and that's becoming less and less. And I'm pretty pleased with the energy we have without me. I think our general health has improved. So to me I'd rather buy Whole Foods and spend a little more but save by not supporting those poor big brown eyed cows.

Organic fruit and vegetables not found in most grocery stores are among the things you can buy here. It's a what's very popular about organic produce is that it has more vitamins and minerals it doesn't have the chemicals it doesn't have the pesticides it's raised naturally especially nowadays when you hear so many things about this controversy over this chemical and that it's very scary for people. Do you find a lot of people come to you for advice about the products that you sell. Of course most of the people who work here have been eating these products for a long time. We're very careful about giving. Need Trey tional advice isn't so dangerous but giving medical advice about what people should take to cure what problems. We have a large selection of books that people can basically do their own research on them. Oh I try and do is inform the people. I'm not trying to be their doctor and I'm not trying to tell them what to do I'm trying to tell them what I know and make recommendations and I make recommendations for books just as much as I do for vitamins or anything else while I'm trying to do is get people to take care of themselves to question different things and find

out for themselves discover what's best for them instead of just taking everything at face value. The feeling here is that people should continue to question to look beyond what is told them to read to compare and to decide for themselves. You know a lot of people think we're really strange because everything I eat is either brown or green or you know just kind of weird. And it doesn't disturb us I mean I think we've gained and I think we've learned a lot it's not we just come in and buy things and go. Well this is from a health food store so it's got to be good for us we still are skeptical and try to evaluate the products. People have to find their own way. You know and they have to find what works for them. And I see here that a lot of people have found something that works for them. Duty Wegman is a registered dietitian. She has a master's degree in clinical nutrition from KNU. She is also president of the Kansas City district Dietetic Association. Welcome to cancer to illustrate this is weird but thank you. It seems that the health food industry has

become big business. That there are many many people who take vitamins and supplements as well as other health food products and a lot of them will tell you that it's really changed their life and even for some saved their lives. Do you think that these men this many people could be wrong or be deluding themselves. Well I think part of it is when you said big business it is it's a 68 million dollar a billion dollar business a year. And when you say do they change their life when the does it say their life I think that's a hard question to answer. A lot of the people who are drawn to these types of food practices are people who have given up on standard medical care. And so they're ready and happy with their routine physician or whatever they were doing. And so yes it would change their life because May has something that they have a belief in. But my feeling is a lot of foods out there are not needed vitamin mineral capsules and things are a problem. Not going to be a cure and there's dangers related to some of the items that are sold and health food stores.

What does the Dietetic Association recommend as far as vitamins go with and. Would they recognize that there is any difference between synthetic and non-synthetic vitamins. OK my personal feeling is that people do not need vitamin mineral supplements as long as they have a nutritionally healthy diet. That means you know wide variety of foods. When I do studies on patients and do a computer print out most people that I interview and work with have nutritionally well-balanced diets they only vitamins and minerals and particularly women are at risk for his iron because of the monthly Mr lost in the changes that happened that way. And calcium mostly the calcium is because most women do not drink milk or use dairy products. Another one of the things that you run into a lot in health food stores is organic fruits vegetables. You think there is any real difference there between what most people buy and organic. Well a recent study came out in the September issue the Journal of the American Dietetic Association did it analysis on foods that were

purchased in health food stores and in commercial grocery stores and in terms of the residue in terms of pesticides contamination a nutritional quality there was no difference. The one thing you have to keep in mind there is no definition of what organic means. We all have our own conceptions of what it means but in terms of a way of judging this is an organic food or non organic food. We have no way to tell. There's also an awful lot of people trying to eliminate salt and probably sugar from their diets too. How important is it for the average American to try and do that. I think if you have a high intake a salt ensuring that you're solving a lot of food at the table you buy a lot of process pre-prepared pre handled food. Then sodium and salt is an issue and that needs to be cut back. Some studies suggest that a third of the people will benefit dramatically from watching their salt or sodium intake. A third of the people will get a minor benefit and a third of people make no difference. So depends where do you fall. The sugar issue I think if sugar

