[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 20 (Tuesday, March 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
OBSERVANCE OF THE ATTACK OF MARCH 1, 1954, ON MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE 
                           OF REPRESENTATIVES

  The SPEAKER. Under the Speaker's announced policy of February 11, 
1994, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Emerson] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note the fact that it was 
40 years ago today that the House was assaulted by a group of 
terrorists who were in this corner gallery here. This is not an 
occasion that we celebrate, but it is one that we note, and 40 years 
seems to be a significant milestone.
  Mr. Speaker, I happened to be a Page at the time. That was the second 
session of the 83d Congress. This being the second session of the 103d 
Congress means that an awful lot of water has gone over the dam in the 
intervening period. Another Page at the time, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Kanjorski], I gather, will be here at a later period 
today and may speak on this subject also and I will join him then for 
further exposition of the event.
  Mr. Speaker, I shall not speak at length just now. I wanted to say 
that there is a lot of curiosity on this subject, which is a reason 
that I bring it up today. I was visiting recently with our 
distinguished Parliamentarian, Mr. Brown, and his associate, Mr. 
Johnson, and they told me about a file that exists in the 
Parliamentarian's office noting the occasion, what happened on that 
particular day.
  They called to my attention a memorandum in that file that was 
written by an employee of the Parliamentarian's office, Mr. Joe 
Metzger, whom I recall. Mr. Metzger apparently was given to making side 
notes, separate and apart from the record, of occurrences in the House 
of Representatives that were unusual in nature.
  On a day or so following the event of March 1 in the House of 
Representatives, Mr. Metzger wrote a narrative describing what occurred 
on that occasion, which, quite frankly, is as good a report as I have 
seen anywhere. He was here. He saw it all. I too, saw the event as it 
occurred.
  Mr. Speaker, I was the overseer of the Pages at the time on the 
Democratic side of the House, so I had a very good view of the gallery 
in which this incident occurred, but there was a difficulty at that 
time getting ambulances and first aid to the Members who had been 
wounded. Five Members had been wounded.
  Pages were called upon to be stretcher bearers. When the ambulances 
arrived, I exited the Chamber, having helped carry a couple of Members 
to awaiting ambulances, and I was not here for the aftermath. Some of 
the more interesting details of that day were in the aftermath of the 
shooting, which appear in Mr. Metzger's account.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the account of Mr. Metzger of 
the House shooting which he had prepared somewhere in the day or so 
immediately following the incident on March 1, 1954. I think the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kanjorski] has reserved time for a 
later period in the day, and I shall reserve the remainder of my 
remarks and will join him on that occasion.
  The account of Mr. Metzger is as follows:

