Stewart, Elizabeth A. 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born May 15, 1954, in Selma, AL; daughter of Peter J. Stewart (a military officer). Education: Louisiana State University, B.A, 1975, J.D, 1979.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Winter Haven, FL. Office—McKinley & Blenk, P.A, 190 E. Davidson St., Bartow, FL 33830.

CAREER:

Lawyer. Admitted to the State Bar of Louisiana, 1979, and of Florida, 1982; Office of the State Attorney, Court Administrators Office, staff member, 1981-83; McKinley & Blenk, P.A. (law firm), Bartow, FL, currently associate. U.S. Access Board, deputy general counsel, 1986-2006; appointed to U.S. Access Board, 2006-09.

MEMBER:

Louisiana State Bar Association, Florida State Bar Association, Polk County Trial Lawyers Association.

WRITINGS:

(With Bill Hendon) An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

An attorney by trade, Elizabeth A. Stewart is the daughter of a U.S. Air Force colonel who went missing while fighting in Vietnam. Along with former U.S. Congressman Bill Hendon, Stewart spent over thirty years researching what she and Hendon believe to be a long-term cover-up by the federal government to deny that any American soldiers remain in Vietnam. The book explains that, as the war neared its end, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was negotiating with Vietnam to release American POWs. The Vietnamese, however, demanded so much from the United States in reparations that the negotiations collapsed. In response, the Vietnamese refused to turn over its prisoners. In the decades since then, one president after another has concealed the fact that hundreds of soldiers are still in Vietnam—something Vietnam also denies.

To bolster their argument, Hendon and Stewart present evidence of reported sightings of American prisoners and evidence they have left behind. "It's impressively documented," commented Jeanine Notter in the New American. "Several thousand reported live sightings establish the credibility of the authors' contentions, plus satellite/aerial photography and radio intercepts." "Much of the authors' evidence is circumstantial," admitted a Kirkus Reviews writer, "but there's an awful lot of it. A convincing, urgent argument." Notter added a cautionary note: "The book will likely face criticism because a good number of identities are protected in the book, and omitting the names of refugees and others that have come forward with information on our POWs/MIAs may cause some readers to question the soundness of the work. Most, however, I'm sure, will appreciate the sensitive nature of the subject and look past the fact that certain names were withheld."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2007, review of An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia.

New American, September 17, 2007, Jeanine Notter, "Unveiling Vietnam War Secrets: An Enormous Crime, by William Hendon and Elizabeth Stewart, Exposes Secrets of the Vietnam War and Provides Ample Documentation That American POWs Were Left Behind," p. 31.

Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2007, review of An Enormous Crime, p. 42.

ONLINE

Conservative Voice,http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ (June 20, 2007), Henry Mark Holzer, "Vietnam POW/MIAs: An Enormous Conundrum."

National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Web site,http://www.prisonerofwar.org.uk/ (January 8, 2008), review of An Enormous Crime.

Vietnam Veterans of America Web site,http://www.vva.org/ (September 1, 2007), Marc Leepson, "The ‘Definitive’ Account of Those Left Behind in Vietnam."