The Chautauqua

For many many years, before there was television, one very popular forms of entertainment in communities across the land was the traveling tent show. These productions set up in vacant lots in cities and small towns for a day or two, to as much as a week, providing live entertainment for young and old alike. Like the traveling circus, these shows were performed in tents, but they were different from a circus performance, in that, instead of animals, death defying aerial acts, and the low comedy antics of seals and clowns that the circus provided, these shows featured dramas and comedy productions, performed on a tiny stage, before large and enthusiastic crowds. These shows often provided the only chance that rural audiences had to see traditional dramatic and comedic productions, performed by professional actors. Some of these touring companies were good -- some were very bad. But certainly the best of the best were the traveling road shows that went by the name of Chautauqua.

The Chautauqua form of entertainment came into being in the period of time following the Civil War, and took its name from Chautauqua Lake (New York State), where the first Chautauqua performances were held in 1874.

The first Chautauqua events were in the form of summer camps, where families gathered in large, circus-type tents, in the picturesque Lake Region of Upper New York State, to learn from leading speakers of the day, with a heavy emphasis on morality and improvement of the human frailties. Gradually, the Chautauqua events expanded to other locations, and the bill of fare evolved from moral lessons by leading orators of the day to a more varied form of entertainment, including dance and song, leading comedians of the day, and light dramatic offerings. However, leading lecturers of the day continued to be the main attraction of the Chautauqua circuit through the heyday of Chautauqua, in the 1920s.

For many years perennial Presidential candidate, Nebraskan, William Jennings Bryan was a leading lecturer on the Chautauqua Circuit. His speeches stressed his populist and evangelical views and often centered on Temperance. His oratorical skills were such that he was the most popular speaker on the Chautauqua Circuit until his death in 1925.

In the 1920s two new forms of entertainment became popular with the American public--radio and vaudeville. These media forms tended to take away some of the Chautauqua talent and made them more accessible to the American public. Gradually, the Chautauqua movement began to dwindle and almost came to a full stop during World War II.

In a revival of the Chautauqua movement in the post-World War II years, Chautauqua has made somewhat of a comeback across the American scene. The focus of the shows has changed. Leading political, and newsworthy celebrities still headline the Chautauqua bill, and the shows are still given in large tents, but now we are able to "meet" leading statesmen, suffragettes, and entertainers of days gone by, who are portrayed by actors and actresses who "become" the person they are portraying, in appearance and in the material they present, to the point of conducting question and answer sessions with their audience, never getting out of character. Nebraska State Senator Dave Landis has held Chautauqua (and other) audiences spellbound with his portrayal of US Senator George Norris for a number of years. Hollywood actor, Hal Holbrook, launched his career with his Chautauqua (and other) portrayals of Mark Twain.

McCook has hosted Chautauqua events on several occasions, beginning in 1908. One of the most memorable of the Chautauqua events in McCook occurred in the mid-1970s. My family and I were a part of a sold out audience in a tent in Norris Park, where we got to interact with famed suffragette, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (through her stand-in). We learned how during the period of the Civil War Ms. Stanton had been an abolitionist, but after the War she shifted her political interests to women's rights, especially obtaining the right to vote for women. The portrayal of Civil Rights advocate, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was well done, and included a number of personal stories about Ms. Stanton. For instance, we also learned that Ms. Stanton lobbied vigorously against the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution, (which effectively gave the right to vote to Negro men) -- because those voting privileges did not extend to women -- black or white, and in the twilight of her crusading career she joined with famed Prohibition Crusader, Carrie Nation in the fight against the "Evil Rum."

But clearly the highlight of the '70s Chautauqua event in McCook was the appearance of General William Westmoreland. General Westmoreland had been the commander of US Forces in Vietnam in the '60s. He used his time in McCook to present his views on the Vietnam War.

Westmoreland had had a distinguished military career. Originally from South Carolina, the son of a well-to-do (banking, textiles) family, Westmoreland graduated from the Military Academy at West Point with the Class of 1936. With the advent of WW II, Westmoreland was in a prime position for command, as an Artillery Officer from Fort Sill.

Captain Westmoreland commanded Artillery units in Tunisia, North Africa, moving north through campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France and finally in Germany, rising to the rank of Colonel by the end of the war. During the Korean War he continued his spectacular climb through the ranks, commanding the 187th Airborne Infantry, and at age 42 became the youngest major general in the U.S. Army. He had also earned the reputation as an officer who truly cared about the welfare of his men.

In 1960 Westmoreland was appointed to be the Superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point. This was a bit ironic, in light of the fact that academically, while a cadet at West Point, he had been decidedly less than outstanding. Yet, despite a spotty academic standing at the Point he had been named 1at Captain of his class, the highest rank of a graduating senior. He also received the coveted Pershing Sword, given to the "ablest graduating cadet."

In 1964 Westmoreland was assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). As commander of this unit, he was noted for his highly optimistic assessments of the worth of military action in Vietnam. During his tenure, he saw US troop strength go from some 16,000 men in 1964 to 535,000 when he left, in 1968 to become Army Chief of Staff.

General Westmoreland optimistically pursued as strategy of "attrition" in Vietnam, chiefly in increasingly heavy air strikes in the North, which took a heavy toll of casualties of North Vietnamese. Yet, even as the number of enemy casualties mounted, increasing the General's optimism for a military victory, public sentiment against the war increased back home.

The turning point in the Vietnam War came in 1968, with the Tet Offensive, in which massive communist forces attacked villages and cities throughout South Vietnam. Though US and South Vietnamese forces inflicted huge casualties and successfully fought off the northern invaders, the incident cemented anti-war sentiment in the US, causing President Johnson to begin a phase out of US troops, resulting nine months later, in recalling General Westmoreland, and appointing him to be the Army Chief of Staff, 1968-1972 until he retired from the Army.

In his talks at the Chautauqua in McCook, which included a nationally broadcast interview with CBS Newsman, Douglas Edwards, Westmoreland generally reiterated earlier stated views -- that had his policies prevailed, the US could have won the war through attrition. But he also admitted his frustration over his inability to engage the enemy in "large scale" battles (against the smaller, yet more numerous and increasingly effective guerilla attacks by the enemy).

Even in retirement Gen. Westmoreland remained supportive of the men that had fought in Vietnam, marching with those veterans at numerous parades honoring the Vietnam Vets, until age related infirmities forced him to stop. He died at a retirement home in Charleston, South Carolina in 2005. He was 91. He is buried in the West Point Cemetery.

-- Source: Westmoreland bio, sparacus.schoolnet, McCook Gazette, Cent. Edition