Mississippi Masters; No. 1; John C. Stennis: A Senator's Senator; Part 2

<v John C. Stennis>Then there's an awakening on the part of the people that their own state <v John C. Stennis>laws. <v John C. Stennis>That present their policy and their state of being repeatedly ?inaudible? <v John C. Stennis>down by the Supreme Court. <v John C. Stennis>Laws that were enacted, for instance, to protect the state and its <v John C. Stennis>citizens and its own state government from subversive <v John C. Stennis>influences, from infiltration, communistic activities, <v John C. Stennis>and other matters. <v Harry McPherson>He argued back on behalf of Mississippi usually and as <v Harry McPherson>in those days, was done with elaborate legalistic <v Harry McPherson>speeches about states rights. <v Harry McPherson>Long descriptions of old court cases <v Harry McPherson>in which the rights of states to determine matters <v Harry McPherson>like the right to vote or to ride in <v Harry McPherson>public accommodations was made clear.

<v Cokie Roberts>One of the ways the South had to stave off the oncoming Civil Rights Movement <v Cokie Roberts>was the use of the filibuster that prevented votes from being taken on civil rights <v Cokie Roberts>legislation. Historically, the Southern delegations were known <v Cokie Roberts>for their great oratorical skills. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis and his fellow Southerners upheld that tradition, sometimes <v Cokie Roberts>with around the clock speeches. <v Mary McGrory>It was tedium. It was unlimited tedium. <v Russell B. Long>?inaudible? would divide ourselves into groups. <v Russell B. Long>For example, the opposition decided that <v Russell B. Long>they're going to make us go around the clock. <v Russell B. Long>24 hours a day. <v Albert Gore>To be successful, it must be organized. <v Albert Gore>And Senator Stennis was usually one of the organizers. <v Albert Gore>Speeches would be assigned to certain members, certain phases <v Albert Gore>of the subject matter on certain days, certain points would be made.

<v Albert Gore>And he was a good organizer. <v Russell B. Long>We had 2 teams of 6 senators. <v Russell B. Long>1 team of 5 senators. Senator Stennis was the captain of the team with 5 senators and I <v Russell B. Long>was on that team. <v Mary McGrory>The page would bring the little reading stand and they would have all <v Mary McGrory>their volumes beside it and they would have their glass of water and they would stand up <v Mary McGrory>and they would read, oh, Supreme Court cases and history books and <v Mary McGrory>insight law. Hour after hour after hour. <v Russell B. Long>What we would tend to do is to drag things along. <v Russell B. Long>Each member would talk for 4 or 5 hours. <v Mary McGrory>And maybe an ally would interrupt them with a friendly question <v Mary McGrory>so that they could sort of get their breath. <v Mary McGrory>And they, you know, they had to spell each other so that the <v Mary McGrory>the that tone would not fall. <v Russell B. Long>I've been at it for about 11 hours and feeling fine. <v Russell B. Long>I was looking forward to carrying on indefinitely and John Stennis

<v Russell B. Long>came and tugged on my coat. <v Russell B. Long>You've got to wind this speech up for now. <v Russell B. Long>He said that we'll need you more, we'll need you again 2 days <v Russell B. Long>from now. <v Mary McGrory>You know, they used to have cots in the in the cloak room and <v Mary McGrory>uh people would, some people got a little drunk. <v Mary McGrory>Some people got a little ugly. <v Mary McGrory>And they got very, very tired. <v Russell B. Long>We've followed John, just as though <v Russell B. Long>he was a master of the universe because we knew he was a good captain and <v Russell B. Long>we owed it to him to give him our cooperation, our support. <v Harry McPherson>Senator Stennis was in his <v Harry McPherson>um ascendancy as a committee chairman and as one of the wheels in the Senate <v Harry McPherson>uh at a time when the South uh was a very different <v Harry McPherson>place than it is today, politically.

<v Harry McPherson>Very few blacks voted in the South. <v Harry McPherson>The uh black politicians of the day had not gained <v Harry McPherson>any standing in the cities. <v Harry McPherson>White politicians did not need to think much about a black vote. <v Harry McPherson>They might be as Senator Stennis was or Senator Lister Hill of Alabama, <v Harry McPherson>John Sparkman of Alabama. <v Harry McPherson>Gentlemen, courteous and respectful of all people, <v Harry McPherson>uh but rather in the manner of a courteous <v Harry McPherson>and respectful southerner of the day. <v Harry McPherson>Not not uh very imaginative when it came to civil rights <v Harry McPherson>legislation or social legislation generally. <v Cokie Roberts>By 1969, the Supreme Court had set a deadline on public school integration <v Cokie Roberts>that sent alarms throughout the south. <v Cokie Roberts>Mississippi was hard pressed to comply with the court's mandate of forced busing.