is a high part of your diet means you're getting a lot of additional calories that you probably aren't eating because there's no nutritional value to sugar. Other than calories. But you don't need to have a diet without any a little bit makes life a little more pleasurable. And I don't have any problem with people using some sugars or sweet types of products but none of it's a major part of their diet. This isn't the government through the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. Protect the consumer against food quackery. They're very limited. The Food and Drug Administration can control the label. They can control the directions to use the product and they can control the additives but they cannot control a food substance per se and so a lot of things get into the market place under food and has no definition and FDA cannot control it. The other thing is FDA has no control over advertisement. They have no control over sales pitches newspaper ads anything that goes out. And that's where

most people are are taken by the great claims are going to lose weight over night while you sleep or whatever thats out there and that's why they get in trouble and has no jurisdiction. What's the difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist. Anybody can be a nutritionist. You could go out today and start selling yourself as a nutritionist a registered dietitian is a person who has had four years of college and has their b.s. from accredited university or college then has had some form of a clinical training an internship or an undergraduate coordinated program. That is in the background. From there they have to take a national registration exam and one completion of that then they are registered dietitians the least you know if you're going to go to a person to receive nutrition counseling for going to a registered dietitian. Then you know what's a degree in the background is anybody can be a nutritionist. There is a taskforce forming in Kansas City to protect against fraud and quackery in foods. What is the opposite. What are they trying to do with that.

It's a new group it's beginning it has over for about 50 members. Their membership includes dieticians physicians pharmacists and includes people from the American Retirement Association it includes FDA a wide variety of spectrums of different people who have concerns about health and quality and it's just forming they're going to look at trying to help educate the public about what is good health what is health frauds try to make some of these things of bailable and open to people answer the question thank you Judy Whitman for joining us from Kansas City Illustrated. Now to a man who needs no diet Star columnist or commentator Bill tomatoes who tonight discusses something few of us have given much thought to. Next Tuesday will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harry S. Truman and as we celebrate his remarkable life I want to say a few things about how well some of your tax money is being spent. We should all be thankful that your taxes are

going to support the work of the National Archives and Records services for it is that agency that administers the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. And it is the Truman Library that is the repository of the truly incredible volume of Truman documents private letters diaries and other material that historians use to examine the presidency of a man who has come to be known as one of the best presidents this nation ever had. Dr. Benedict Zobrist is director of the Truman Library. Listen to what he says. The careful preservation of papers records and documents has always been a distinguishing characteristic of great nations. For the archives of any country are among its most valuable cultural resources. Without them history cannot be written. Think of that without those documents. History cannot be written. The annual budget to operate the library comes from a congressional appropriation. And though you may

have lots of legitimate gripes about how the government spends taxes we should all feel thankful that some money is going for this vital purpose. Having sat in the Truman Library research room on many occasions having read Mr Truman's poignant handwritten letters to his wife and to others having searched through carefully stored documents to check facts I can tell you that our understanding of Mr. Truman and in turn our understanding of ourselves as a people would be nowhere near as complete without the careful preservation of records doctor's Oberst mentioned. So as you celebrate Mr. Truman's 100 birthday in various ways including I hope watching our Truman town meeting next Monday night here on channel 19. I hope you'll visit the Truman Library and pat yourselves on the back for being a supporter as a tax payer of that important institution. You're going to be the moderator of the town meeting Monday night.

Who's taking part. We have an excellent panel chair and we have Dick BOLLING The former congressman who was elected first to Congress in one thousand forty eight. The very year President Truman was elected in his own right. Ken heckler who was research director in the White House and Mr. Truman second term Bob Farrow a historian an excellent historian from Indiana University has written a number of Truman books and is probably the current authority on all the new Truman documents. Harry Rosenthal an AP Washington correspondent who has covered many Truman events and was stationed here in Kansas City through the post-presidency years and Sue gentry of the Independence examiner who was the editor of their special treatment section that they published in January so. So the town meeting the last two hours or hours on the air next Monday night should be fun.

