Richard K. Armey: “I was reading about the stay of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) in North Vietnam and thinking about it as he…”

“I was reading about the stay of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) in North Vietnam and thinking about it as he and I have talked about it and thinking about others that stayed there, and we are going to hear all the details so many times about how he was shot down on April 16, 1966, and how he was released on February 13, 1973. But there is one detail I think that tells me that the Sam Johnson held captive with the Vietnamese all those years ago is the same Sam Johnson I know today in the House of Representatives. See, the Vietnamese concluded, as I have concluded, that he is a stubborn man. They called him a diehard. They thought, even as a prisoner of war, this stubborn man was a threat to their victory, and they took him and nine others that were particularly stubborn and put them in isolation in a prison that was particularly vicious called by the Americans 'Alcatraz.' For 22 years Sam Johnson remained in that prison in isolation from all the others, and he remained a stubborn man. Then, as now, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) was stubborn about his love for this country and his faith in God, and it brought him home. I thank him.”