<v Cokie Roberts>This growing domestic crisis, coupled with rapidly heating conflict <v Cokie Roberts>over the anti-ballistic missile bill, forced Stennis to act out of <v Cokie Roberts>character. Charles Overby, then a correspondent for a Mississippi newspaper, <v Cokie Roberts>broke a story that alleged a connection between Stennis's support of Nixon's <v Cokie Roberts>unpopular ABM bill and the intractable stance of the Supreme <v Cokie Roberts>Court. <v John C. Stennis>I think this weapon, the ABM could prove to <v John C. Stennis>be the very fate of <v John C. Stennis>our continued existence as a nation. <v Charles L. Overby>I had just gone from being an aide to Senator Stennis to a <v Charles L. Overby>member of the press, and uh Senator Stennis frequently <v Charles L. Overby>was asked by the president, all the presidents to come down <v Charles L. Overby>to the White House. But in that period, the ABM Treaty was hot. <v Charles L. Overby>And Senator Stennis was being asked to carry President Nixon's

<v Charles L. Overby>water on the Senate floor. <v Charles L. Overby>And he was doing a good job of it. <v Margaret Chase Smith>What they were trying to do was to have a development <v Margaret Chase Smith>of a further a further research on an issue <v Margaret Chase Smith>that had already been settled and was opposed to, and I couldn't <v Margaret Chase Smith>see why you should spend 750 million dollars <v Margaret Chase Smith>to research something that the Senate already said was not <v Margaret Chase Smith>desirable. <v Charles L. Overby>But on the other hand, the busing matter was reaching a zenith of emotion <v Charles L. Overby>and uh Senator Stennis, of course, opposed the busing. <v Charles L. Overby>Compulsary busing. <v John C. Stennis>I'm not fighting any race. I'm fighting for our community <v John C. Stennis>schools, our neighborhood schools, <v John C. Stennis>and fighting for a way of life for both races. <v Charles L. Overby>He felt like on the one hand the Nixon Administration was asking him to <v Charles L. Overby>help them out on something of international importance.

<v Charles L. Overby>And on the other hand, he felt the Nixon Administration was hurting him and and uh <v Charles L. Overby>the people of Mississippi. And so in what I think is <v Charles L. Overby>uh uh quite out of character for him, an unusual move. <v Charles L. Overby>He delivered a letter to President Nixon which said, it carried <v Charles L. Overby>a veiled or maybe not so veiled threat, that unless you <v Charles L. Overby>give uh me some relief on one side, I'm going to <v Charles L. Overby>be forced to uh pay more attention and I just won't be able to carry on the duties. <v Charles L. Overby>And I'll have to give uh to this ?doveish? <v Charles L. Overby>Senator Symington the responsibilities for the ABM Treaty. <v Charles L. Overby>And so, of course, that sent fire alarms off in the White House, 'cause John Stennis <v Charles L. Overby>had never done anything like that in his life. <v Bill Spell>There was some relief and what Senator Stennis was looking for was not not <v Bill Spell>a not an end of the busing, but simply uh busing with more reason <v Bill Spell>than and that would accomplish the objective. <v Bill Spell>But at the same time would not penalize a little school kids.

<v Bill Spell>So uh he sort of used his power there and did it at <v Bill Spell>high places and did it rather effectively. <v Cokie Roberts>In 1970, John Stennis pushed for uniform standards <v Cokie Roberts>for school desegregation for both the North and the South. <v John C. Stennis>I just have an old fashioned idea that what's good for Jackson, <v John C. Stennis>Mississippi or Meridian or Clarksdale, any school ought to be good for Jackson, Michigan, <v John C. Stennis>Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York or Denver <v John C. Stennis>or in California. <v John C. Stennis>But the very reverse is true. <v Cokie Roberts>What took many people aback was the fact that Stennis had gained support from <v Cokie Roberts>an unlikely source. Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff. <v Abraham Ribicoff>I accused uh the northern senators of being <v Abraham Ribicoff>hypocritical, that it was very easy for them to sit in judgment <v Abraham Ribicoff>on matters 2,000 miles from where they lived without knowing what

<v Abraham Ribicoff>the situation was and be indifferent or blind to <v Abraham Ribicoff>the same situation that happened within blocks from where they lived. <v Abraham Ribicoff>This was a problem that was endemic to the entire nation and that <v Abraham Ribicoff>we should treat the north and the south the same way and not try to punish the <v Abraham Ribicoff>south for what the north was doing. <v Abraham Ribicoff>And I felt that the senators from the North were hypocritical in their <v Abraham Ribicoff>attitudes and their actions and their votes. <v John C. Stennis>Already in Mississippi, for instance, almost half of <v John C. Stennis>our black students are going to fully <v John C. Stennis>integrated schools with substantial numbers of <v John C. Stennis>white students. <v John C. Stennis>Many of them have a majority of white. <v John C. Stennis>Whereas in Chicago and Philadelphia, the <v John C. Stennis>percentage of those colored students that are going