Well good luck. A week from Friday on May 11th channel 19 will repeat a documentary film made at the Truman Library in 175 called not forgotten Harry Truman. It features a tour of the library with Margaret Truman Daniel and a talk with actor James Whitmore. It's Friday May 11 here on channel 19 5th District Congressman Allen West of Kansas City who succeeded Richard Bolling is the representative from this district was in town recently during the congressional recess and reporter Laurel to full talk with him about the presidential campaign and other issues. Welcome Mondale scored a victory in this very caucuses. You support him as the Democratic nominee for the presidency. Well my position is still the same that I'm going to support the Democratic nominee whoever that individual may be. If it's Walter Mondale I'll be enthusiastic in mind or cement in my support. Congressman Reed many political observers say that you support broader Mondeo but that you cannot acknowledge that publicly for fear of offending their

constituents who support Jesse Jackson. Is that the case. Well when I when I made my original stand that I would wait until the convention to make a choice. Jesse Jackson had not announced that he was going to run for the presidency of the United States. Now I believe it's it will be my role to help bring together all of the different factions that have supported various candidates. And I hope to do that I hope to do it successfully so that we won't at least in our area have bitter divisions among people and we'll all be able to unite and work for one candidate. Mondale seems to be on a roll. Will he be the party's nominee. It begins to look as if Mondale has the momentum and the organization to carry him through the nominating process in July. I would say of the three candidates he's got the best shot right now. I don't think that even Jesse Jackson thinks that he is really going to get the nomination in the end. Will it have been for nothing or do you think that perhaps the candidacy of Jesse Jackson. Has contributed to the process in some way.

I think there is without a doubt it's contributed to the process that you can look at the number of people who are registered to vote. The number of people who participate in the political process that did not participate the last time and see those advantages for May there's a more personal reason why I'm pleased with his candidacy and what it's done. I've traveled to a number of schools in the Kansas City area last and and I judge children they can be anything they want to be in this life. Last year I had a great deal of difficulty can convincing some young black children that they could in fact become president of the United States some of them you know took that point of view pretty cynically this year I don't have that problem. People believe it. And for that reason alone I think his candidacy has been worthwhile. Polls indicate that Roger Mondale could beat very hard but those same polls say that come November. Gary Hart has a better chance of beating Ronald Reagan rather Mondale has him beating Ronald Reagan as a Democrat. Does that concern you know the polls are an indicator of how people feel today. I think that once people focus in on the choice of Roger

Mondale versus Ronald Reagan or Gary Hart versus Ronald Reagan that neither one even one of those people will disappear actually better than they are doing right now. We tend to think that Ronald Reagan is a very very popular president. But if you compare him to other presidents in previous administrations at this point his ratings are not substantially better than any others in fact much worse than some. So I think he's going to have a hard time getting reelected once we begin to focus on his policies and the accomplishments of his administration or really the lack of them. What are the Democrats going to have to do to beat Ronald Reagan come November. I think we're going to have to a point to the lack of progress on the economic front and the last four years the scattershot approach to foreign policy of Ronald Reagan and the resulting confusion that exists and to what some are calling the sleaze factor in this administration the fact that so many of the people appointed by Ronald Reagan just haven't seemed to take public office as a public trust. Jesse Jackson said that Congress ought to make a feasibility study

with regard to the impeachment of Ronald Reagan based on his his foreign policy track record. Is that being discussed in Congress seriously. Well it hadn't been when I when I left for the Easter recess there are a number of us who are upset about the president's foreign policy. And I think that I think it's better to focus in on that foreign policy and what we can do to change it at this point. We have a growing crisis in Central America in a foreign policy that doesn't seem to be realistic. And if if the Congress the Senate and the House can get the president to change that foreign policy through. Resolutions to the president or through the appropriations process I think that's the appropriate way for us to go when members of Congress were asked how would you rate Congress in terms of the responsiveness to the nation's needs. The majority forty three point three percent said only fair. Twenty three percent said poor. And only two point three percent said excellent. We heard at the beginning of the year that we really couldn't expect much from Congress during this session because after all it was an election year. But I'm wondering whether you believe that members of Congress have been too hard on themselves or

