Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504250052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JACKSON, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
Stennis died about 3:30 p.m. at St. Dominic Hospital, where he had been taken several days ago for pneumonia, said his son John Hampton Stennis.
Stennis earned a reputation in Washington for fairness and finesse that landed him delicate committee assignments and close association with eight U.S. presidents. But his opposition to integration blotted his record.
Stennis joined the Senate in 1947. At the time of his retirement in 1988, he was its oldest member.
``He was a great senator in every way. He was effective, respected and deeply appreciated by the people in Mississippi,'' said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. ``He was truly a man of great stature. We have suffered a great loss.''
Stennis was nicknamed the ``conscience of the Senate'' for his work on the Senate's code of ethics and strict religious convictions.
Stennis, serving as chairman of both the Armed Services Committee and the defense subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee during the 1970s, wielded more clout over military matters than perhaps any civilian except the president.
He was a consistent advocate of the need for a strong military.
``If there is one thing I'm unyielding and unbending on, it is that we must have the very best weapons,'' he once said.
He condemned the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation decision, but in 1983 he switched and voted for an extension of the Voting Rights Act.
He later said he always supported the advancement of all races.
Stennis was born Aug. 3, 1901, in Dekalb and graduated from Mississippi State University in 1923 before attending the University of Virginia Law School.
``How would I like to be remembered? I haven't thought about that a whole lot,'' Stennis said in a 1985 interview. ``You couldn't give me a finer compliment than just to say, `He did his best.'''
by CNB