<v John C. Stennis>to all black schools or 99 percent black schools <v John C. Stennis>are steadily rising and is now above 50 percent <v John C. Stennis>or right at 50 percent in those 2 cities. <v Cokie Roberts>Although Stennis had the support of the southern senators, no one else was paying much <v Cokie Roberts>attention to his position. Out of courtesy to Stennis, Ribicoff shared <v Cokie Roberts>an advanced copy of his remarks. <v Abraham Ribicoff>What I did not know when Senator Stennis <v Abraham Ribicoff>got a copy of my speech, uh he asked that time be set aside <v Abraham Ribicoff>for me to make my presentation. <v Abraham Ribicoff>And when the word got out that I was going to take the position that I did, the Senate <v Abraham Ribicoff>filled up and the Senate was full and it was a very, very heated debate. <v Cokie Roberts>Before a fully packed and almost disbelieving Senate, <v Cokie Roberts>Abraham Ribicoff delivered a blistering speech in support of Stennis's <v Cokie Roberts>education bill that called for a nationally applied policy of school

<v Cokie Roberts>integration. <v Abraham Ribicoff>The plain fact is that racism is rampant throughout the country. <v Abraham Ribicoff>It knows no geographical boundary and has known none since a great migration <v Abraham Ribicoff>of rural ?bikes? after World War Two. <v Abraham Ribicoff>Perhaps we in the north needed the mirror held up to us by <v Abraham Ribicoff>the senator from Mississippi in order to see the truth. <v Abraham Ribicoff>If Senator John Stennis of Mississippi wants <v Abraham Ribicoff>to make honest men of the northern liberals, I think we should help <v Abraham Ribicoff>him. But first, we must be honest with ourselves. <v Tom Korologos>But that was not a surprise. <v Tom Korologos>I think it was a mark of leadership what he did with Ribicoff, one of the big liberals in <v Tom Korologos>the Senate, and John Stennis is one of the big conservatives in the Senate. <v Tom Korologos>Gave a lot of people cover to go vote for that if it's okay with Ribicoff, must <v Tom Korologos>be OK. If it's okay with Stennis, it must be OK. <v Tom Korologos>So both sides were able to gang up and and be supportive of the proposal.

<v John C. Stennis>Action on my amendment was not altogether <v John C. Stennis>favorable, but it was by no means a loss. <v John C. Stennis>The amendment stayed in the bill, but in a watered down form. <v John C. Stennis>I'm going to continue to press this issue at every level. <v John C. Stennis>[music plays] [audience cheers] <v John C. Stennis>It's known all over Washington that John <v John C. Stennis>Stennis is a battling lawyer from Mississippi and will <v John C. Stennis>not ?inaudible? under any final circumstance. <v John C. Stennis>[audience cheers]

<v Ed Cole>In '79 and '80, I was a member of the State Executive <v Ed Cole>Committee of the State Democratic Party. <v Ed Cole>Many of us had talked about the need to get a <v Ed Cole>younger candidate that we thought would be more progressive to <v Ed Cole>run. <v Haley Barbour>You have to remember when I ran against John Stennis in 1982, I was the first person <v Haley Barbour>who had ever run against him since he was first elected in 1947, 35 <v Haley Barbour>years. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>He was um astounded at the um way of campaigning. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>So much changed from the time that he first campaigned. <v Cokie Roberts>Haley Barbour, a young politically active attorney from Yazoo City, Mississippi, <v Cokie Roberts>was a serious Republican contender against the then 81 year old Stennis <v Cokie Roberts>in what had been traditionally a staunchly Democratic state. <v Haley Barbour>There were just two things that were in issue and they cross-pressured the voters of

<v Haley Barbour>Mississippi. One was a thing that Senator Stennis was too old and a lot of people <v Haley Barbour>felt that he shouldn't run for another term. <v Haley Barbour>And that was cross-pressured by the idea that if he left Washington, Mississippi would <v Haley Barbour>give up too much power. <v Cokie Roberts>Having been unopposed for so many years puts Stennis at a slight disadvantage. <v Cokie Roberts>For all intents and purposes, he had no political organization in place, <v Cokie Roberts>but he had something no opponent could bring to the race. <v Cokie Roberts>A track record of service. <v Cokie Roberts>A list of accomplishments spanning the better part of the mid 20th century. <v Cokie Roberts>The Stennis campaign strategy was to build on those accomplishments and the power <v Cokie Roberts>the senator had accumulated. <v Haley Barbour>All we could say is, sure, he's done a great job and he had. <v Haley Barbour>But the question is the next 6 years. <v Haley Barbour>Not the last 35. <v Ed Cole>Most of us who were in the black community <v Ed Cole>uh were operating on a perception that he was a hopeless case,

