He waffles, and he wiggles…campaign talk 41 years ago

The presidential campaign was winding down on Halloween of 1976, with election day on November 2nd.  For the first time ever, an incumbent U.S. President (Gerald Ford) debated his challenger (Jimmy Carter) on live TV that fall.  Carter was said to be waffling and wiggling, according to Ford, who said the Georgia Democrat “isn’t the man you want for president.”  Carter accused Republican Ford of being “brainwashed,” and Ford was hurt by an answer in one debate where he insisted that Poland was not being dominated by the Soviet Union. 

Onalaska was steadily growing bigger in the 1970’s.  The city only had 3000 people in 1960, and almost 5000 in 1970.  The ’76 population estimate was 7000 or more.  Today, Onalaska is more than twice that size. 

UW-La Crosse celebrated Halloween that year with a stage production of “Dracula.”  Viterbo’s October show was “Hello, Dolly!”  And the La Crosse Community Theatre put on the musical “The Pajama Game.”  In honor of La Crosse’s history of having clothing factories, the LCT show changed the setting of “Pajama Game” from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to La Crosse, featuring painted scenes of the Cass Street bridge and the Pettibone Park gazebo.  Forty-one years ago, 1976, Yesterday in La Crosse.