Cowboy Chronicles: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of an emperor’s visit to Oklahoma

Cowboy Chronicles: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of an emperor's visit to Oklahoma

Friday, September 13, 2024

Media Contact: Mack Burke | Associate Director of Media Relations | 405-744-5540 | [email protected]

It was 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 18, 1954, when Abe Lee Hesser stepped out of Student Union Parlors A, B and C into the hallway looking for the guest of honor, who was half an hour late.

Three hundred local, state and national dignitaries were seated inside at the most prestigious dinner to date on the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College campus. Hesser, only 29, had been named director of the Student Union the year before.

Coming down the hallway was the diminutive, well-dressed man he had been looking for. The two men spoke briefly; Hesser then opened the door to the dining hall and made the required formal introduction: "His Majesty, the King!"

Selassie bestowed Ethiopian names and titles for Gov. Murray and Dr. Willham, shown here. Al Darlow, not shown, also received notable tributes.

Every attendee stood up as Emperor Haile Selassie walked past Hesser and glanced at Hesser, expressing appreciation but slight consternation. His official title for formal introductions was "By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Elect of God." It could be abbreviated as His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie in an emergency.

Because the task had not been assigned earlier, Hesser, unaware of the protocol, had done the best he could on short notice.

There were very few lapses in protocol during Selassie's visit to Stillwater that summer. The college administration had been coordinating diplomatic protocol efforts with the U.S. Department of State for six months after the emperor made his announcement regarding a trip to several American locations, including OAMC.

Years earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Selassie to the United States. President Harry S. Truman initiated the Point Four Program, which brought OAMC President Henry Bennett in contact with Selassie a second time in May 1951. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had renewed the invitation to the emperor when he was inaugurated in 1953. The official state visit was announced on Jan. 12, 1954.

Preparations at OAMC

Abe Lee Hesser

Having never prepared for a royal visit, OAMC administrators reached out to national officials with experience in formal affairs. After contacting the State Department for guidance in March 1954, OAMC President Oliver Willham sent a letter of invitation to Selassie's private secretary, Tafara Worq, extending a formal request for the imperial entourage to visit Stillwater and the college.

The correspondence included several dates during Selassie's travels and suggested various activities at OAMC. Willham contacted OAMC faculty member Clarence. L. "Dutch" Angerer, dean of the newly established Imperial Ethiopian College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, who had provided a more detailed itinerary for Selassie's trip abroad and included information on the appropriate channels for contacting the imperial household.

M.C. Berger from the State Department provided a draft letter, and Willham utilized her suggestions in his correspondence with Worq. Copies of Willham's letter were also forwarded to the U.S. ambassador in Ethiopia, Joseph Simonson, and the Ethiopian ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C.

Upton Ward, the local Buick dealer, provided four convertibles to transport the visiting dignitaries and officials participating in the program.

Willham also corresponded with Dr. Luther Brannon, OAMC faculty member and associate director for Agricultural Extension, who was in Addis Ababa heading the Ethiopian A&M College. Brannon had an extended meeting with Selassie in April and provided his detailed notes to Willham highlighting specific agenda items for the OAMC administration to consider addressing during the campus visit. Simonson sent Willham a four-page memo providing detailed but brief biographies of the imperial entourage. It included a phonetic spelling of their names, titles, how they were to be addressed, ages, hobbies and interests, educational backgrounds, marital status, children, languages spoken and relevant experiences.

Selassie planned to be in Stillwater for 19 hours, starting with his 3 p.m. arrival at the airport in a specially reserved Trans-World Airline Constellation named the "Star of Bombay," used throughout his extended trip. An airport ceremony, brief tours, dinner and reception would occur on Friday. Breakfast, additional tours and a parade down Main Street were scheduled for Saturday morning before his departure time of 10 a.m. Logistics were planned and coordinated to transport the emperor, his entourage and baggage to the Student Union Hotel. The Presidential Suite on the third floor was reserved with the rest of the group, security and dignitaries staying in the remaining third- and fourth-floor rooms in the Student Union.

The official list of arriving guests changed frequently and adjustments were made quickly with accommodations. Campus and Stillwater police departments were instrumental in supporting the movement of the entire ensemble, providing parking and other security arrangements.

Formal attire was required for those attending the dinner and reception. For men, this meant tuxedos or white dinner jackets. Stillwater clothing stores and local men's wear merchants providing tuxedo rentals were overwhelmed. Male guests traveled to Oklahoma City, Norman and Tulsa to acquire the proper apparel. Women were to wear formal dresses either "ballerina" style or full length.

Before arriving in Stillwater, Selassie attended a White House dinner, appeared in a New York City ticker tape parade, visited cities and colleges in the U.S. and Canada, where he received several honorary degrees and attended a New York Yankees baseball game as manager Casey Stengel's official guest. Before leaving the U.S. for Mexico, the entourage added the one-day OAMC stop to their itinerary.

