Mississippi Masters; John C. Stennis: A Senator's Senator

<v Ronald Reagan>Senator, when I consider your career, there's a certain comparison that comes to my mind. <v Ronald Reagan>In troubled places, you brought calm resolve like one of the many great fighting <v Ronald Reagan>ships you've done so much to obtain for the Navy. <v Ronald Reagan>Serene, self-possessed, but like a ship of the line, possessed <v Ronald Reagan>of a high sense of purpose, that is John Stennis. <v Ronald Reagan>And Senator, if you think I'm leading up to something. <v Ronald Reagan>I am. <v Ronald Reagan>Senator Stennis, Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to announce tonight <v Ronald Reagan>that is an expression of the nation's gratitude for the public service of the man we <v Ronald Reagan>honor tonight. <v Ronald Reagan>The Navy's next nuclear powered aircraft carrier, CVN 74 <v Ronald Reagan>will be christened The USS John C. <v Ronald Reagan>Stennis. [applause] <v Cokie Roberts>John C. Stennis, Mississippi's former senior senator, retired from office <v Cokie Roberts>in January 1989 after 41 years of distinguished service

<v Cokie Roberts>to both his home state and the nation. <v Speaker>I thought he was an excellent example of <v Speaker>a solid conservative Southern <v Speaker>gentleman who happened to be a great senator. <v Speaker>The quintessential Southern senator. <v Speaker>So gallant. <v Speaker>Uh uh solid. Good. The quintessential Southerner. <v Cokie Roberts>Senator's Stennis's last days in the 100th Congress were filled with the schedule <v Cokie Roberts>nearly as rigorous as the routine he pursued throughout his career. <v Cokie Roberts>The second longest stretch of service in the history of the United States Senate. <v Cokie Roberts>The daily regimen often lasted from early morning to late at night. <v Speaker>The senator whose word on military matters <v Speaker>and matters of honor within the Senate is almost beyond question.

<v Cokie Roberts>While his name and face were near legendary in both the state of Mississippi and the <v Cokie Roberts>United States Senate, most Americans didn't notice this man, who, <v Cokie Roberts>through diligent work, quietly acquired a vast amount of power during his <v Cokie Roberts>distinguished career. <v Speaker>He was my idea of what a senator should be like. <v Speaker>Complete total student of the Senate. <v Speaker>?Embodiment? really the best traditions of the Senate. <v Speaker>A senator's senator. <v Narrator>John C. Stennis, A Senator's Senator. Narrated by Cokie Roberts. Is made possible by the Phil Harden Foundation of Meridian, Mississippi. Dedicated to improving education for <v Narrator>Mississippians. <v Narrator>Additional funding was provided by the Gannett Foundation, South Central Bell <v Narrator>and members of the Mississippi Educational Network.

<v Speaker>Senator, we have uh interview requests. <v Speaker>It's been pending for several weeks that that uh we probably should try to work in <v Speaker>this week. If possible, I think. <v John Stennis> I believe the best way to avoid war is to be fully <v John Stennis>prepared, have the tools of war in abundance and have them ready. <v Frank Smith>He was too young to be in World War 1, and too old to <v Frank Smith>be in World War 2. And he was very conscious of the fact that he <v Frank Smith>hadn't had military service. <v James C. Matt>Military was compulsory at a A&M college <v James C. Matt>uh for freshman ?inaudible? <v James C. Matt>Freshman and sophomore years. <v James C. Matt>But the last2 years it was elective and most of us elected to <v James C. Matt>ROTC simply because it was small financial uh <v James C. Matt>advantage to be gained by being a member of the ROTC and uh <v James C. Matt>none of us could afford not to take it. <v Cokie Roberts>Whether John Stennis's interest in military matters came from a sense of duty

<v Cokie Roberts>or the need for financial assistance. <v Cokie Roberts>His early interest in the armed services would dominate his 7 terms <v Cokie Roberts>in office. <v John Stennis>Your military training, your talent, your know how, your ?ability? <v John Stennis>all goes into making the great ?sword? <v John Stennis>That stands for liberty. <v Albert Gore>The South, throughout its history has <v Albert Gore>tended to be strong in its militaristic support and <v Albert Gore>tendencies. <v Cokie Roberts>Following America's involvement in the Korean conflict, Stennis began warning <v Cokie Roberts>about our involvement in Vietnam, a warning that would surface throughout <v Cokie Roberts>the better part of his political career. <v John Stennis>I made 3 speeches on the Senate floor in 1954. <v John Stennis>54. ?inaudible? if we send our military folks in to Vietnam <v John Stennis>and went there alone, that we might get into

<v John Stennis>active combat and and have to fight it alone. <v Bill Spell>Senator Stennis record on the Vietnam War is very clear. <v Bill Spell>He strongly opposed the American forces ever being committed to that area <v Bill Spell>and their speeches on the Congressional Record were in the early days when we were only <v Bill Spell>talking about sending, you know, a dozen advisers. <v Bill Spell>He he strongly counseled against that for the reason <v Bill Spell>that we were gonna become entangled. <v William Winter>He recalled the old admonitions <v William Winter>of many that this country should never get involved in a <v William Winter>ground war on the continent of Asia. <v William Winter>He believed that. <v Cokie Roberts>President Eisenhower supported American involvement in Vietnam, but <v Cokie Roberts>it was Presidents Kennedy and Johnson who were the most vocal advocates <v Cokie Roberts>of sending military advisers to assist the South Vietnamese by propping

