Word: squaws
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...Space. One day in 1954, a two-paragraph item in the San Francisco Chronicle caught Alec Cushing's eye. Reno had bid for the Olympic Games. Cushing had only one chair lift at Squaw then, but he decided to apply too. "I had no more interest in getting the games than the man in the moon," he admits. "It was just a way of getting some newspaper space." The space he got in West Coast papers brought a flood of encouraging letters, made up Cushing's mind: "When I got letters from all those people saying what...
There were only six weeks in which to ready Squaw Valley's bid for consideration as the U.S. nominee to stage the games. Cushing moved quickly, enlisted the support of California State Senator Harold ("Biz") Johnson and Governor Goodie Knight, got the legislators to revive an old bill that had promised Los Angeles money to back its successful 1932 Summer Olympics bid, pass a new version to guarantee $1,000.000 for Squaw. Old Friend and Squaw Stockholder (5%) Laurance Rockefeller gave his support. With evidence of financial backing, a hastily prepared brochure and a charming dissertation on Squaw...
...Triumvirate. For the selling job, Cushing called on two fellow Harvardmen for help: George Weller. globe-trotting reporter for the Chicago Daily News, and Marshall Haseltine, urbane expatriate who lived in Europe. Weller got a leave of absence to work with Cushing. He drove into Squaw Valley over the rutted dirt road from State Highway 89, took one horrified look and decided on the spot that the pitch had to be a return to Olympic ideals of togetherness and simplicity, in contrast to Europe's ornate resorts...
...crucial meeting convened in Paris, Cushing & Co. had made personal contact with 42 of the 62 delegates. The three Americans hung out unobtrusively in cocktail bars frequented by delegates, never pushed themselves, but were always available. Cushing had ordered a huge (7 ft. by 12 ft.) relief model of Squaw Valley at a cost of $2,800, had it shipped to Paris for $3,000. The monster proved so big it would not fit through the door of the I.O.C. exhibit room, but after lodging was found for it down the street, delegates went out of their...
Despite all the groundwork, the outlook was not bright for Squaw when the meeting opened. Huffed a German delegate to Cushing: "Don't think you are going to parlay one ski lift into an Olympic Game." Even a U.S. delegate sneered: "Who's going to vote for you? I'm not." Austria's Innsbruck was Squaw's chief competitor, and seemed a sure winner when one of the delegates charged that Squaw was totally unprepared to stage an Olympics, furthermore should be disqualified because it was not a town (it still is not). Summoned...