whether perhaps they deserved their self-criticism individual members of Congress are very very responsive to their constituencies. But the Congress itself is not designed to be an efficient body. It's designed to be a representative body. If efficiency would come about if we all had the same philosophy and we all wanted to get the same thing done at the same time what we're trying to do is merge the individual philosophies and the interest of all the districts in the nation. So that makes it very difficult for Congress to go forward in in a strong and quick manner. In the long run I think that the Congress will ultimately be responsive on a number of issues that are becoming more and more important in this country the deficit. I think Congress will respond on that. It may take a while that's the nature of the of the institution. But I do expect the Congress to be responsive but hasn't done that yet and it hasn't also tackled the whole question of tax reform either and in all likelihood would you expect any meaningful measure to emerge from this particular session on

the deficit and on tax reform. Well there's been some progress on the deficit the so-called downpayment about 38 billion dollars and most of it in the form of tax increases in the corporate sector for the next three years. That's only about 10 percent of the expected size of the deficit during those three years so we still need to do a great deal more work. But the point you make that this is an election year and that slows down the process is very true. People are gone for primaries they're gone for caucuses throughout the entire year and there are very few days that we can actually legislators a Congress this year. And of course there's the political reality of some members of Congress not wanting to take controversial stands immediately prior to the election. I would I would prefer to see a situation where we had three years or four years to legislate instead of running for office every other year. But that's the system that we have and we have to live with it. I know you favor the Bradley Gephardt fair tax plan. Could you explain how that would

work. Well it would eliminate most of the exemptions deductions allowances that we allow today and reduce them to about five or six major ones and that would still allow individuals to carry out public policy through the tax code but it would get rid of the complexity of the tax structure that we have now to replace it we'd have a system of minimum taxes within every tax bracket so that everyone who qualified to pay taxes would pay a minimum fair Tarif a fair amount of tax in this country and we'd get rid of the system where some people in the very upper income categories and especially some corporations can it can completely escape their tax burden. What sort of support does that have. It's got a growing amount of support. I think it looks very good in the House and of course I think there's a chance in the Senate. I don't think it will be this year but I think it is the tax bill that people are beginning to focus the tax restructuring debate about. One of the presidential candidates supporting that measure is Gary Hart. How do the others fall. My understanding is that Walter Mondale is for a restructuring of our tax code but hasn't

identified any particular builder support at this point in time and that Jesse Jackson is looking at the fairness of our taxing structure. I want to accomplish the same kinds of things that Bradley Gephardt would do. But again not pointing to a specific legislative proposal. He'll be going to the convention uncommitted. What are the chances of an open convention and the Democrats pulling someone else in as their nominee. Well it will be an open convention in the sense that no delegates will be required to vote for the candidate that they are that they are now pledged to. So there is every possibility that a candidate can come to the convention and increase their support or lose their support of something dramatic happens. But after we've gone through these tremendously grueling primary and caucus schedule I think the delegates will be a little bit hesitant to go away from one of the announced candidates to a completely dried untested candidate. And if that were to happen the congressman wouldn't that have sabotaged the efforts of the Democratic Party in terms of trying to establish this attitude public

perception that they are an organized cohesive party. I think it would more than that sabotage the perception of the people of this country who have participated in throughout this entire process really had something to say about who the nominee of the party was going to be. If for instance you know we sat in a smoke filled back room and picked the nominee I think it would seriously damage our chances in the future of being able to get the kind of participation that we've had this year. Democratic Congressman Alan Waite of Kansas City. With me in the studio was Rick Moore the president and associates of the city public relations firm. Rick you've been active in politics you were Mayor of Gladstone right and then briefly as a volunteer you worked in there as an advance man for President Jimmy Carter the 1900 campaign. Well now you're in a public relations business and I suppose the natural assumption is that you're very busy in politics in this election year are you.

