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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 74 (Friday, May 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6198-S6199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                        SENATOR JOHN C. STENNIS

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, Senator Stennis served with my father in 
the U.S. Senate. My father, Milward L. Simpson of Wyoming, served here 
from 1962 until 1966. He was a former Governor of Wyoming from 1954 
until 1958, then came to the U.S. Senate, elected to fulfill a 4-year 
term, or remaining 4-year term, of a young man who had been elected to 
the Senate and died before he was sworn in. John Stennis and Mrs. 
Stennis immediately greeted my father when he came here in the most 
cordial way. They were very dear friends of my parents.
  I must say that the philosophy of the western Senator, my father, and 
the southern gentleman, the Senator from Mississippi, were much the 
same with regard to national defense, fiscal matters, issues of 
substance in the social area, of the fabric of the country, and they 
became fast friends. I recall very distinctly my father called John 
Stennis ``Mr. Integrity.''
  My father invited John Stennis, Senator Willis Robertson, and two 
other persons to Wyoming. I recall very distinctly. I was a young man 
practicing law in Cody, WY, and they asked me to join them. Dad took 
his two Senate friends fishing. You might imagine that John had not 
ever seen too much of Rocky Mountain trout fishing nor the attire that 
accompanies such activities. I will never forget him coming from his 
cabin, very nattily dressed, and he said, ``Milward, is this what we 
[[Page S6199]] wear when we fish for these trout?'' My father said, 
``No, I think we need something more than that, something a little 
different.'' Off they went to enjoy a remarkable 2 days together.
  My father loved John Stennis, and when my father was the recipient of 
the Milward L. Simpson Chair of Political Science at the University of 
Wyoming, John Stennis served as his honorary chairman, and said, ``If 
there is anything I can do for my friend, Milward Simpson, I will do 
it.'' So it was a great affection and relationship, a true friendship. 
Then when I, of course, came to the Senate, John Stennis was the first 
to greet me. He said, ``If there is anything I can do to help you or 
smooth your path here, let me do it.'' And he did.
  He was more than charitable, kind, and attentive to me except, of 
course, when I tried to kill off the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. Then 
there was a definite strain in our relationship--momentary, fleeting. 
But he said, ``Alan, I cannot believe that you would do that.'' And he 
was right. I did not believe I could, and did not. That great waterway 
is a great tribute to personally the perseverance of John Stennis.
  But what he told me--and I shall never forget--he said ``Alan, I have 
been watching you.'' I had been here maybe 4 years at the time. ``I 
have seen you work. I know how hard you work.'' He really buoyed me up. 
He said, ``You want to remember something in the Senate.'' He said, 
``People come here, and some grow and some swell.'' I shall never 
forget the phrase. ``Some grow and some swell.'' Indeed, we know both 
categories. I think I have done a little of both. But when I did swell, 
I was put down a peg or two, to get back to growing instead of 
swelling.
  So I want to just pay tribute to John Stennis, and I know my dear 
parents, both gone, too, would have wanted me to pay tribute to a very 
dear and lovely friend, and to his memory, which will certainly be 
present in this Chamber for the remainder of time. He was deeply loved, 
a man of great stature, and truly a wonderful gentleman, truly a 
gentleman.
  So God bless his son and his daughter who survive him. They have a 
wonderful heritage.

                          ____________________
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