<v Ed Cole>that he was conservative, that he <v Ed Cole>was against all of the programs we were involved <v Ed Cole>in and concerned about that he would not support extension of the Voting Rights Act, <v Ed Cole>that he would not support legal services, <v Ed Cole>that his whole record on civil rights vote suggested that <v Ed Cole>there was no hope. <v Haley Barbour>It was black voters who voted overwhelmingly for Senator Stennis. <v Haley Barbour>And they were just simply not as affected by this, by the polarity <v Haley Barbour>in the survey research. That is age versus power, they were affected by one thing. <v Haley Barbour>They wanted to vote for the Democrat, wanted to vote against Ronald Reagan and the <v Haley Barbour>Republican. <v Cokie Roberts>Another factor may have been Stennis's willingness to reexamine his position <v Cokie Roberts>on the pending vote for the extension of the Voting Rights Act. <v Cokie Roberts>A vote in favor would acknowledge the debt to his black constituents. <v Aaron E. Henry>Senator Stennis certainly has developed a metamorphosis

<v Aaron E. Henry>over, I would say, the last 10 years. <v Aaron E. Henry>But I think that that much of what happened to him after <v Aaron E. Henry>'82, in terms of support was a <v Aaron E. Henry>true expression of his feelings and that he had been really uncomfortable <v Aaron E. Henry>with himself with regard to positions he had taken <v Aaron E. Henry>earlier, you know. ?inaudible? <v Aaron E. Henry>Of Voter Rights Act 4 continue it ?inaudible?. <v Aaron E. Henry>All of the negatives that we have fought so long in this country to try <v Aaron E. Henry>to overcome on that level. <v Ed Cole>I never was comfortable that that he was going to vote for Voting <v Ed Cole>Rights Act, but I saw in the conversation that and in the <v Ed Cole>discussions that we had that there was the opportunity to get some <v Ed Cole>help from him on a lot of other issues that were extremely important to to <v Ed Cole>people in the black community. Uh he expressed a real strong

<v Ed Cole>commitment to upgrading education in the state, <v Ed Cole>a real strong commitment to try and help Mississippi to fully <v Ed Cole>make the transition from two societies to one society <v Ed Cole>where everybody could participate. I felt real comfortable with that. <v Ed Cole>And I felt that uh even if I had to sacrifice <v Ed Cole>a Voting Rights Act vote uh there would be a lot of other things that <v Ed Cole>he would be willing to help us to do. <v Joseph R. Biden>Gave me a little lecture one time about how good the changes were in civil <v Joseph R. Biden>rights when I went to about the Voting Rights Act and the reauthorization of the Voting <v Joseph R. Biden>Rights Act, and he talked about how there were mistakes made. <v Joseph R. Biden>And in hindsight, I couldn't understand why I didn't see things the way they are now. <v Joseph R. Biden>It was clear now that not only is it was the Voting Rights Act and then the civil <v Joseph R. Biden>rights legislation good for black folks. <v Joseph R. Biden>But he said it was good for my home, good for my state. <v Joseph R. Biden>It was good for my people.

<v Joseph R. Biden>Now, that's an inte- that's a phenomenal that's a phenomenal uh <v Joseph R. Biden>recognition on the part of a man who'd been here for so long. <v Haley Barbour>Quite honestly, as I told friends during the campaign, and I'm grateful it never came <v Haley Barbour>out. If Senator Stennis had been 61 instead of 81, I would've supported <v Haley Barbour>him myself. <v John C. Stennis>I want the people of Mississippi to know that even though I'm chairman of the Armed <v John C. Stennis>Services Committee, I yearn for peace, <v John C. Stennis>a change for our nation to have peaceful years. <v Harry McPherson>As a committee chairman, he was authoritative and business-like. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>Senator Stennis just was so fair with all his colleagues. <v Tom Korologos>He'd just drive us crazy. He gave he was so fair in there. <v Harry McPherson>Quite courteous to witnesses. <v Sam Nunn>Senator Stennis uh could, on the one hand, be <v Sam Nunn>uh absolutely uh deferential.