Well that's not exactly true John we basically do corporate communications work and corporate clients. We have a couple of small issue campaigns that we're going to be doing this summer but no no more client work in politics for a while. No more candidates right. Well your partner was governor Carlin's assistant he was. So you both have strong political background and we've done legitimate now for a while. Well one thing you did. That is I'm sure going to get considerable attention down the way it was to produce a film about Jerry Wright who was the sixth district Democrat for two terms and then tragically killed on the night he won the primary. Yes it was August 3rd 1976 and Litton was killed. He and his wife and two little girls right pilot the pilot son right he died not knowing that he'd won that primary. Two to one he had talked to his Kansas City office just before

he was leaving. Chillicothe on the way to the campaign rally and knew that the returns looked good but didn't know what the final numbers would be. Well you were the executive producer of a film about Jerry Lynn and we were going to see that a few minutes here. The film is now playing at the Jerry old visitor center at Smithville way. This is a brochure about the visitor center out there. The visitor center at Smithville lake just opened a month ago. It's great go first and there's a very nice exhibit. Things from Jerry Lynn's life there from his great success as a Cheryl a grower and then a little theater where this film plays. You work with the foundation and putting all that together for the the Lytton Foundation about a year and a half ago after Congress decided to name the visitor center that's a corps of engineers project up in Smithville for the

new lake that was just finished up there. They had by an act of Congress they named it after a congressman and a decision was made for half the visitor center to share information about Congressman Linton when he was on the list and Charlayne ranch as well as his life in politics. So that center was built two exhibits one about the Corps of Engineers one about the congressman and then there's a theater which will feature the film. Walter Cronkite is the narrator of the film right. Well who are some other people who worked on this project. We are from act as acted as producers. A lady by the name of Sid Slayton also helped produce it along with her partner Kurt Pickering a gentleman by the name of Terry Taylor who is a long time friend of Congressman Lytton's help script do a lot of the writing for he's now working on his Ph.D. in Harvard. And so that was kind of the crux of the of the

crew that put it together. Well I've seen it. And our audience will see it here in a few minutes but it's very impressive that through it you have the sense of the impending tragedy that's going to occur here this fine family so tragically killed. But it's a very tasteful film and it does sketch of most successful life what we tried to do John was because in ten years there will be a lot of people who won't remember Jerry Litton his talk about a person who grew up in Loch Springs Missouri. Kind of fought his way up from being a shy young man to a successful businessman a successful cattle rancher and then becoming a congressman. So the film in 10 years will be just as appropriate as it is today talking about it's about the American dream and about anyone overcoming some of the problems they have growing up and and going on to enjoy a great amount of success. Well you came to New Jersey very well and you knew him before

his death and then came to know him even better and as you're researching this film. We had 200 hours of film video audio tracks pictures an area it just was unbelievable the amount of time it took to get through it. And it was like reliving the past going through all this material. What do you see out of the exhibit in the Visitor Center. You can go through the exhibit and it basically half of it starts the life of about Jerry Litton when he grew up in Locke Springs. He was a national officer in the FFA it takes you through that all of his trophies and stuff. The little farm at one point in time was one of the biggest cattle ranches in America. Tell us about the ranch and then the last segment of it is about the. The Lytton political years. The other half of the exhibit talks about the Corps of Engineers the Smithville lake the efforts to build the dam and features a lot of highlights about the lake itself and just generally about the Corps of Engineers and what they try to do to

prevent the flooding and the problems that have occurred in that part of the country. Well there are many impressive things about this most professionally work that exhibit there at the center. One of them is the display of trophies won by little cattle in not too many years from 1961 to 1967 68 the Lytton's toured there. There Charlayne heard all around the country and in that period of time when some twelve hundred silver trophies of which you you see just a small part of the exhibit they had at one point in time had won more trophies for showing their cattle than anyone else had in the world and it's kind of an impressive exhibit. Good actually. Well it certainly doesn't look like twelve hundred a year but it's quite an array. And the quotes from Jerry Layton and the. Things that he admired that other people said that are recounted there really is

that exhibit. Well it was a combination of going back and Jerry had kept scrapbooks throughout his career and people like Harry Truman and John Kennedy were very important. So we have highlighted some of their a little bit of history about the two of them in the exhibit just because they were so important to THE LEAD who was the designer the designer was a company in Kansas City called exhibit associates that do different kinds of exhibits. We spent a lot of time with with the congressmen Lytton's mother and his friends to kind of reconstruct that period of time. Well it strikes me as a good place for young people to go to to see how how a life builds along into into what would have been a. Great great success no question. Jerry Litton is is still today. His plays a very important role in the Future Farmers of America in this country as well as well as the state because he was a

national officer and after he was elected to Congress he still every year came back to speak at the national convention and constantly toured the country talking to FFA groups so we already had several thousand FFA boys already come in and tour the facility and they've this film is available to a lot of the FFA chapters around the country and it's it's just now being distributed so he is he was a motivating force in a lot a young boy's life. Well we appreciate very much your making it available for us to show on channel 19. Now let's see the Luton story. Our country is facing serious time calling for serious leadership. But I hope that whoever is our next president that he's a man who can laugh at himself and get the American people to laugh with him. This show.