<v Cokie Roberts>up their fledgling democratic government. <v Cokie Roberts>And just as Stennis and others predicted, military advisers led to <v Cokie Roberts>military troop involvement and a commitment had been made on the part of <v Cokie Roberts>the U.S. armed forces. <v Albert Gore>Well, he and I talked about that uh many times. <v Albert Gore>After all, we lived in the same building and <v Albert Gore>we came up the same elevator and uh we lived in adjoining <v Albert Gore>states. And as you perhaps know, I took the <v Albert Gore>opposite position. And I I distinctly remember <v Albert Gore>one thing he said to me, just the two of us talking <v Albert Gore>uh and he he emphasized it said, we are committed, we <v Albert Gore>are committed. <v Albert Gore>And this meant to him a great deal. <v Albert Gore>Whether he thought it was a wise decision in the first instance, uh <v Albert Gore>that may be a different thing. But I remember he emphasized we are committed in his

<v Albert Gore>deep voice and that carried with it <v Albert Gore>the sentiment on his part that was committed. <v Albert Gore>We should not stop until we were victorious. <v John Stennis>I'll never reach a point where I'm willing to lower the flag in the face of the enemy and <v John Stennis>the disgraceful and dishonorable peace ?times? <v John Stennis>and turn and run away. <v Cokie Roberts>As far back as 1962, Stennis, along with other <v Cokie Roberts>Senate hawks, waged an ongoing battle with Secretary of Defense Robert <v Cokie Roberts>McNamara over information supplied to the Preparedness Investigations <v Cokie Roberts>Subcommittee chaired by Senator Stennis. <v Bill Spell>Senator Stennis took that very seriously and he he he conducted <v Bill Spell>over a period of 5 or 6 years, extensive and in-depth <v Bill Spell>and very intensive examinations of the conduct

<v Bill Spell>of the war. <v John Stennis>The final decision on what level of military strength is to be provided <v John Stennis>is a decision to be made by the Congress. <v John Stennis>?inaudible? to fully study of all the facts and recommendations. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>The Preparedness Subcommittee took positions on various <v Edward Braswell Sr.>weapons systems. The one time on nuclear submarines. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>The times on the modernization of ?inaudible? <v Edward Braswell Sr.>force. And usually these positions call <v Edward Braswell Sr.>for newer and better equipment than the current D.O.D. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>defense ?inaudible? our policy called for. <v John Stennis>This war in Vietnam very properly has top priority and first call on our <v John Stennis>military manpower and early assets, certainly it has a top most priority <v John Stennis>with me. And I feel major elements of the Great Society, including the poverty <v John Stennis>program, should be relegated to the rear depending this ?emergency?.

<v Bill Spell>When Secretary McNamara was up there before the committee, Senator Stennis tried <v Bill Spell>to nail him down on how much money he was going to spend <v Bill Spell>to fight the war for the next year. <v Bill Spell>And uh it was just before election and they didn't want all the true figures <v Bill Spell>about how much the war was going to cost to become public because of President <v Bill Spell>?inaudible? budget. Secretary McNamara wouldn't answer that question within ?inaudible?. <v Bill Spell>And so, Senator Stennis said <v Bill Spell>to him, Well, Mr. Secretary, if you don't know how much you're gonna spend, <v Bill Spell>how can you say how much you're gonna save? <v Edward Braswell Sr.>One weekend, Senator Stennis was going to be on one of these television talk shows and <v Edward Braswell Sr.>he got the advance ?request? of he's gonna be asking much of the Vietnam War cost <v Edward Braswell Sr.>?him?.He called the Pentagon and they sent back the figure of <v Edward Braswell Sr.>6.5 billion a year. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>When the show was put on, they asked him the question, how much was costing?

<v Edward Braswell Sr.>He said 13 billion. Uh <v Edward Braswell Sr.>it later turned out that 13 was almost a completely <v Edward Braswell Sr.>accurate figure within just a few dollars. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>Then, of course, when he was asked selected figures and he says we just double whatever <v Edward Braswell Sr.>figure they said. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>That's right. Very true. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>On hindsight, that was a rule of thumb. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis continued his investigations as chairman of the Preparedness Subcommittee. <v Cokie Roberts>By 1966, U.S. <v Cokie Roberts>involvement in Southeast Asia had escalated. <v Cokie Roberts>Defense Department officials placed the war's cost at almost 22 billion <v Cokie Roberts>dollars, a figure that would rise to some 30 billion by 1969, <v Cokie Roberts>the year John Stennis became chairman of the powerful Armed Services <v Cokie Roberts>Committee. <v John Stennis>We must not commit American military forces unless we possess <v John Stennis>and are willing to use the military forces necessary to prevail in that conflict.