<v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>He would never castigate someone publicly. <v Speaker>On the other hand, he could uh treat a witness like a people in a <v Speaker>first grade class. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>Senator Stennis could just devastate a general with a look or <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>or 2 or 3 little words. <v Sam Nunn>But he was always polite. Either way, he went. <v Speaker>I'd say to him, ?cut? The votes, run 'em, roll it. <v Speaker>He felt that if there was testimony being taken, <v Speaker>the witness was entitled to be heard. <v Tom Korologos>All the witnesses, all the senators had a chance. <v Tom Korologos>He gave them a lot of rope. <v Harry McPherson>But he moved it along. <v Sam Nunn>That kind of skill, I think it has something to do with his own uniqueness, but it also <v Sam Nunn>had something to do with his heritage and the fact he was from the south where <v Sam Nunn>diplomacy and uh being a gentleman was part of his real roots. <v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Howard Baker>I never saw a situation ?over?

<v Howard Baker>so many admirals and generals would tip their hat or bend a knee <v Howard Baker>to one man as they all did to John Stennis, 'cause they recognized him as the <v Howard Baker>premier civilian authority, except for the president affecting the military <v Howard Baker>establishment. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>I think sometimes he might be able to relate better to the, to the corporal <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>or the sergeant who is trying to get a job done, like to get a tank to run <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>or get a computer terminal to work uh rather than <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>the generals who sometimes would when they when they came before the committee, <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>it would almost be like a wave of activity. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>You would have somebody open the door and the general come in and <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>the general would take off his hat and there would be someone to take his hat. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>And there was one general, we won't mention any names, um but the general wanted a <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>cup of coffee one day and we were convinced that his aide-de-camp was gonna open <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>up a briefcase and produce a silver tray to put the cup of coffee on. <v Louise Hoppe Finnerty>But we gave him a Styrofoam cup just like everybody else.

<v Speaker>He told me many times, if you want to know what's going on in the military, go to the <v Speaker>sergeants and the chief petty officers, go to the young lieutenants and the majors. <v Speaker>Don't have all your information filtering through the top levels of the Pentagon. <v John C. Stennis>Since the beginning of the Labor Day break. <v John C. Stennis>I have precedent conferred with over 1000 G.I.'s and <v John C. Stennis>junior commission officers, lieutenants, and captains at various <v John C. Stennis>bases in the nation. <v John C. Stennis>?To? them trying to maintain a combat army without the <v John C. Stennis>draft was a pure joke, and they frankly <v John C. Stennis>said so. <v Sam Nunn>So he thought a great deal of military personnel, but he was skeptical of bureaucracy. <v Sam Nunn>He was skeptical of large organizations and he was skeptical of waste <v Sam Nunn>and inefficiency in government. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>Defense uh money became more and more controversial, especially <v Edward Braswell Sr.>Vietnam. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>But Senator Stennis never lost a any major amendment on this entire subject <v Edward Braswell Sr.>throughout any of those years.

<v John C. Stennis>Last year we were able to overcome the opposition <v John C. Stennis>and I think after a healthy debate, we will this year also <v John C. Stennis>overcome those amendments which if allowed to pass <v John C. Stennis>and follow through would leave us without <v John C. Stennis>defensive weapons, without the ability to defend ourselves as <v John C. Stennis>early as 1977 and our enemies would know that long before <v John C. Stennis>that date arrived. <v Tom Korologos>At one time, there was a defense appropriation, a defense authorization bill uh when <v Tom Korologos>President Nixon uh uh was working very hard, we had called senators. <v Tom Korologos>We had uh worked diligently. Senator Stennis was on the floor for 6 weeks, as I recall, <v Tom Korologos>and the bill passed and I went in and told the president that uh Senator Stennis did it. <v Tom Korologos>And the president says, well, I think I'll call him. <v Tom Korologos>So we got Senator Stennis on the phone. And the president said to him, uh uh <v Tom Korologos>John, I want to thank you for what you did for me on this uh defense bill. <v Tom Korologos>And Senator and I saw President Nixon pause and look back and

<v Tom Korologos>then they thank each other and after they've hang up the phone, I said to President <v Tom Korologos>Nixon, what was that all about? And he said, Mr. President, I didn't do it for you. <v Tom Korologos>I did it for my country. <v Speaker>?inaudible? an American and having been a ?inaudible? [laughing] <v Tom Korologos>We ?hadn't done? the war vote one time and there was a senator on the floor who <v Tom Korologos>was very old and uh uh did not uh comprehend too much what was going <v Tom Korologos>on. And so the opposition went and sat a freshman senator on <v Tom Korologos>next to him. And Senator Stennis came out and said, how's it look? <v Tom Korologos>And I said, it's uh if if depending on how we get this one senator is how the <v Tom Korologos>vote goes. And so Senator Stennis went in and moved the freshman aside and said, I've <v Tom Korologos>been this man's friend for a long time. Let me talk to him. <v Tom Korologos>And Senator Stennis talked to him. He turned the vote around right there in front of us