Better not just that the other man doing badly. But I believe that someday he has a good view of the place. But united by. Jerry Lewis and was securing his place in history from his ranch in Chillicothe the Missouri Jerry Litton and built a multi-million dollar cattle business that it was a national spokesman for the Future Farmers of America and the breeder roommate Sharlee cattle internationally famous he was the United States congressman Tip O'Neill described as the greatest freshman congressman he'd ever seen. He was the man Jimmy Carter said would one day be president of the United States. Lytton was loved almost worshipped by his fellow Missourians yet fast become a political hero. Just four years after announcing his first run for public

office the job of a public one but they did say in that I want to make. And I know that to say it as a U.S. congressman will evolve many sacrifices on a part of myself and my family who would have guessed and just how great a time or three was I would be when my stand election night August 3rd 1976 just hours away from winning the primary race for the U.S. Senate. Jerry Lipton and his wife Sharon and his two children Linda and Scott died in a plane crash along with their pilot and his son. The story of Jerry Lawton is the story of a strong willed and hardworking man. He did not inherit his wealth and he was not handed any public office. He grew up in a modest farm community an only child struggling with shyness. Jerry's rise to fame and fortune would be an uphill battle all the way. It was just

training in the Future Farmers of America that helped Jerry gain self confidence and discipline. Only two years after joining the FFA of his father's encouragement Jerry's Hereford bull or one grand champion and state competition for the junior class on the same day Jerry won eight more ribbons for a group of hawgs. He and his mother raised on synthetic milk from that day forward to the driven youngster one ribbon after ribbon for his livestock projects. Well Mr. Tobias continued success of the FFA have generally ventured into public speaking and radio announcing at the time he was a teenager. Jerry and his future wife Sharon started their own radio show called platter party. This idea of juvenile delinquency. Do you think it's the parents fault or maybe the Children's I think it's a little bit about a little bit of both I think that's a wise viewpoint and you know thanks for talking with us. Let's get back to some of the records we have and show you the like. And then a touchdown.

That's. All the time he was in high school. Once shot I summoned the courage to stand in front of large audiences and tell the FFA story again and again the practice of speaking on behalf of the FFA helped him win first place in the regional speech contest. Young letter came so admired for his public speaking that he was asked to help other FFA leaders develop the skills remembered up to the quickest way to get people is the surest way to overbook if you're if you're going to stray from Christ revealed his messy good stories. Jerry was learning how to inspire an audience. A report we learned that over 3 billion tons of valuable topsoil as been removed each year from our foreign lands through action of water and when this oil went up let's call them at a rate six hundred times around the earth

and make it there and they had close to a mile square at the base and two miles high. The most important influence on lessons early life where as parents older than Charlie Jerry recalled his parents courageous in their will to overcome hard times and one of us first political commercials I know of a farm couple not many years ago and not many miles from here. They had to borrow money to get married and moral money to buy their farm. He worked part time as a truck driver in a truck gravel pit. He helped an older trucker one day and had the misfortune of being thrown beneath the wheels and crippled but he was more than crippled. He was an invalid for seven years which made life the only income they had 11 milk cows milk. That wasn't enough she kept in the sack and he had the misfortune of getting this goat in the trap.

