Congressman Hale Boggs, a Louisiana Democrat, and…
1971 CE
Congressman Hale Boggs, a Louisiana Democrat, and Alaska’s Congressmen Nick Begich, are aboard a twin engine Cessna 310 on October 16, 1972, when the plane disappears during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau.
Also on board are Begich's aide, Russell Brown; and the pilot, Don Jonz.
The four were heading to a campaign fundraiser for Begich.
In an enormous search effort, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force search and rescue planes look for the four men and their airplane.
On November 24, 1972, after proceeding for thirty-nine days, the air search is called off.
Neither the wreckage of the plane nor the pilot's or passengers' remains are ever found.
All are declared dead on December 29, 1972.
The accident prompts Congress to pass a law mandating emergency locator transmitters in all United States civil aircraft.
The events surrounding Boggs's death have been the subject of much speculation, suspicion, and numerous conspiracy theories.
These theories often center on his membership on the Warren Commission.
Boggs dissented from the Warren Commission's majority who supported the single bullet theory.
Regarding the single-bullet theory, Boggs commented, "I had strong doubts about it."
In the 1979 novel The Matarese Circle, author Robert Ludlum will portray Boggs as having been killed to stop his investigation of the Kennedy assassination.
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