       On Monday, March 1, 1954 (83d Congress, 2d Session), the 
     House was considering a resolution from the Rules Committee, 
     H. Res. 450, to provide for the consideration of H.J. Res. 3, 
     a joint resolution amending the Act approved July 12, 1951, 
     relating to the supplying of agricultural workers from 
     Mexico. After the previous question was ordered on agreeing 
     to the resolution, a point of order was made that a quorum 
     was not present, and the Speaker determined that 243 Members 
     were present, a quorum. The question was put on agreeing to 
     the resolution, and a division being demanded, by Mr. Cooley 
     of N.C., the Speaker counted the Members rising in the 
     affirmative and announce that the ``Ayes'' would be seated 
     and the ``Noes'' should rise. At this moment, at 
     approximately 2:30 p.m., a fusillade came from the gallery of 
     the House. Four Puerto Rican terrorists, 1 woman and 3 men, 
     fired 20 to 30 pistol shots from Gallery 11, located in the 
     southwest corner of the chamber to the left and rear of the 
     Speaker. The woman fired several shots, some upward into the 
     ceiling and probably also some downward into the crowd of 
     Members on the floor. She waved a Puerto Rican flag and 
     shouted ``Viva Puerto Rico.'' The men fired wildly into and 
     among the Members, scattering bullets from one side of the 
     chamber to the other. Five Members were wounded. Other 
     bullets struck the table of the majority leader, unoccupied 
     seats, and also the side walls at the rear toward the 
     northeast corner of the chamber. The House was thrown into a 
     state of utter disorder, and the Speaker, on his own 
     initiative and without request from the floor, at 2:32 p.m. 
     declared the House in recess subject to the call of the 
     Chair. Members wounded were: Mr. Bentley of Michigan, Mr. 
     Jensen of Iowa, Mr. Davis of Tennessee, Mr. Fallon of 
     Maryland, and Mr. Roberts of Alabama.
       Other Members, including three who were physicians, Dr. 
     Judd of Minnesota, Dr. Miller of Nebraska, and Dr. Fenton of 
     Pennsylvania, assisted and gave first aid to the wounded.
       After a recess of about ten minutes the Speaker called the 
     House to order, and on motion of the Majority Leader, Mr. 
     Halleck of Indiana, the House adjourned at 2:42 p.m.
       Ambulances had been called and in a short time after the 
     shooting the wounded Members were taken to hospitals.
       Meanwhile, the Puerto Ricans who fired the shots had left 
     the gallery. The woman, Lolita Lebron, and two of the men, 
     Rafael Miranda and Andres Cordero, were captured and disarmed 
     before they were more than a few feet beyond the gallery 
     door. The other man, Irving Flores Rodriguez, escaped from 
     the Capitol, but he was arrested in a Washington bus station 
     later in the day.
       Injuries sustained by the Members were as follows:
       Mr. Bentley of Michigan was struck high in the chest. The 
     bullet perforated the right lung; drove through the 
     diaphragm; tore through the liver, which was virtually 
     shattered, and went through the stomach. At the outset Mr. 
     Bentley's condition was regarded as critical, and he was said 
     to have on a 50-50 chance to survive.
       Mr. Jensen of Iowa, was struck in the right shoulder. The 
     bullet passed across to the left side and lodged under his 
     left shoulder blade.
       Mr. Davis of Tennessee, was hit by a bullet which passed 
     through the calf of the right leg.
       Mr. Fallon of Maryland, was wounded in the fleshy part of 
     the upper thigh on the right side, and the bullet passed all 
     the way through.
       Mr. Roberts of Alabama, was struck in the left leg, the 
     bullet entering the fleshy area just above the knee and 
     passing downward and all the way through.
       Mr. Bentley, Mr. Fallon, and Mr. Roberts were taken to 
     Casualty Hospital, and Mr. Jensen and Mr. Davis were taken to 
     Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
       The Puerto Ricans involved in the shooting were identified 
     by police as belonging to the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. 
     Two other members of that party had tried to assassinate 
     President Truman in 1950, at Blair House on Pennsylvania 
     Avenue, N.W., which was being used as the temporary Executive 
     Mansion at that time. The four terrorists were all residents 
     of New York City. The woman, Lolita Lebron, a divorcee 34 
     years old, boasted that the shooting was planned on February 
     22d, and was staged to draw attention to the question of 
     independence for Puerto Rico. Accordingly to police, the 
     incident was timed to coincide with the opening of the Tenth 
     Inter-American Conference in Caracas, Venezuela.
       According to the District of Columbia Police, the guns used 
     by the Puerto Ricans and later taken from them were four 
     automatic pistols of German make, 3 9-millimeter Lugers (one 
     with an 8-inch barrel and two with 4-inch barrels) and a 9-
     millimeter ``P-38'' Walther with a 4-inch barrel.
       The shooting came as a complete surprise. Many Members who 
     were present on the floor of the House at the time later 
     stated they thought a series of fire-crackers had been set 
     off. Even after seeing the pistols in the hands of people in 
     the gallery, some Members thought blank cartridges were being 
     fired. Only after seeing that some Members were wounded and 
     seeing holes in the furniture did many Members realize that 
     real bullets were being fired at the House in session. All 
     found it almost incredible that such a thing was actually 
     happening.
       After the wounded were taken to hospitals, conferences were 
     held by the leaders of both parties regarding security 
     measures which might be necessary for the protection of the 
     House and its Members.
       All outstanding gallery cards were cancelled, effective the 
     day following the shooting. New cards were printed for 
     distribution the following day, with a request being made to 
     all Members by the Speaker that gallery cards be issued only 
     to persons who could be vouched for by each Member issuing 
     the new cards.
       A Congressional Reception which had been scheduled at the 
     White House for the evening of March 2, 1954, was cancelled 
     by the White House.
       Expressions of indignation at the shooting and 
     communications expressing sympathy to the wounded Members 
     were received by the Speaker from far and wide. Thousands of 
     letters and telegrams of this nature were received. Many of 
     the letters and telegrams came from people in Puerto Rico. 
     The Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico made a stirring 
     speech in the House the day following the shooting 
     (Congressional Record, March 2, 1954, delivered during recess 
     but not in Record) to the effect that the people of Puerto 
     Rico were as disturbed over the matter as were the people of 
     the United States. The Governor of Puerto Rico sent his best 
     wishes to the Speaker on the day of the shooting, and on the 
     following day flew from Puerto Rico and called in person upon 
     the Speaker to denounce the shooting and convey the 
     sympathies of Puerto Rico. The House took a brief recess on 
     March 2, 1954, for greeting the Governor of Puerto Rico 
     informally in the House Chamber.
       Resolutions and bills proposing security measures of 
     various kinds were introduced in the House for several days 
     following the shooting. The House on March 4, 1954, adopted a 
     resolution (H. Res. 456) authorizing that necessary medical 
     expenses for Members injured by the shooting on March 1st be 
     paid from the Contingent Fund of the House.
       All five of the wounded Members had been discharged from 
     the hospitals by the end of May, 1954. Mr. Roberts, the last 
     to return to his duties, was walking on crutches and spent a 
     lot of his time in a wheel chair at the time of his return to 
     the House on May 25, 1954. It was expected that Mr. Roberts 
     would require medical treatment for at least a year after his 
     release from the hospital, owing to the injured nerves in his 
     leg. Mr. Bentley also continued to require medical attention 
     at the end of the 2d Session of the 83d Congress.
       The four Puerto Ricans were brought to trial in the U.S. 
     District Court for the District of Columbia. They were 
     convicted and given the maximum sentences for their crimes. 
     Mrs. Lolita Lebron was convicted on 5 counts of assault with 
     a dangerous weapon, but was given a verdict of not guilty on 
     the counts of assault with intent to kill. She was sentenced 
     to serve 3 years and 4 months to 10 years on each of the 
     counts for which convicted, sentences to run consecutively. 
     Thus her total sentence was to serve from 16 years 8 months 
     to 50 years.
       Each of the three men, Rafael Concel Miranda, Irving Flores 
     Rodriguez, and Andres Figueroa Cordero was convicted of 5 
     counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and 5 counts of 
     assault with intent to kill. They were each sentenced to 
     serve 5 to 15 years on each of the counts of assault with 
     intent to kill, sentences to run consecutively. Thus, each 
     received a sentence to serve from 25 to 75 years. Each of the 
     men also received the same sentence as did Mrs. Lebron, but 
     the latter being for the same act of assault were to run 
     concurrently with the former. Thus, each of the men was 
     sentenced to serve a total of from 25 to 75 years.

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