<v John Stennis>In other words, we must not again go in <v John Stennis>and require a man to fight with one hand tied behind his back. <v John Stennis>[applause] <v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>Though his military interests were indeed global, Stennis never lost touch with his home <v Cokie Roberts>state. He made frequent trips to Mississippi to talk with his constituents, <v Cokie Roberts>and one chair in his office was always reserved for visiting Mississippians <v Cokie Roberts>like portrait artist Marshall Bolden and his son Jamie. <v John Stennis>We didn't just get that out today. <v Cokie Roberts>John Cornelius Dennis born August 3rd in the second year <v Cokie Roberts>of the 20th century, raised on a farm in Kemper County, Mississippi,

<v Cokie Roberts>Stennis was one of a family of 7 children. <v Cokie Roberts>He attended Kemper County Agricultural High School, where he was graduated in 1919. <v Speaker>He uh enjoyed jokes. He enjoyed tricks. <v Speaker>And uh the net result was that he was a little bit mischievous in his nature. <v Speaker>He was very sincere though and he never at any time failed <v Speaker>to assume the responsibility for anything that he was involved in. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis's strong sense of ethics caused him to always assume responsibility <v Cokie Roberts>for his actions. <v Cokie Roberts>From schoolboy pranks to his commitment to his country. <v Edward Braswell Sr.>Whenever you want a problem looked into, he would always say, I don't want just <v Edward Braswell Sr.>the facts, I want the true facts. <v Cokie Roberts>His sense of ethics earned him the unofficial title, Conscience <v Cokie Roberts>of the Senate. [applause] <v Joseph McCarthy>One communist in the faculty. Of one ?university?

<v Joseph McCarthy>Is one communist to a ?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>The time was the Red Scare of the 1950s. <v Cokie Roberts>Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was conducting investigations into alleged <v Cokie Roberts>communist affiliations in America. <v Claudia J. Johnson>The country ?inaudible? national witchhunt in a state of excitement and doubt about everybody. <v Cokie Roberts>Practically no one was immune to McCarthy's probings. His targets range from the military <v Cokie Roberts>to State Department employees to other government workers, even to fellow <v Cokie Roberts>senators. <v Mary McGrory>No one can tell you now whether the downfall of the this noisy <v Mary McGrory>man from Wisconsin was inevitable and that events propelled <v Mary McGrory>it, or whether it was that the southerners finally decided unblock <v Mary McGrory>without making great fuss about it that uh it would not do. <v Harry McPherson>There had been a point in 1954

<v Harry McPherson>when Johnson went to Stennis and <v Harry McPherson>enlisted him as the leader of the effort to censure <v Harry McPherson>Joe McCarthy. <v Claudia J. Johnson>This was a sticky problem and the senator <v Claudia J. Johnson>was riding a great wave of popularity <v Claudia J. Johnson>in the country. <v Claudia J. Johnson>And yet there were a lot of people who felt that he was well, <v Claudia J. Johnson>without trial, without conviction, just ruining the lives <v Claudia J. Johnson>of people who had not done any wrong and also wrecking <v Claudia J. Johnson>damage on the image of the Senate. <v Harry McPherson>Quite clearly, Johnson figured that if he could get <v Harry McPherson>this judge, this uh paragon of integrity <v Harry McPherson>and fan firmness of character, to speak

<v Harry McPherson>out against McCarthy, that that would give every other Democrat <v Harry McPherson>and many Republicans the uh sense that <v Harry McPherson>it was all right to oppose McCarthy. <v Cokie Roberts>A committee was formed to examine McCarthy's unorthodox investigations. <v Claudia J. Johnson>Putting together that committee was one of the hardest things Lyndon ever had <v Claudia J. Johnson>to do as a Senate majority leader. <v Claudia J. Johnson>I remember when he came home and said, well John Stennis is <v Claudia J. Johnson>going on it. <v Claudia J. Johnson>I got him to say yes today. <v Claudia J. Johnson>Each person was a victory because he wanted <v Claudia J. Johnson>to choose just a very special sort of man. <v Claudia J. Johnson>Judicious. Grounded in knowledge of <v Claudia J. Johnson>the Constitution. Fair. <v Claudia J. Johnson>Respected by all those senators. <v Claudia J. Johnson>Because a lot hung on this committee.

<v Claudia J. Johnson>And you had to be courageous to go on it, too. <v Mary McGrory>They had their committee hearings and uh <v Mary McGrory>McCarthy for once had followed the rules of the Senate, not his own. <v Mary McGrory>And then the matter was brought to the floor and the speech <v Mary McGrory>was made by Senator John Stennis. <v Mary McGrory>And I can still hear his voice was cold <v Mary McGrory>and he was a warm man so you you you notice that chilliness in his tone <v Mary McGrory>and he spoke about slush and slime. <v Mary McGrory>And that was those were the sort of light motif of <v Mary McGrory>his speech. And he just kept coming back to that <v Mary McGrory>slush and slime that the senator from Wisconsin had been guilty <v Mary McGrory>of both these inadmissible transgressions <v Mary McGrory>of the code of the Senate. <v Cokie Roberts>With that speech, Senator Stennis became the first Democrat to publicly

