rule was later adopted by the Federal criminal courts, on a 60-day basis. The case of US v. John Phillip Wass raised the issue of whether the United States was in "a time of war" in Vietnam, as Congress had not declared war (as required by the Constitution), but merely passed the infamous Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in a rush requested by President Lyndon Johnson, before any confirmation of the reality of the second alleged North Vietnamese attack on the destroyer USS Turner Joy could be confirmed. John Stafford died June 29, 2011 at 8:30pm at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando, Florida. Political career He was elected a Democratic Precinct Committeeman in the 43rd Legislative District of Washington State in 1964, on the ballot with Lyndon Johnson and former Congressman James McDermott, who was elected a state representative. Stafford has worked for other candidates on about 50 political campaigns from county-level to presidential over 54 years. He began in 1952 with Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the next 32 years for Republicans, beginning in 1979 as a National Vice-Chairman of Reagan Finance. This was at a time when Gov. Reagan was written off, as was Stafford's boyhood friend since 1947 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. He worked for Sen. John McCain, in 2007. Stafford also worked for Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. Stafford has run for the US Senate in past elections in Maryland, in 1998, 2000, and 2004, as well as for the House of Delegates in 2002, and for the Senate of Maryland in 2006. John Stafford was the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the U.S. Department of the Interior in the first Reagan administration. He was also National Vice-Chairman of Reagan Finance in 1979, and Special Counsel for the Chairman, Warren G. Magnuson, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce. In this position he worked on the Rail Services Act of 1975, the 4R Act, where he proposed the re-privatization of Conrail, with the sale of stock to the public, which occurred in 1986, and is now owned by Norfolk Southern and CSX. Stafford also served as Caucus Counsel for the majority leaderships of both the Washington State House and Senate, and as counsel to two committees thereof. Finishing second in a field of nine in the Republican primary in 2004, he was outspent by the 2004 US Senate primary winner, State Senator E. J.