The Roanoker March/April 2024 - 11

Strange Days of Roanoke
second largest employer behind the Norfolk &
Western Railway. Many of the plant officials
and initial employee base had been transferred
from another GE plant in Schenectady, New
York.
Like most of Reagan's visits to communities,
his schedule was rigorous. Reagan's day began
at sunrise with a press breakfast at the Hotel
Roanoke, where he recognized Roanoke Times
reporter Melville Carico. He and Carico had
served in the same Army unit during World
War II. An ardent anti-Communist, Reagan's
speech decried the prevalence
of gossip magazines and alleged
cells of Communist sympathizers
as plagues upon Hollywood,
both observations born from
his recent service as president
of the Screen Actors Guild.
He told the audience that he
was constantly asked questions
about Hollywood scandals and
the political leanings of movie
moguls as he toured the country.
After breakfast, Reagan toured the GE
Irv Sharp's " 6 O'clock Show, " where he received
the key to the City of Roanoke from Mayor
Walter Young.
Reagan's evening in Roanoke was busier
than his morning. There was a GE banquet
at 6:45 and then an appearance at the Patrick
Henry Hotel during the opening reception
of the annual Secretarial Workshop, an event
that had drawn women from five states. The
Roanoke Times reported that the handsome
actor caused quite a stir. " He met some 275
misses - all of them gorgeous - at the recepScholars
have suggested
that had it not been for his time
with GE, Reagan might not
have become President
plant, speaking to the workforce and commenting
on the latest advancements being
made by GE, all aligned with the company's
slogan, " Progress is our most important product. "
His tour guides were plant manager B.
F. Mahoney and personnel manager Paul
Thomson. Following lunch, Reagan went to
the nearby Veterans Administration Hospital
and then to the television studios of WDBJ
appearing on " The Anne Howard Show " and
tion. The secretaries all insisted on calling him
'Ronnie' when he appeared in the ballroom. He
had the apparently pleasant sensation of being
engulfed by swarms of women...All the girls
wanted to do was smile brilliantly and say hello.
At length, Reagan got on a speaking platform,
took another look at the assembled pulchritude,
and said, 'Hello. Wow.' "
Reagan's last stop on his whirlwind tour of
the valley was a 9 p.m. appearance at a meeting
promoting Roanoke's Soap Box Derby.
Boys had gathered in the auditorium of the
Times-World Building to learn the rules and
qualifications for entering their racers in the
annual event. They casually mixed with the
actor, perhaps having seen him in a Western, as
Reagan made informal comments. The future
President left the next morning to tour a GE
plant in Hickory, North Carolina.
While Reagan's time as the GE spokesperson
ended in 1962, he estimated that during his tenure
with the company he visited 135 GE plants
and met over 250,000 people. Those visits were
much like his one to the Roanoke
Valley, packed days of glad-handing
and speaking. Scholars have
suggested that had it not been for
his time with GE, Reagan might
not have become President, for
during his high-profile time touring
America, Reagan honed his
extemporaneous speaking abilities
and interpersonal skills and recalibrated
his political philosophy that
was possibly influenced by the probusiness,
anti-regulation culture of GE's executives.
During those eight years, Reagan shifted
from being a New Deal Democrat to a Barry
Goldwater Republican.
The 1957 visit of Reagan to Roanoke would
not be his last. Reagan returned to Roanoke in
1979, again staying at the Hotel Roanoke, to
address the Virginia Republican convention.
Reagan's political stature had increased, as he was
governor of California at the time and seeking the
Republican nomination for President. I
The new General Electric plant
near Salem broke ground in 1955
and was fully operational in 1957
at the time of this photo.
NELSON HARRIS is a former mayor of Roanoke and author of a dozen books on the region's history. He is the minister at Heights Community Church in Roanoke and a past
president of the Historical Society of Western Virginia.
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