<v Cokie Roberts>call for the censure of Joe McCarthy. <v Cokie Roberts>Some 10 years later, following the scandal involving former majority <v Cokie Roberts>secretary of the Senate Bobby Baker, A 6 member watchdog committee <v Cokie Roberts>was formed by the Senate to keep vigil over the ethics of members and <v Cokie Roberts>employees. John Stennis was the unanimous choice for chairman, <v Cokie Roberts>though he was the only member of the committee who voted against the resolution that <v Cokie Roberts>created it. <v Cokie Roberts>There were those who doubted the committee's toughness. <v Cokie Roberts>By 1966, the Select Committee on Standards and Conduct would have <v Cokie Roberts>its first real test. <v Cokie Roberts>It would result in the censure of still another senator, Thomas Dodd of <v Cokie Roberts>Connecticut. The Christian Science Monitor would call the Dodd episode <v Cokie Roberts>the most important show Capitol Hill has staged since the Bobby Baker <v Cokie Roberts>hearings. Ultimately, John Stennis would author the first code of ethics <v Cokie Roberts>for the Senate. But the biggest show was yet to come, with Stennis

<v Cokie Roberts>considered for a key role. <v Speaker>The central question at this point isimply put. <v Speaker>What did the president know <v Speaker>and when did he know it? [music plays] <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis spent his college days at Mississippi A&M, now Mississippi <v Cokie Roberts>State University. His academic interests ran the gamut from agriculture <v Cokie Roberts>to literature, from business to advance science. <v Cokie Roberts>His senior year, he was captain in the ROTC program and he <v Cokie Roberts>was business manager for the college newspaper. <v Cokie Roberts>Though a serious student, not all of Stennis's college activities were <v Cokie Roberts>entirely serious. <v Speaker>John was the assistant cheerleader in his junior year and he became <v Speaker>chief cheerleader in his senior year. <v Speaker>And at that time he kept all of his students in a

<v Speaker>supportive attitude by having a pep meetings before <v Speaker>games. And then also he encouraged a large number of them to attend the game. <v Speaker>One such game was in Memphis, the University of Tennessee game and John <v Speaker>unloaded his gang there with the band, simply took over the main street in Memphis <v Speaker>and marched down the whole thing without a permit. <v Speaker>But uh he got away with it. <v Cokie Roberts>After earning a bachelor's degree in science from A&M, Stennis spent the next <v Cokie Roberts>several years working in DeKalb. <v Cokie Roberts>A cousin, who owned a drug store was in bad health, and Stenness worked in the business <v Cokie Roberts>until his cousin was well enough to return. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis then went to law school at the University of Virginia, was elected to Phi Beta <v Cokie Roberts>Kappa and received his degree in 1928. <v Cokie Roberts>According to an often told story, John Stennis, law student, committed <v Cokie Roberts>to memory the entire United States Constitution.

<v William Winter>I'm sure that uh that uh affection for <v William Winter>the Constitution of the United States uh was impressed <v William Winter>on him by his years at the University of Virginia Law School, <v William Winter>where he studied in the shadow of some of the great early <v William Winter>leaders of this country. <v William Winter>Madison. Thomas Jefferson. <v William Winter>John Marshall. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis hung out his shingle in DeKalb, Mississippi, in 1928 <v Cokie Roberts>on a small brick building that still bears his name. <v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>That same year, his political career began. <v Cokie Roberts>He was elected to the first of his two terms to the Mississippi legislature. <v Cokie Roberts>In 1929, Coy Hines a Kemper County Home Demonstration

<v Cokie Roberts>Agent became Mrs. Stennis. <v Cokie Roberts>The marriage produced 2 children, John Hampton and Margaret Jane. <v Cokie Roberts>After 3 years of law practice, Stennis campaigned for prosecuting attorneys <v Cokie Roberts>post a position he won and held until 1935. <v Cokie Roberts>That year, then Governor Hugh White named Stennis to fill a circuit judge <v Cokie Roberts>vacancy. Stennis was Mississippi's youngest member of the bench, and he held <v Cokie Roberts>his judgeship through 3 subsequent elections. <v J.P. Coleman>When the old clock on the steeple in the courthouse at Columbus <v J.P. Coleman>struck 9 o'clock. Right then when the gavel came down and <v J.P. Coleman>we had a highway patrolman over there. A good fellow, I won't call his name, but <v J.P. Coleman>he came into court one morning, about 5 minutes late. <v J.P. Coleman>And I'll change this man's name, Smith. <v J.P. Coleman>Senator St- uh Judge Stennis said, Mr. Smith.

<v J.P. Coleman>Where where were you at 9 o'clock? <v J.P. Coleman>Oh, he said. I was across the street over there drinking coffee was some friends. <v J.P. Coleman>Uh Judge Stennis said, were you under the impression that was going to hold court in a <v J.P. Coleman>cafe today? Oh, no, sir, he said. <v J.P. Coleman>I didn't expect anything like that. <v J.P. Coleman>But he didn't dress him down or jack him up. <v J.P. Coleman>He just said that after Mr. Smith, <v J.P. Coleman>you'd be at your place in court at 60 Minutes after 8 o'clock. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis holds the distinction of never having a civil case overturned <v Cokie Roberts>on appeal. It was his training on the bench that led to his other nickname <v Cokie Roberts>in the Senate, Judge. <v Speaker>Your testimony touches many people, it touches Mr. Erlichman, Mr. ?inaudible?, Mr. <v Speaker>Coleson, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Dean and many others.