<v Tom Korologos>and we won the vote. <v Tom Korologos>Uh that uh was one of the one of the premier legislative victories that we had <v Tom Korologos>that Senator Stennis uh pulled off for us. <v Tom Korologos>Uh and again, he did it for his country. That's uh that was John Stennis in action. <v Photographer>1 2 <v John C. Stennis>Welcome to America. I'm glad you're here. ?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>During the Nixon administration, U.S. <v Cokie Roberts>troops began withdrawing from combat in Southeast Asia under a program <v Cokie Roberts>Nixon termed Vietnamization. <v Cokie Roberts>By December of 1969, more than 60,000 troops <v Cokie Roberts>had actually withdrawn, but a staggering 500,000 U.S. <v Cokie Roberts>servicemen and women remained on duty in Vietnam.

<v Cokie Roberts>While Vietnamization was taking root, Nixon made the decision to send <v Cokie Roberts>troops into Cambodia, and reports began to surface about a possible clandestine <v Cokie Roberts>effort in Laos. <v John C. Stennis>I'm fully satisfied in my mind that President Nixon <v John C. Stennis>has no plan, no design to get in the war, <v John C. Stennis>so-to-speak, in Cambodia or support that government. <v Cokie Roberts>Despite Stennis's support of the president, the Senate passed the Cooper Church amendment <v Cokie Roberts>in 1970, which prohibited the president from introducing U.S. <v Cokie Roberts>ground combat forces into Cambodia. <v John C. Stennis>As the head of our government and our nation, he's the only <v John C. Stennis>authority on our Constitution and this is well-known, well-known by <v John C. Stennis>our enemies that can conduct negotiations <v John C. Stennis>or a plan of fighting and withdrawal, it will get us out of this war. <v John C. Stennis>For that reason, I think it's a great mistake to

<v John C. Stennis>even talk about putting restrictions on him in any way, <v John C. Stennis>much less to impose them. <v Cokie Roberts>Although he strongly opposed the Cooper Church amendment, by 1971, <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis's growing disillusionment with the Vietnam War and his concern <v Cokie Roberts>for the balance of governmental power prompted him to launch his own offensive. <v Cokie Roberts>The War Powers Act was a direct challenge to presidential authority on foreign <v Cokie Roberts>policy and military involvement. <v John C. Stennis>I totally reject the concept, though advocated from time to time that <v John C. Stennis>a president, any president has certain inherent powers as Commander in Chief which <v John C. Stennis>enable him to extensively commit major forces to combat <v John C. Stennis>without congressional con- consent. <v John C. Stennis>Any president, I'm not referring to President Nixon. <v Tom Korologos>When Senator Stennis introduced the War Power Amendment and co-sponsored it with Senator

<v Tom Korologos>Javits, we were very puzzled. <v Tom Korologos>Over why this had occurred and uh was not viewed with any uh <v Tom Korologos>enthusiasm. And one of the reasons was uh John Stennis never loses and <v Tom Korologos>we knew we were in deep trouble when that thing appeared with Stennis's name on it. <v Tom Korologos>And as history showed, we did lose because if John Stennis says all right, <v Tom Korologos>it must be all right, said the Senate. <v Russell B. Long>There had to be some more clear definition of the uh <v Russell B. Long>power of a president to take the nation into combat without without <v Russell B. Long>the war being formally declared. <v John C. Stennis>I'm referring to future events now, it's just too much <v John C. Stennis>for one president or succession of presidents to make <v John C. Stennis>such an awesome decision. Too much for one mind. <v John C. Stennis>He gets committed. He gets pushed forward by circumstances. <v John C. Stennis>He gets surrounded. <v Russell B. Long>So this War Powers Act sought to draw that line and to <v Russell B. Long>set the point at which Congress would be involved in what Congress would would have

<v Russell B. Long>shot itself. <v John C. Stennis>Only by decisive vote in the Congress which represents <v John C. Stennis>the people can there real there be a real test of the settlement of the <v John C. Stennis>country for supporting any war and mobilizing <v John C. Stennis>all of our resources. <v John C. Stennis>Now, that's that's a major part with me. <v John C. Stennis>That's the signal that people have always looked to. <v John C. Stennis>Signal for call to duty by their representatives. <v John C. Stennis>They'll make a sacrifice. <v John C. Stennis>To go out and win a war. <v Cokie Roberts>After 2 years of heated debates, the War Powers Act passed <v Cokie Roberts>over presidential veto in 1973. <v Cokie Roberts>But John Stennis, a co-author and staunch supporter of this controversial piece <v Cokie Roberts>of legislation, was not on hand for the vote. <v Cokie Roberts>At dusk on the 30th of January 1973,

