John Stennis (CVN 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 , want to plow a straight furrow right down to the end of the row. This is my political religion, and I have lived by it too long to abandon it now. I base my appeal to you on this simple creed, and with it, 1 shall rise or fall. JOHN C. STENNIS - 1947

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Jo C. Stennis John Cornelius Stennis was born 3 August 1901 in the Kipling community, about eight miles south of DeKalb, Mississippi. He came from a long line of country doctors, though his father was a farmer and merchant in DeKalb. His father taught him responsibility and hard work at an early age, talents he would later incorporate into his personal code and practice in every aspect of life. John C. Stennis put great stock in education. He attended Mississippi State University and graduated in 1923. After graduation he went on to the University of Virginia in 1924 and convinced the Dean of the law school to accept him without ever filing an application. His education there was interrupted, however, when his father died and he returned to his family farm. During this interruption of his studies at Virginia, Mr. Stennis ' friends and neighbors urged him to seek an open seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He was elected and took the oath of office in January 1928, beginning a career in public service that would span more than 60 years without a break. Political historians believe that to be a record for this country. State Representative Stennis went back to I i,UL ' ' IBl the University of Virginia in the fall of 1928 to finish law school. He continued to excel, actually memo- rizing the entire United States Constitution. On Christmas Eve of 1929, he married Coy Hines, a native of New Albany, Mississippi, who was serving at the time as the Kemper county home demonstration agent. They built and moved into a white frame house just south of DeKalb. In 1932, John C. Stennis was elected district prosecuting attorney. People throughout the dis- trict came to know him as a hard-working prosecu- tor who stood for what was right and unyielding in the face of adversity. In 1937, John C. Stennis was appointed to fill the seat of a circuit judge who had died. For the next ten years, Judge Stennis gained the respect of all and his reputation spread far beyond his district. When U. S. Senator Theodore G. Bilbo died in office in 1947, Judge Stennis entered the race for his seat. It was a grass roots campaign in which Stennis promised to plow a straight furrow right down to the end of my row. He was elected against formidable opposition and began to build on a national reputation as the junior Senator from Mississippi. His reputation for integrity spread quickly among his colleagues, who learned they could depend on what John C. Stennis said. USSJOHNC. STENNIS (CVN-74)