<v Speaker>But I'm trying to focus on the president. <v Speaker>What did the president know and when did he know it? <v Howard Baker>I was the vice chairman of the Watergate Committee. <v Howard Baker>Sam Ervin was chairman. <v Howard Baker>I made the motion to issue a subpoena, a committee subpoena <v Howard Baker>for the tapes. Cause great ?inaudible? <v Howard Baker>And with my Republican president and at the White House. <v Howard Baker>But when they declined to disclose that information, I felt we had <v Howard Baker>no reasonable alternative. <v Cokie Roberts>During the Watergate scandal, it was discovered that President Nixon was taping <v Cokie Roberts>all conversations that took place in the Oval Office. <v Cokie Roberts>But the president did not want to release the tapes in their entirety to the Watergate <v Cokie Roberts>Investigating Committee. <v Howard Baker>And we both got these calls that there is an urgent matter to talk about the White House. <v Howard Baker>And we both flew back and we met in <v Howard Baker>Al Haig's office who was then Richard Nixon's chief of staff. <v Howard Baker>We were told the White House wanted to make this proposal that John Stennis review the

<v Howard Baker>tapes. <v Howard Baker>I remember my first reaction was surprise, but that I <v Howard Baker>thought that was just an excellent idea because I had absolute confidence in John <v Howard Baker>Stennis. <v Howard Baker>I remember Sam Ervin, who was very close to Stennis and from the same part <v Howard Baker>of the country and the same party. Uh Ervin <v Howard Baker>held back a little and I was mildly surprised at that. <v Howard Baker>Later, Ervin said, well, I want to make sure that Stennis himself agreed <v Howard Baker>to it. And to this day, I'm not sure whether that was Sam Ervin's ?reason? <v Howard Baker>Or whether Sam felt that committee ought to have all the tapes, even though <v Howard Baker>I'm sure he shared the same confidence in John Stennis that I did. <v John Stennis>I said from the beginning, that is when I was first approached, <v John Stennis>that I could not ?inaudible? unless the procedure had the approval of <v John Stennis>Senators Ervin and Baker because they represent <v John Stennis>the Senate Select Committee and the Senate Resolution

<v John Stennis>regarding Watergate. <v Mary McGrory>The idea was derided, <v Mary McGrory>but the press didn't do it with the usual relish that it would <v Mary McGrory>visit on any of Mr. Nixon's scheme because they genuinely <v Mary McGrory>cared about John Stennis and revered him. <v Robert McCormick>Although Senator Stennis seems to be the man in the middle, he obviously is trying to <v Robert McCormick>make it plain that he does not intend to be a patsy, to be the man that either or both <v Robert McCormick>sides can conveniently blame if the so-called compromise goes wrong. <v Robert McCormick>Yet the very fact that the White House has Stennis's name on its side is <v Robert McCormick>perhaps the best thing President Nixon has going for him. <v Robert McCormick>For members of both the House and Senate so respect Stennis, that it's next to impossible <v Robert McCormick>for them to conceive of any impropriety in any project with which Stennis's name <v Robert McCormick>is associated. Robert McCormick, NBC News at the Capitol. <v Cokie Roberts>Though he didn't listen to the tapes, it was probably John Stennis who sealed

<v Cokie Roberts>the fate of the Nixon presidency. <v Cokie Roberts>Nixon's continued refusal to surrender the recordings caused the Supreme Court <v Cokie Roberts>to consider whether Congress had the legal right to force his hand. <v Cokie Roberts>When the White House hinted that it might defy an adverse ruling, Stennis <v Cokie Roberts>sent word to the president that the Senate would not tolerate such action. <v Cokie Roberts>According to a White House aide, it was Stennis's message that closed <v Cokie Roberts>off the last exit. <v Cokie Roberts>Nixon knew if he surrendered the tapes, he would be impeached for <v Cokie Roberts>what was on them. If he refused to surrender the tapes, he would be <v Cokie Roberts>impeached for his refusal. <v Cokie Roberts>The president's only alternative was resignation. <v Richard Nixon>I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. <v Richard Nixon>Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at <v Richard Nixon>that hour in this office. <v Speaker>Senator ?inaudible?, Cokie Roberts.