<v Cokie Roberts>Stennis arrived at his home following a long day of work. <v Cokie Roberts>Out of the falling darkness, 2 young muggers attacked the senator. <v Cokie Roberts>Robbing him of his wallet, a gold pocket watch, his Phi Beta Kappa key <v Cokie Roberts>and a quarter. They shot him twice and left him to his fate there <v Cokie Roberts>on the sidewalk. <v Russell B. Long>Everyone was terribly upset that John Stennis was shot. <v Tom Korologos>Total shock and revulsion came spreading through the town. <v Mary McGrory>Not Senator Stennis, I mean, people are very subject <v Mary McGrory>to uh various vicissitudes in this capital of the Western <v Mary McGrory>world, but somehow you felt that a man of John Stennis's probity and dignity <v Mary McGrory>should not be subject to to such treatment. <v Tom Korologos>And uh the reports were not good. <v Tom Korologos>I talked to the White House doctor and when he told us that it had hit a certain <v Tom Korologos>body uh function there, I can't remember what he said it was, but it was uh <v Tom Korologos>80, 90 percent chance that he wasn't gonna survive.

<v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Speaker>I think the entire country and I know that every senator <v Speaker>wanted to do anything they could to show their sympathy and try to be of help. <v Speaker>Of course, it wasn't much we could do. <v Speaker>There's really not much to say except to offer your prayers. <v Speaker>It was all in the hands of the doctors. <v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis, then 71 years old, remained on the critical <v Cokie Roberts>list for the next 5 weeks, slipping in and out of consciousness. <v J.P. Coleman>He said he fully expected to die. <v Sam Nunn>You can't let any revelation on John Stennis go without <v Sam Nunn>talking about his deep religious commitment. <v Sam Nunn>When you sat in the prayer group on Wednesday morning and listened to <v Sam Nunn>John Stennis talk about the faith that sustained him when he was on knocking <v Sam Nunn>on death's door, you understood a whole lot more about the strength the inner father

<v Sam Nunn>of John Stennis. It was based on a deep and abiding faith in God and his religious <v Sam Nunn>principles. <v Cokie Roberts>Once he was removed from the critical list, Stennis returned to work first <v Cokie Roberts>using his hospital room at Walter Reed as a temporary office. <v Cokie Roberts>Sooner than most people could imagine, he was back on the floor of the United States <v Cokie Roberts>Senate. But his mugging would prove to be the first of several tragedies <v Cokie Roberts>that would mark the remainder of Stennis's political career. <v Cokie Roberts>The year following his successful campaign in 1982, Miss Coy, <v Cokie Roberts>his wife of 54 years, passed away. <v Cokie Roberts>Later that year, Stennis was forced to undergo heart surgery and he suffered a <v Cokie Roberts>bout with pneumonia. In 1984, surgeons removed his <v Cokie Roberts>cancerous left leg. <v Cokie Roberts>At his request, a handle was added to his Senate desk so he could respect <v Cokie Roberts>the tradition of standing to speak. <v Russell B. Long>He would stand there. You wouldn't know the difference between someone who had two good

<v Russell B. Long>legs and John Stennis standing there. <v Russell B. Long>He would stand out like one leg, and he would use that handle to hold himself <v Russell B. Long>erect when he would speak, and he would address <v Russell B. Long>the Senate with great vigor. <v Ronald Reagan>I remember visiting Senator Stennis at Walter Reed Army Medical Center just days <v Ronald Reagan>after the removal of his left leg. <v Ronald Reagan>I admit I felt great pain for him, this fiercely independent <v Ronald Reagan>man forced to undergo such a life altering operation. <v Ronald Reagan>I went to Walter Reed to encourage Senator Stennis, but when I left, <v Ronald Reagan>it was I who had been strengthened. <v Ronald Reagan>For even then from his hospital bed, John <v Ronald Reagan>Stennis talked of the future of this nation. <v Ronald Reagan>Determination to return to his post was evident in everything he said. <v Ronald Reagan>It was December 4th when I made that visit to Walter Reed and just <v Ronald Reagan>over a month later, I stood inside the Capitol to take the oath of office for the second <v Ronald Reagan>term as president. And yes, there was John Stennis in the front row.