She'd help him out of bed and they go down to the creek and together would get this going. These were difficult times 1943 he was back on his feet and this time a Baylor accident sent him to Mayo Clinic they told him he wouldn't live. They went back to the wife kept him alive with injections she gave him every four hours every day and every week and every month and every year or two years. Then in 1945 their farm nearly paid for with a little insurance. They stood in the lawn and watched it burn to the ground 1046 everything they had invested in it and that was the year that the recipients came along and that disease wiped them out. Once again they had absolutely nothing. But today they're successful. Today they have there are two of the finest people in the

world. I know because that's my mom and dad. Mary's heart was in the little ratchet what it represented to his family. Still a teenager Jerry became convinced his family should breed a rare stock of cattle called Charlotte. So persuasive were Jerry's arguments that his father took him to Texas to look at the strange white cattle leaving the Charlayne who was the cattle of the future. Young left and took out a bank loan for the purchase of their first Shara label. Jerry supportive father cosign the loan. Jerry threw himself into the family business. Especially after graduating from college he'd majored in agriculture journalism at the University of Missouri. Jeremy's background in journalism and I bought him to create a barrage of public relations campaign to promote the Lytton ranch. One of Jerry's most ingenious feats was attracting network anchorman Chet Huntley and I rate a film about the right.

This breed originated in France centuries ago but because it was in the shipping respect they have only recently appeared in the United States. Shine a big beefy animals that are world famous. One of the finest Charlie herds in the country is the Lipton Sharlee a ranch at Chillicothe in Missouri. No one is better qualified to tell you about the Lytton breeding program than Jerry left. Yeah right. Thanks Chad. Our business is to produce a genetically superior breeding stock to enter herds around the globe and to add more pounds of the right kind to their cattle. Lytton ranch is a family enterprise. Here are the senior partners of the team Charlie and to many mom and dad to me and friends to many who they have met and worked with and the growth of this period and the great expansion of the breed more than promoter of the family's ranch and yet another film called

some farm problems can be solved by electronics. The average value of our calves is nearly $8000. We have one of those super sandals worth nearly $400000 with values like this attached to these cattle it's obvious we have to maintain close surveillance of them specially at calving time when a cow approaches calving time she's brought into accounting stalls such as this. We maintain 24 hour closed circuit television observation I look out with cameras such as this with monitors in our office and in our home. The Linn ranch became one of the most sophisticated ranching operations in the country and a multimillion dollar business. Having persuaded the cattle industry to buy Charlotte that it was now ready to convince the voters in rural Missouri that he would be a great spokesman for the heart of America. Its decision to run for public office was no surprise to those who knew him less than a chosen this course. As a teenager after meeting a president from Independence Missouri he talked

about that turning point in one of his political commercials. You know when I was 19 years old I had a 15 minute appointment with Harry Truman that lasted an hour or so. And I challenge any 19 year old boy to spend that along with Harry Truman not come out of his office ready to run for something. Monitored by letter to first become financially independent before running for public office. Advice Geria followed by building the little ranch with his parents. Truman also influenced Litton style of politicking. I just don't enjoy going around kissing the backside of political bosses I take my campaign to the people. I did it the first time I got reelected by 80 percent without their support. I'm running for the Senate now. Somebody said Gee you're not getting endorsements well we're not really spending that kind of time trying to get political bosses to be with us I'm spending my time with the people they're the ones that are going to vote. They're the ones I want to represent anyway. Lessons of maverick style of going straight to the people with this message is best seen on his

own television series called The dialogue with the little man. So skilled was lifted on using TV to promote his political career. Well they became the show's editor actually still locked in the camera shot and then on dialogue Letterman was able to speak to hundreds of thousands of TV viewers and also was positioning himself alongside the nation's most powerful leaders even presidential candidates they were quick to praise. But can I just say to Jerry Litton that he made this possible. It was his idea. And this is a town meeting. And Jerry I want to compliment you. This is a great service that you would perform for the constituency here for your state. And quite honestly some of us that didn't do what I jealous of you. Think it was this program has been on television now for two years and we have been drawing a better rating on prime time by 16 percent. The Monday Night Football

season got to be kidding. So I knew we'd. Never have seen like the remarkable demonstration of what our nation ought to be. I just see a thousand or so people assembled here. I'm very proud of Jerry live and I don't know Congress is going to feel fast. Since the Middle Ages. And I'm proud to say that recently I have been both me and I want to thank Gary for educating me along less than the studio audience members of the Jerry Litton congressional club. Jerry called it returned to see him month after month. They flocked to hear Lytton story telling and his way of explaining Gov.. That reminds me that they came over here to get this question the Russian came over here to buy some big generators and he went into the plant negative and a great deal of time looking for generators. Expensive ones probably clock came in the West all blew in the factory and all the American workers went out to eat