<v Cokie Roberts>Hello, Senator. How are you? Nice to see you. <v John Stennis>?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>I think that it's it's a serious passing for you <v Cokie Roberts>to leave and we need to talk about that a little bit. <v Cokie Roberts>But tell me tell me some of the ways, I know it's a broad question, but some of the ways <v Cokie Roberts>you've seen the Senate change in your years here. <v John Stennis>Well, there's a great deal of quality comes in here in the <v John Stennis>character and honor of these members. <v John Stennis>They they measure up, as I see it. <v John Stennis>Now, different back to the ones that were here when I came, <v John Stennis>there was they were a little more rugged, we'll see. <v John Stennis>But they had the practical side of life ?inaudible?, <v Cokie Roberts>Judge Stennis entered his first race for national office in August 1947

<v Cokie Roberts>on the advice of many friends and supporters throughout the state. <v Cokie Roberts>The election was held to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Mississippi's <v Cokie Roberts>fiery, controversial senator Theodore G. <v Cokie Roberts>Bilbo. <v J.P. Coleman>Obviously, you wouldn't ?inaudible? <v J.P. Coleman>he called me. <v J.P. Coleman>And he said, well, decide to take your advice. <v J.P. Coleman>And I'm going to announce, I don't know whether he said tomorrow, few days, the Senate. Wea <v J.P. Coleman>cold chill just ran up and down my back because I knew what a terrible political <v J.P. Coleman>task it was going to be. <v W.T. Minor>And there were at least 2 other candidates who were expected to <v W.T. Minor>win. The odds were much stronger for them than they were for Stennis. <v W.T. Minor>Stennis was not as well known as 4 people in that race. <v Cokie Roberts>Armed with a campaign slogan, most Mississippians readily understood <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis set out with car and driver, his cousin, to stump the state.

<v Cokie Roberts>Promising to plow a straight furrow right down to the end of the row. <v Frank Smith>I knew he was saying the same thing to everybody all over the state, <v Frank Smith>no matter what kind of audience he had or what uh <v Frank Smith>part of the state he was going to. <v W.T. Minor>Frank was very good about getting the news releases right <v W.T. Minor>at the time you needed them right on deadline. <v W.T. Minor>So Stennis would grab the the headlines usually <v W.T. Minor>every day because he had the ?trace? <v W.T. Minor>news release. Working over the same basic speeches, as a matter of fact, <v W.T. Minor>they would they would come out with a new lead each day using the basic <v W.T. Minor>speech that he had. <v Cokie Roberts>Though Stennis was a dark horse in the race and ran his campaign on a shoestring, <v Cokie Roberts>even for the times, he had made many contacts over the years, dating <v Cokie Roberts>back to his college days. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>We took Mississippi State alumni and we told them <v Sam Y. Wilhite>that they should go to all of their Ole Miss friends and tell them, now

<v Sam Y. Wilhite>look, I voted for all of your people that you've ever come to me and asked me to vote for <v Sam Y. Wilhite>your friends. Now I've got to make one request to you. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>I've got a good Mississippi State man here now that's running and I want you this <v Sam Y. Wilhite>one time to vote with me. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>We've got really scared because between 11 o'clock <v Sam Y. Wilhite>and 12 o'clock on election night, Senator Stennis's lead <v Sam Y. Wilhite>had diminished by a thousand votes and it wasn't no 4 or 5000 <v Sam Y. Wilhite>votes. A head start ?inaudible? <v Sam Y. Wilhite>We did not know until on or 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning that he had <v Sam Y. Wilhite>actually made it and would would be the new senator. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>That's the way things were in those days. <v Cokie Roberts>Enjoying his victory, the Stennis family packed and boarded a <v Cokie Roberts>train bound for a new life in Washington. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis's presence in the Senate was hailed by many Southerners as a breath of fresh <v Cokie Roberts>air, following Bilbo's stormy rhetoric during his tenure.

<v Cokie Roberts>On the freshman senator's first day as a member of the world's premier legislative <v Cokie Roberts>body, President Harry S. <v Cokie Roberts>Truman spoke to a joint session of Congress on the dangers of post-war <v Cokie Roberts>inflation. <v Harry S. Truman>We cannot allow the strength of this nation to be wasted in our people's confidence, in <v Harry S. Truman>our free institutions, to be shaken by an economic catastrophe. <v Harry S. Truman>We shall be inviting that catastrophe unless we take steps now <v Harry S. Truman>to halt runaway prices. <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis's first term in the Senate was spent learning the ropes, making contacts. <v Cokie Roberts>He developed a strong friendship with Senator Richard Russell of Georgia. <v Cokie Roberts>Russell served as Stennis's mentor in the Senate. <v Cokie Roberts>A role Russell played for many in the Southern delegations. <v Cokie Roberts>By Stennis's second term, he had been seated on a number of major Senate <v Cokie Roberts>committees and subcommittees. <v Cokie Roberts>He was appointed to the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1955 and later

<v Cokie Roberts>was named chairman of the Space Subcommittee. <v Cokie Roberts>America and John Stennis were about to enter <v Cokie Roberts>the space race. [music plays] <v Cokie Roberts>In 1957, the Jet Age gave way to the Space Age. <v Cokie Roberts>This new era of technology was being ushered in not by America, but <v Cokie Roberts>by Russia, with the launch of Sputnik. <v Speaker>Sputnik, you know, caught the country by surprise all the way from President Eisenhower <v Speaker>on down. <v Cokie Roberts>Both the president and Congress had to consider the impact of Sputnik <v Cokie Roberts>on America's fledgling space program. <v Cokie Roberts>And quickly, if America was to take the lead in what had become the <v Cokie Roberts>space race. One of the groups involved in the assessment was the <v Cokie Roberts>Senate Preparedness Investigating Committee. <v Cokie Roberts>Among its members at the time were Senators Lyndon Johnson, John Stennis, <v Cokie Roberts>and Margaret Chase Smith.

