[Sabertooth]

Full audio here:

http://swc2.hccs.cc.tx.us/rmorecook/afvnnewsjerryelliott.ram

I came across this old radio broadcast reporting the shooting of Senator John C. Stennis in 1973. There's been curiousity about the status of the shooters, since Stennis' name has turned up in recent revelations of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War's assassination plot against six U.S. Senators in November of 1971, called the Phoenix Project.

I figured the broadcast was worth transcribing.

Information on the shooting of Senator Stennis is sparse. Here are a few links:

Several years ago, the late United States Senator John Stennis of Mississippi was shot during an attempted robbery in front of his Washington, D.C. home.  One of the first persons to rush to his bedside was Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon.  The reported story of their friendship amazed many students of politics.  Mark Hatfield was a liberal Republican and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.  John Stennis was a conservative Democrat and one of the war's staunchest supporters.
Faith in Politics
Paul Hillegonds | Fifth Annual Henry Lecture
Calvin College | April 30, 2001

Senator Stennis' unselfish achievements during his long years of hard work did not come without great adversity. In 1973 he was shot twice during a holdup attempt in his front yard in northwest Washington, D. C. Although doctors didn't at first give much hope of Senator Stennis' survival, then later of ever walking again, he surprised practically everyone and recovered almost completely. He said his chief thought during those doubtful days was, "Would I be useful?" Senator Stennis' dedication and commitment to duty would not allow him to stop or slow down.
U.S. Senator John C. Stennis
www.ssc.nasa.gov/about/history/stennis

This is a weird one, apparently from a foreign language reading comprehension test, but it basically fits with my recollection...

Senator Stennis was the victim of a classic street crime. He happened to be an important politician, but that is not why he was shot. What happened to him could happen to anyone else.

Senator Stennis, Who is 71, Got out of his white car at 7:40 p.m. , outside his home at 3609 Cumberland Street. Two youths said, "Get them up." He put up no resistance. He handed over his wallet containing credit cards, driver's license, and the like, a gold watch and all the cash he had in his pockets-- twenty-five cents. The youths said, " Get them up." He put up no resistance. He handed over his wallet containing credit cards, driver's license, and the like, a gold watch and all the cash he had in his pockets¬ótwenty-five cents. The youths said either "Now we're going to shoot you any way," or "We ought to shoot you anyway." Anyway they did. One bullet hit him in the thigh and struck the bone, and the other entered his chest just below the breast pocket of his suit. It narrowly missed his heart.

Senator Stennis is a powerful political figure, but it is unlikely that the two young men knew who he was.

More likely his offense was that he had no more cash than a quarter¬ónot enough for a taking of drugs or two cups of coffee.
LINK

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this last link. One has to sort through a lot of Bildeburger & Illuminati tinfoil when researching assassinations or attacks on government officials. I'm including it only because it claims that there were convictions in the shooting of Senator Stennis.

Robert Olsen of the Rockefeller Commission reported that "HUNT categorically denied...any participation or involvement whatever in the attempted assassination of Governor Wallace, the disappearance of Congressman Hale Boggs or the shooting of Senator Stennis." [NARA SSCIA 157-10011-10090] Senator Stennis was shot on January 31, 1973, in front of his home in the capital during an apparent robbery. Three black men were convicted of this crime. There was no political motive.
http://www.ajweberman.com/nodules/nodule23.htm

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[#3Fan]

If it was VVAW, Kerry could've saved him had he reported it.

[Yaelle]

Did any other of the 6 senators who were subject to Kerry & Co.'s assassination vote end up getting shot or killed?

[My2Cents]

Interesting. Extremely interesting!

[spycatcher]

How often did early 70's bad guys shoot their victims just for the hell of it after they were cooperative? I know it happens today a lot, but wasn't it unusual back then?

This could have easily been a cleverly contracted hit. I wonder if that was a secondary VVAW vote in KC? You know... Let's murder! -- thumbs down. Let's contract it out? -- thumbs up! It's perfect, because Kerry can say of the assassination plan that he voted against it before voting for it.

[Nick Danger]

[PhilDragoo]

Regarding Weberman's reference to Hunt and Wallace, Gore Vidal in New York Review of Books December 13, 1973 "The Art and Arts of E. Howard Hunt" implies Hunt was responsible for forging the scrawlings of Oswald, Sirhan, and Bremer, the latter being Wallace's shooter. Weberman coauthored Coup d'Etat in America with the central thesis that Hunt was one of the three tramps in Dealey Plaza.

Why Weberman would believe Hunt would want to end the Vietnam War and all that "CIA drug money" [see also Redford, "Three Days of the Condor"] is beyond rationalizing.

The Kansas City meeting of VVAW discussing assassination was November 17-21, 1971, and Stennis was shot January, 1973 by two African-Americans.

Kerry's Senate testimony claimed they were overrepresented in Vietnam, hence would find their action justified.

But of course he quit VVAW before attending the Kansas City meeting.

[Southack]

"HUNT categorically denied...any participation or involvement whatever in the attempted assassination of Governor Wallace, the disappearance of Congressman Hale Boggs or the shooting of Senator Stennis."

Three powerful Southern Democrats. In three neighboring Southern states. All were anti-Communist.

Wallace and Stennis were pro-war. Boggs may have been the father of Cokie Roberts, can't really remember. His aircraft was presumed to have gone down in Alaska, I think. He's famous for reading the announcement that the Soviets had invaded Czeckoslavakia back in 1968.

"On August 22, 1968, during a Democratic Party hearing on Vietnam, Representative Hale Boggs was handed a press wire disclosing the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Following Boggs's announcement, Secretary of State Dean Rusk excused himself from the proceedings, explaining "I think I'll go and see what all of this is about."

Warren Commission member Boggs also called for the removal from office of his fellow Democrat J Edgar Hoover.

"On May 2nd, 1972, J. Edgar Hoover's chauffeur found his dead body sprawled on the floor of his home, ending a spectacularly colorful and controversial career. A little over a year ago, House Majority Leader T. Hale Boggs called for his removal as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (See April 22, 1971) For some time, Boggs had begun to feel more and more uncomfortable with Hoover's investigative methods. It all began with the WARREN COMMISSION: "Despite the Warren Commission's criticism of the FBI, the director had a vested interest in defending its conclusion that Oswald had acted ALONE. By the fall of 1966, dozens of books and articles had challenged the commission's findings. Hoping to find derogatory information that could be used to discredit these efforts, Hoover, at the president's request, investigated the authors of seven books critical of the Warren Report, turning up the information that one writer had been discharged from the military for mental problems while several others had belonged to leftist organizations."

By hook or crook political power shifted in a brief amount of time after "events" occurred to all three.

[kayak]

ping

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

Good information! Is there a statute of limitation for conspriracy to commit murder?

[Travis McGee]

The plot thickens....

[teletech]

This is gettin' downright creepy.

[Lancey Howard]

Good find!
BUMP

[MeekOneGOP]

bumpers !

[mabelkitty]

Good work!!

[bimbo]

At the time of the Stennis shooting 31 years ago, it had all the earmarks of an assassination covered as a robbery … today it still looks like an assassination, but now we know why … it was apparently part of the Left’s strategy for taking over the Democrat Party and purging its conservative, pro-American members, and the VVAW was right in the middle of that power struggle.

[prairiebreeze]

Thanks for an interesting thread

[jellybean]

Saber, could you please put my name on you VVAW ping list? Thanks!

[yarddog]

I remember when the incident happened. Just goes to show how bad our memory is because I would have sworn he was shot on the steps of the capitol.

I also believe the perps were caught and the one who shot him had something like 68 prior convictions yet was still walking around loose.