<v Sam Nunn>In his last 4, 5 years, he talked a great deal to me and I heard him say things <v Sam Nunn>publicly indicating his great concern about the economy. <v Sam Nunn>He was concerned about the huge deficits that had an effect on his own view about our <v Sam Nunn>ability to finance the military program. <v Joseph R. Biden>But John Stennis, in his last 10 years of the 17 I served with him, was a man <v Joseph R. Biden>who also kept our focus on issues like children's healthcare, <v Joseph R. Biden>farmers, poor farmers who were in trouble. <v Joseph R. Biden>People who got flooded out. People who I mean, it was it was something that became <v Joseph R. Biden>something he'd articulate. It wasn't merely that he'd vote the right way, but you could

<v Joseph R. Biden>see a man sitting there and when he would say those things, it had phenomenal <v Joseph R. Biden>impact on people, on his colleagues. <v Cokie Roberts>During his final term as a United States senator, in addition to his <v Cokie Roberts>Armed Services Committee duties, Stennis was appointed chairman of the powerful <v Cokie Roberts>Appropriations Committee. His colleagues elected him President pro tempore <v Cokie Roberts>of the Senate, third in line to the presidency. <v Cokie Roberts>He continued to look ahead past current needs of the nation to <v Cokie Roberts>the future and what kind of political and economic climate <v Cokie Roberts>he would leave behind. <v Joseph R. Biden>One of the last conversations we had uh was that economic <v Joseph R. Biden>security had reached to the point where it was equal to or <v Joseph R. Biden>more important in measuring the nation's security than military security. <v Joseph R. Biden>And he didn't know how we were gonna be able to continue to fund and fuel this massive <v Joseph R. Biden>military establishment at a time when we were competitively being pushed further and

<v Joseph R. Biden>further behind. <v Sam Nunn>He was always worried about not only the military program, but <v Sam Nunn>the cost. He concerned himself with the taxpayers of the country. <v Sam Nunn>And he understood that we were in a budget squeeze. <v Sam Nunn>His background told him that the economic problems were getting <v Sam Nunn>uh worse because of the federal deficit and that we had to fit our defense program in <v Sam Nunn>that overall context. <v Jimmy Carter>He was a natural leader because of his stature, his <v Jimmy Carter>integrity, his experience. <v Jimmy Carter>I would say his objectivity and his ability to accommodate changing <v Jimmy Carter>times without abandoning his his his basic <v Jimmy Carter>human commitments. <v Jimmy Carter>This uh was important in the priorities concerning <v Jimmy Carter>defense expenditures. It was also important in a changing environment <v Jimmy Carter>in the Senate concerning race issues, uh air pollution, water pollution, things

<v Jimmy Carter>that in his first Senate years never came to the forefront. <v Sam Nunn>Well, the whole time I was here, he was interested in the social programs in terms <v Sam Nunn>of particular ?of how? these programs affected Mississippi. <v Joseph R. Biden>When I first came to see John Stennis 17 years earlier, he had asked me what brought me <v Joseph R. Biden>to politics and I said civil rights. <v Joseph R. Biden>And immediately after my saying civil rights, I found myself thinking, <v Joseph R. Biden>my goodness, what am I telling a southerner from Mississippi that civil rights brought me <v Joseph R. Biden>to the Senate? This is 1972. <v Joseph R. Biden>17 years later, when I came and sat at the same table with him at the time where I <v Joseph R. Biden>had enough seniority to be assuming his office, literally, uh he recalled <v Joseph R. Biden>that first conversation and then pointed to the table that's sitting behind us. <v Joseph R. Biden>And he said, Let me tell you the story about this table. <v Joseph R. Biden>He said, this table was the flagship of the south. <v Joseph R. Biden>He said this was the the table at which we southern senators gathered. <v Joseph R. Biden>One day we thereabouts under the leadership of Senator Russell

<v Joseph R. Biden>of Georgia during the civil rights era to plan the southern strategy. <v Joseph R. Biden>And he said, I think it's now appropriate that the table is yours. <v Joseph R. Biden>That's John Stennis. John Stennis is a man of history, but a man of progress. <v Joseph R. Biden>Same man who also told me about how it was so appropriate now that women had a vote <v Joseph R. Biden>and women were in a position not only of voting, but women had assumed positions of <v Joseph R. Biden>authority and responsibility. <v Joseph R. Biden>And how much better the world was, because that was the case now. <v Joseph R. Biden>That was John Stennis reminiscing with me on the floor 1 o'clock in the morning during <v Joseph R. Biden>the Bork nomination. John Stennis is an incredible man with a sense <v Joseph R. Biden>of history, continuity, and progress. [bell ringing] <v John C. Stennis>May God bless you and thank you from the bottom of my soul. <v John C. Stennis>[audience applauses] [music plays] <v Speaker>Major funding for this program was provided by the Phil Hardin Foundation

<v Speaker>of Meridian, Mississippi. <v Speaker>Dedicated to improving education for Mississippians. <v Speaker>Additional funding was provided by the Gannett Foundation, South Central Bell <v Speaker>and members of the Mississippi Educational Network.