<v Margaret Chase Smith>Sputnik brought us to the fact that we <v Margaret Chase Smith>had had delayed too long for <v Margaret Chase Smith>any thought of space activity. <v Cokie Roberts>Within the next 2 or 3 years, it spawned NASA and um <v Cokie Roberts>Senator Stennis was right in there. <v Cokie Roberts>By 1965, Stennis was a senior member of the Senate Aeronautical and Space <v Cokie Roberts>Sciences Committee. And America sent majors McDivitt and White into orbit <v Cokie Roberts>around the Earth for 4 days aboard Gemini 4. <v Cokie Roberts>In just a few years, America had assumed the lead in the space race. <v Cokie Roberts>And despite setbacks, major and minor, would not look back. <v Cokie Roberts>[music plays] <v Cokie Roberts>Among the many honors afforded John Stennis at his retirement <v Cokie Roberts>was the rededication of a NASA test facility located in the senator's <v Cokie Roberts>home state. In recognition of his many years of support for the space program.

<v John Stennis>Well, you know, the last conversation I had <v John Stennis>with President Kennedy before he was killed. I <v John Stennis>didn't call him. He called me up. <v John Stennis>No, ?inaudible. He wanted me to help him get it. <v Cokie Roberts>At <v Cokie Roberts>the beginning of Stennis's senate career in 1947, Mississippi was a very <v Cokie Roberts>different place than it is today. <v Cokie Roberts>The economy was almost totally dependent on agriculture. <v Cokie Roberts>Yet as the halfway mark of the 20th century approached, work on rural <v Cokie Roberts>water supplies, farm to market roads, and rural electrification <v Cokie Roberts>was just beginning. With his farm upbringing, Stennis saw in his <v Cokie Roberts>bid for the Senate a chance to help his future constituents. <v William Winter>The judge ran on uh issues that today

<v William Winter>I think would still be regarded as relevant. <v William Winter>He ran on that education for the children. <v William Winter>He ran around providing better economic opportunities <v William Winter>through the action of the government. <v Cokie Roberts>The senator used his new office to encourage cooperation among all levels <v Cokie Roberts>of government and industry, creating early versions of public private partnerships. <v Cokie Roberts>He took great pride in sharing the news of Mississippi's development with <v Cokie Roberts>the nation. <v Speaker>Senator, I would like to ?inaudible? <v Speaker>in Mississippi. ?inaudible? <v Speaker>Some of our people ?inaudible? Have been down there lately. <v Speaker>And I must say there were limiting ?inaudible? by the great growth that has been <v Speaker>demonstrated in the last few years. <v John Stennis>New agriculture is there now. ?inaudible?

<v John Stennis>Now we have a new economy based on our industrial projects, too. <v John Stennis>Yes, we have all of that. ?inaudible? <v Cokie Roberts>The senator's economic interest was not only in developing new industry, <v Cokie Roberts>but also in improving people's living standards in both rural and urban <v Cokie Roberts>areas. <v Speaker>The Farm to Market Road program had helped to get farmers <v Speaker>out of the mud in the state ?bore? his imprint. Uh rural <v Speaker>health care, small town community health care <v Speaker>was a great concern of his. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>He's always been a strong supporter of rural development. <v Sam Y. Wilhite>Just think about how much he has done to bring rural water <v Sam Y. Wilhite>systems to Mississippi.

<v Claudia J. Johnson>And it was getting a farm wife away from having <v Claudia J. Johnson>to do that washing in the backyard in a great big uh <v Claudia J. Johnson>iron kettle and uh the man from drawing all the water out <v Claudia J. Johnson>of the well and it just it just freed you. <v Speaker>Now, that's a long way from the from the ?petrol? <v Speaker>pump that everybody had houses. <v Speaker>Being able to turn the tap on and get water. <v Claudia J. Johnson>What rural electrification and farm to market roads did <v Claudia J. Johnson>for rural Texas and I'm sure for rural Mississippi <v Claudia J. Johnson>just changed life for a lot of people. <v William Winter>So as you travel around the state today, you won't see his name on a lot of <v William Winter>things that have been built, but you can rest assured <v William Winter>that uh it was a senator's influence that helped secure <v William Winter>these additions to our physical infrastructure.

<v Cokie Roberts>In addition to his efforts to extend federal funds to rural roads, Senator <v Cokie Roberts>Stennis was a strong supporter of the Interstate Highway Program. <v Cokie Roberts>A forester himself, Stennis took an active interest in the development <v Cokie Roberts>of America's forest resources. <v Cokie Roberts>He introduced legislation that established planting, research, and conservation <v Cokie Roberts>programs. <v William Winter>Among specific projects that I recall that I worked with him <v William Winter>uh on as governor had to do with the completion of the massive <v William Winter>Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. <v Cokie Roberts>This multibillion dollar waterway connects the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee. <v Cokie Roberts>Flowing through a series of locks and dams, it provides a shorter channel to <v Cokie Roberts>the deep water ports of the Gulf of Mexico.

