Mel Cottone rubbed elbows with presidents

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By Dwight Williamson

Part II

Photo of Dwight Williamson, authorHistory, especially local history, has a way of just fading away with time. Unfortunately, people and places that were once revered in our youth too often leave us without a new generation ever knowing their former values, be them significant or just trivial.

For example, as I daily travel by the now closed Park ’n Eat restaurant located about a mile from Logan at Mt. Gay, I nearly always think of a sandwich that was produced there — and as far as I know — nowhere else. The popular eatery has been closed down since the advent of COVID-19 and it has been a while since I frequented the long standing cinderblock building that likely for decades has withstood more floods than even Sen. Joe Manchin-aired media commercials.

That sandwich, listed on the menu as the “Whatchamacallit” consisted of bologna, banana peppers, onion, hamburger, and some special condiments that made for a delightfully different taste in a sandwich. In fact, now that I think about it, that sandwich name would fit Manchin’s tastes quite well — neither Democratic nor Republican. Just a whatchamacallit.

But that’s not all I think about when I cruise by the former restaurant. You see, if you will look really close the next time you go by there, you will see a spot of vacant land just to the left and behind the drive-in restaurant. In so doing, you must visualize a small frame house that once was the home of one of Logan’s most successful people.

That fellow, who is now a resident of Boca Raton, Florida, and closing in on 90 years old, is a true local example of a guy who went from the “outhouse to the White House.” Although born at No. 20 Whitman Camp and living there in a house without electricity or indoor plumbing, Carmello “Mel” Cottone, who friends called Mel Cotton, said he was raised at Mt. Gay in a house his father (John) purchased in 1941. That small house is now a mere spot of dirt behind the restaurant.

Although time has completely changed the Mt. Gay area — with houses and former businesses now gone — the area once was filled with Italian names such as Esposito, Pansera, Dress, and Piccorrillo, to name just a few. In time, Cottone got to know even more Italians, whose families had come to Logan in hopes of bettering themselves. Names like Triolo, Codispoti, Nolletti, Barber, Varrassi, and Murredu are names that most Logan Countians can identify with even today.

So close were many of the Italian families, many of whom could speak little or no English, that they shared wine presses and some traditional foods together. Mel is even the godfather of one of his friends’ children, Joe Codispoti, Joe’s father being the late Bernard Codispoti.

Cottone’s 50-year political career in Washington D.C. all started in 1960 when a young Catholic named John Fitzgerald Kennedy was to begin campaigning for U.S. president in West Virginia, a state that was dominated by the Protestant faith.

The Kennedy campaign, realizing the importance of showing the rest of the country that a Catholic could be embraced by the Protestant electorate, poured every resource available into southern West Virginia, including a yet undetermined amount of money. Kennedy defeated Hubert H. Humphrey rather handily in Logan County and southern West Virginia, winning the West Virginia primary election, which helped elevate him to the highest office in the land.

There exists even today religious and ethnic bigotry in Logan County, but nothing compared to the 1960s when Sen. John Kennedy brought his Roman Catholic tag to the heart of the Baptist belt. LIFE magazine would proceed to exemplify the prejudice with a story claiming Logan Circuit Judge C.C. Chambers to be a Ku Klux Klan member, which Chambers — a strong supporter of Hubert Humphrey in the presidential election — never denied. The story also featured how votes were routinely “bought” on election days in Logan County.

Mt. Gay native Mel Cottone, right, and his grandson Rick Sargent, met former President Donald Trump last summer at the Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster, New Jersey.

It was a private meeting with Ted Kennedy in Logan that propelled Cottone to vigorously organize local engagements for Ted’s brother, John, during the 1960 primary election. The Kennedys never forgot West Virginia and many of their supporters, including Cottone, who followed John Kennedy to Washington D.C., where he became an aid to both President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.

Following the tragic assaination of JFK, Cottone continued to work for newly sworn in President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was under the Johnson administration in 1964 that Cottone was able to first benefit his home county of Logan.

After the formation of the PRIDE agency in Logan County in 1957, which today is known as PRIDE Community Services and revels in an annual budget of over $8 million — the late Ervin Queen, volunteer executive director of the organization, traveled to the nation’s capital where Cottone proudly handed him the organization’s first grand check.

The $150,000 check was a byproduct of President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” program. Cottone was then serving as one of four federal economic opportunity directors in the nation. “I was delighted to present that check to Mr. Queen,” Cottone said. “I felt like I was giving something back to the place I loved so much.”

Cottone’s remarkable career included numerous titles — including being the “campaign advance man” for John and Robert Kennedy, as well as Lyndon Johnson. In addition, Cottone was at different times appointed deputy director of transportation, co-organizer of the National Urban Coalition, director of economic development for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and several other important titles, as well as being a political strategist, campaign advisor and legal counsel to numerous elected officials.

From the Kennedys to Robert Byrd in 1976, Cottone had personally gotten involved in the campaigns of several well-known politicos, including the likes of senators Edward Muskie and George McGovern, and former Gov. Jimmy Carter, as well as presidential candidates Tom Harkin and Bill Clinton, both in 1992.

The former Mt. Gay native has also written two books, given several interviews to newspapers and has appeared on both ABC and CBS television discussing the JFK assassination and other recounts of his time spent in and around Washington, D.C., and with former office holders.

With a law degree from the University of Baltimore and a business management degree from Marshall University, the very talkative Mel Cottone since his retirement has enjoyed bringing history to life by sharing his fascinating personal experiences of working, especially with former Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Although nearly all of his appointments involved the actions of Democratic officeholders, Cottone says he first met former President Donald Trump in 2004 when Trump was considered “just” a businessman.

And from most indications today, the former advisor to two of the best known Democrats to ever serve in the White House — John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson — the feisty senior citizen seems now to be somewhat enamored with Trump, a Republican.

Last year, Cottone, along with his wife Maria and grandson, Rick Sargent, met the former President at one of his 14 golf courses, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. “He was really gracious to us and told my grandson, he had a great grandfather,” laughed Cottone. “He autographed a photo that my wife had of her and Trump together.”

Who knows, perhaps the former Loganite is hoping for another successful run for the presidency by Donald Trump. And should that occur, well, I’ll not rule out the possibility of another government appointment for Mel Cottone.

Let me think. How about — senior advisor to a senior president?

Of course, It could be argued that we currently could use one of those type appointments.

Regardless, Logan County should already be proud of its “rags to riches” native son, Mel Cottone.

Dwight Williamson is a former writer for the Logan Banner and a retired magistrate for Logan County.

*Published with the author’s permission.

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