Royal Tour in Oklahoma Begins

Selassie's flight had been delayed slightly coming from California when the emperor requested that the pilots fly a loop around the Grand Canyon.

Ethiopian and American flags waved in the breeze as the OAMC band was there for the brief following ceremonies.

National, state, city and college officials all provided brief remarks. Selassie had informed the campus earlier that he would like to be introduced to an American Indian. The college invited Acee Blue Eagle to join the welcoming committee program. Blue Eagle was a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and had talents as an educator, dancer, musician and artist. Dressed in Native American regalia, Blue Eagle christened Selassie as the Great Buffalo High Chief, his son, Prince Sahle Selassie, as Thunder Eagle and granddaughter Princess Sebla Desta as Princess Morning Star.

A variety of vehicles formed a caravan to transport the guests and their luggage to campus. After a brief tour of the new air-conditioned library, the official party arrived at the Student Union for check-in at 5 p.m. Only an hour was allowed to relax and change into formal attire for the dinner at 6 p.m.

When the emperor arrived and was ushered in with Hesser's announcement, the five-course dinner began. Gov. Johnston Murray spoke, as did Dr. Willham and Dr. Albert E. Darlow, OAMC vice president for agriculture.

Many attendees were invited to attend the reception in the Student Union Ballroom. The guest list was nine pages long, single-spaced, with two columns per page. Another page was allocated for press, radio and television guest invitations. All college staff were invited to the reception. Interested employees needed to visit the President's Office to pick up their official invitation and personal admission card. All 1,600 who requested an invitation were there.

Divided into two groups of 800, the first group was admitted at 8 p.m. and the second at 9 p.m. The reception lasted until almost 11 p.m. Only 20 minutes had been allocated, with each group to meet Selassie in a receiving line with the Williams and the Murrays. The emperor insisted that all those attending have an opportunity to meet him stating, "The people who came here should be greeted." He stood with the two couples greeting guests in the receiving line for two hours and 20 minutes.

"I am very glad indeed to be present with you," Selassie said in a speech. "Indeed, I have made an exception to my usual practice on this trip in leaving my itinerary entirely and making this 2,000-mile trip to express to you my deep appreciation for all that Oklahoma A&M has done and is doing to technical assistance to Ethiopia."

Personal Connections

As the evening was winding down, the emperor returned to the president's suite and spent meaningful moments with Henry and Vera Bennett's children and grandchildren.

Selassie had promised Dr. Bennett before his death that he would visit Stillwater and OAMC to strengthen the Ethiopian bonds with the campus. Selassie reserved this special time with Bennett's surviving family to share his appreciation for what their father had done for Ethiopia.

While his father was with the Bennett family, Prince Sahle enjoyed the Student Union jukebox, eating hot dogs that he found "tasty," savoring ice cream sundaes and Cokes with new acquaintances. Most guests had retired to their rooms by midnight, but at 2:30 a.m., Saturday morning, Selassie notified the guard at his door that he needed medical assistance. His stomach was upset, and he was unable to sleep. Craig Hampton, head of the Student Union Hotel, contacted Stillwater physician Dr. George Gathers.

"He was pretty uncomfortable when I got there but was feeling much better by the time I left an hour later,"
Gathers said.

Acee Blue Eagle provided gifts to the three royal visitors, including an eagle-feathered war bonnet, pottery with corn meal for sustenance of life and a branch of evergreen symbolizing eternal life. Selassie gave Blue Eagle a gold medallion.

Selassie was given opiates and sulfa drugs, encouraged to eat a light breakfast and get more rest. For his early morning excursion, Gathers was presented with a gold medallion commemorating Selassie's coronation.

The president of Mexico notified the emperor's staff that he would like them to arrive in Mexico City earlier than initially planned. After his challenging night with little sleep, the emperor hoped to have time to relax on the flight south. The parade down Main Street was canceled, and the campus motor tour was altered to include only a quick trip through the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station west of town as they made their way to the Stillwater airport.

A few complimentary remarks were made, and at 7:46 a.m., the Ethiopian visitors were on their way to Mexico. Melvin B. Tolson, the first Black graduate student to complete his coursework at OAMC and a Langston University faculty member, had hoped to present a book of poems and prose titled "Rendezvous with America." The earlier-than-expected flight prevented their meeting, and the book was sent later to Selassie.

In July, Simonson wrote to Willham from Addis Ababa.

"How tremendously pleased all of us were over the marvelous way in which you handled the visit of His Imperial Majesty on your campus and in your community and state," Simonson said. "You all acted as though you were in the habit of entertaining royalty every week. I know that His Imperial Majesty appreciated so much the opportunity to be with you and the Oklahoma family."

The emperor's visit cemented the new academic relationship between OAMC and Ethiopia, enhancing the lives of hundreds of Oklahomans while providing educational and agricultural opportunities to tens of thousands of Selassie's countrymen, known at Oklahoma State University as our "Great Adventure."

Photos: Provided

Story by: David C. Peters | STATE Magazine

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