<v Jimmy Carter>He and I had some differences. I remember one other difference that we had <v Jimmy Carter>and that was on a Tennessee Tombigbee Canal. <v Jimmy Carter>I really thought that this was a project of enormous cost <v Jimmy Carter>that would never repay the investment. <v Haley Barbour>People in northeast Mississippi were led to believe that the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway <v Haley Barbour>was going to be one big industrial park stretching from Yellow Creek to the Alabama line. <v Haley Barbour>And of course, that's not the truth. And like many things in politics, it was oversold. <v Jimmy Carter>Senator Stennis had the opposite point of view. <v Jimmy Carter>And he may be right and I'm not I think only history can tell. <v Jimmy Carter>But I was trying to save money and trying to keep down the deficit as much as possible. <v Jimmy Carter>Some of these uh Corps of Engineers Projects were enormously expensive. <v Howard Baker>Not one single drop of water in the Tenn-Tom flows through the <v Howard Baker>state of Tennessee. And I used to get Stennis about that uh you <v Howard Baker>named that thing just so I'd be hooked.

<v Howard Baker>But uh ?and I don't know? If he did or not, but it worked whenever it was. <v John Stennis>We have here in our ?state? He and I ?inaudible? <v John Stennis>?People? Research Agency and many other agencies all <v John Stennis>doing a good job. <v John Stennis>But they don't have a chance. <v John Stennis>To lead our state, no governor has a chance to lead our state above the <v John Stennis>educational level. <v John Stennis>Allow a public school system. <v Speaker>Education uh was a special <v Speaker>strength, the various uh vocational programs, <v Speaker>programs in support of higher education, as well as the conventional <v Speaker>programs for element and secondary education. <v Speaker>?inaudible? <v Speaker>Ladies and gentlemen, the 3 terms that black people in this country

<v Speaker>should learn at ?birth?. <v Speaker>One is white supremacy. <v Speaker>One is neo-colonialism. <v Speaker>And one is black power. [audience cheers] <v Speaker>The white supremacists have utilized and misutilized power since <v Speaker>before your grandmother's birth. <v Speaker>They have done it under the ?agencies? <v Speaker>of politics, economics, legalism. You name it, any ?inaudible? institution, they have misused it. <v Cokie Roberts>In the 1950s, with the Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum, education <v Cokie Roberts>was among the many areas undergoing major changes in America. <v Cokie Roberts>The Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown vs. <v Cokie Roberts>Board of Education ruling led to desegregated schools in Little Rock,

<v Cokie Roberts>Arkansas, and helped set the stage for significant social changes <v Cokie Roberts>yet to come. Senator Stennis helped draft the Southern Manifesto, <v Cokie Roberts>a document signed by over 100 Southern congressmen voicing <v Cokie Roberts>their opposition to desegregation. <v Cokie Roberts>By 1962, Court ordered desegregation had come to Mississippi <v Cokie Roberts>schools. James Meredith was the first black to attend the University of Mississippi and <v Cokie Roberts>in 1964, desegregation of all public institutions had <v Cokie Roberts>become the law of the land. <v Cokie Roberts>Like many southerners of the period, Stennis was opposed to massive desegregation. <v Cokie Roberts>But unlike many Southerners, his opposition was not expressed in end <v Cokie Roberts>of the world rhetoric and inflammatory speeches. <v Bill Spell>Senator Stennis was one who did not ever join in that <v Bill Spell>uh rather outspoken method.

<v Bill Spell>He uh he went about it in a more calm sort of way, and he based <v Bill Spell>his opposition to those things that he opposed on constitutional grounds <v Bill Spell>and upon legal ground, and he's tried to reason with people. <v J.P. Coleman>He was like everybody else that day in time. <v J.P. Coleman>I say everybody else, nearly everybody who thought it was for <v J.P. Coleman>the best interest of white and black children that they be allowed to have their own <v J.P. Coleman>schools, go to school as they were doing. <v Aaron E. Henry>I recall, you know, Senator Stennis earlier in his <v Aaron E. Henry>activity in the Senate, along with with Senator Eastland <v Aaron E. Henry>and other members of the House, that they <v Aaron E. Henry>were adamantly opposed to issues that <v Aaron E. Henry>positively affected the black community. <v Speaker>Senator Stennis's position was one of being <v Speaker>caught between his own personal convictions and those

<v Speaker>of his constituency. <v Aaron E. Henry>Many of of of the white citizens do what they think <v Aaron E. Henry>other whites would expect them to do. <v Aaron E. Henry>And rather than have whites who <v Aaron E. Henry>they play golf with, go to church with, uh have <v Aaron E. Henry>a social relationship with look down upon them because <v Aaron E. Henry>they are friendly and and feel kindly about members <v Aaron E. Henry>of the black community. They really take on a false image. <v Speaker>Stennis was uh was slow to change uh the <v Speaker>the impact of the Freedom <v Speaker>Riders. The impact of Mississippi being <v Speaker>the pariah of states to <v Speaker>the rest of the states was quite offensive to him, and he did what

<v Speaker>I think most people would do in that position. <v Speaker>And he fought back.