A warm coal region welcome for Sen. John F. Kennedy resulted in several impromptu stops along the campaign trail as he greeted large crowds.

One of those stops actually was a bathroom break.A small, one-column story at the bottom of the page of the Tamaqua Evening Courier on Oct. 29, 1960, reported that Kennedy and his entourage took a brief pause in Hometown."The Kennedy party made a surprise stop at the James Fogarty Esso service station ... the president shook hands with all and signed autographs," stated the story.Kennedy stepped out of the convertible and used the bathroom at Fogarty's, located on SR309 three miles north of Tamaqua. The site still stands and houses Eagle Transport, a trucking firm.The building is owned by Brian Tirpak, who, in later years, remodeled the bath but saved the toilet and toilet seat, according to his parents, Marlin and Carolyn Tirpak of Tamaqua.The motorcade then continued on its way."Kennedy also received an enthusiastic reception in McAdoo where 1,000 persons mobbed him at Blaine and Tamaqua streets," stated a Courier report.There, Kennedy addressed the crowd and urged residents to reflect on America's position."Your presence here indicates that you must feel the same way I do about the importance of this election," Kennedy said that day."You know that this nation has to build itself up by whipping the unemployment problem. There are fewer people working in this country and it is hard to find jobs. The nation's economy must be made strong if the U.S. is to maintain a position of world leadership."He also assailed the GOP for not supporting a medical aid bill.Kennedy went on to speak to 12,000 who turned out in front of the Hotel Altamont in Hazleton, 14 miles north of Tamaqua.Interestingly, there were two dominant stories in the Evening Courier on the day after Kennedy's visit. But neither had anything to do with the senator.One was an account about the resignation of the Rev. Paul Kendall at St. John's United Church of Christ. The other was a report about a Tamaqua High School student. Young Roberta Parfitt captured first place in the Halloween storefront window painting competition, a contest sponsored by the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce. Parfitt had painted a life-size witch-and-cauldron portrait on the window of the Tobias store.The other big news of the day was that the Tamaqua Blue Raiders football team beat Shenandoah, 19-7, and Tamaqua's LaFay Hope won the District 11 individual cross country championship in Pottsville.On Monday, Nov. 1, 1960, the Courier followed up with an editorial in support of the reelection of Republican Sen. Paul Wagner.The paper also ran a large story about a GOP political rally held at Wenzel's Auditorium, Center Street. There, W. Stuart Heim, Republican policy chair, state House of Representatives, criticized Kennedy's remarks, alleging that Kennedy rated the U.S. as a second-rate power.The Courier story never mentioned that Kennedy had been in town two days earlier.At the time, the Courier's circulation was 5,192 and the paper sold for seven cents a copy.Tamaqua's population in 1960 was 10,173.In contrast to the visit by Democrat Kennedy, Republican presidential hopeful Richard M. Nixon arrived in Tamaqua in 1968, and was greeted with fanfare, even if impromptu. The Tamaqua Area High School Raider Band marched down Stadium Hill to welcome Nixon at the corner of West Broad and Lehigh streets."You have a fine sounding band," Nixon remarked.