 The candidates waved at the crowd of 3 @,@ 000 which had come to meet the plane , and rode together , with Nixon in place of honor , to a rally at City Island Stadium as Eisenhower chatted to Nixon as if the crisis had never occurred . At the stadium , Eisenhower introduced Nixon as a " colleague " who had been subject to " a vicious and unprincipled attack " but who had " vindicated himself " and who " stood higher than ever before " . The presidential candidate finished by reading two telegrams , one from Nixon 's mother assuring the general of her son 's integrity , and the second from Summerfield stating that the RNC had voted unanimously to retain Nixon on the ticket . Nixon then spoke , telling the crowd that this was one of two moments when he was most proud to be an American ; the other had been at the victory parade in New York in 1945 , when he had seen General Eisenhower go by . He called the Wheeling rally " the greatest moment of my life " . 