lunch and they Russians said You better shut the gate you're losing your workers in America. Don't worry they'll come back one o'clock whistle blow and all the workers would come back a whistle blew they all came back to the American side and said Now how many generators do you want the Russians said forget the generators give me three dozen of those. I recall one of my favorite stories I love to tell because I enjoy taking a shot in our big French New York City in the Big Apple. The farm boy from from the other went to New York City the boy's name was Fred here. He met a banker back there by the name of dreams a common was to calm talk for a long while and finally he suddenly said where are you from. Tom said to farm boy said that's right he said what you mean he said yes and he laughed so loud you could hear him all the way down the hall. He's a Sunday in what we do it's a New York City that I should not serve but I know what we do with back in the world I was in Chicago airport the other day and I went into a men's room there's a machine there you push a button and whatever comes out to dry your hands and some smart I get faced a message across the top of the machine it said push here to

your congressman. What signs are there that the world is avoiding the conflicts that have plagued us through history and started to work together as a unit. Them's the kind of questions are good politics. If you're talking about us meeting with people talking relating as opposed to political rallies could we get a show of hands of those who consider themselves Republicans or independents. Would you do that. That's a mighty good. That's a frightening number. Let them attracted more media coverage in just four years than most congressmen ever experience. He was especially known as the champion of the farmers and appeared on national television as their spokesman.

Sure Pete is higher today. So is everything else is the price of a car so. So this hospital care story wages before we start condemning the price of food let's compare it a little bit shaky when President Nixon singled out only farmers and what many saw as an unfair income tax investigation. Milton fought for the farmers rights the IRA is there to do what we all are there to do all along and that's to collect back around our country and not to collect information from the private citizens of this country. All the time with them is 38. He was ready to become a senator. He decides to enter one of history's most difficult campaign buttons name recognition is almost zero except to his own rural constituency. What again what and uses television to take his campaign to the people. He makes this race one of the most hotly contested campaigns ever held in Missouri. So how would you describe your political philosophy.

Well I'm liberal on education on programs where they only leave because I think both have been overlooked in that conservative on welfare and fiscal responsibility and liberal on programs of the blacks or the minorities but I'm conservative on bussing because I don't think it will work. Support Jerry Lee Democrat for United States senator. For 10 months the populist candidate continues to keep up his daily 18 hour schedule. Wholesale Lytton almost as caught up with his opponents in the last dialogue show was taped with his wife Sharon keeps her own hectic pace traveling around the state and serving as campaign treasurer. With victory so close but then decides to give his last ounce of strength to the campaign. You never lost a campaign. It would not lose this one. It will have dialogue with me again next month. And at that time I'll either be a congressman. Only way out. Senator on the way in. And I hope you can participate as you've done today if you don't the last four years you can't. I hope you tune in on television throughout the state of Missouri as we continue to. Bring

government. To defeat. Thank you very much. Destined for greatness looked and seemed to have it all. The keen intelligence and unwavering drive. The political savvy and a magnetic touch with the. Characteristics that would have allowed little to withstand the political time and rise to high on the plane took off on election night heading for his campaign headquarters in canvassing. But then only new the first returns looked promising. You would never know it won the campaign by an astounding margin of almost two to one. Historians would refer to the political force as they campaign. It may be a long time before we see the light again. This inspirational life what it stood for for that is what wins legacy. But I really don't think they'll ever be another Jerry LET THERE BE

GREAT me and. That nobody will be that close to. Believing. But I remember I really know one time when he went into politics. I said something about Jerry we should go into politics. We feel so lost without Jack and Bobby Kennedy. And he wrote back. They are gone and you can't keep looking back to them. When the Jerry a little visitor center at

Smithville lake is open now each day seven days a week from 8 to 4pm in mid-May when the use of the lake has increased the visitor center will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Those will be the summer hours. Next week on Kansas City Illustrated will have we hope a gathering here of sports commentators expressing outrageous opinions and making outlandish predictions. Until then for Kansas City Illustrated I'm John Masterman Wishing you a good night and a good week.