Dr. Hector: 1914-1996
Legacy endures in the hearts left behind; Loved by the poor, courted by the mighty; Mourners recall believer in democracy and equality
By LIBBY AVERYT and RON GEORGE/Corpus Christi Caller-Times - July 27, 1996
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, legendary civil rights advocate, adviser to presidents and hero to Hispanics nationwide, died Friday after a long illness. He was 82.
Garcia was known in the power circles of Austin and Washington, D.C., and in the poorest regions of South Texas, where he was known to dispense free medical care to those who could not pay. Although he never aspired to elected office, Garcia carried clout among national, state and local politicians, who sought his counsel and his blessing.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president.
President Clinton, in a statement faxed to the Caller- Times, called Garcia a national hero. Those who knew him, and looked up to him as a hero, called him Dr. Hector.
Clinton said Dr. Hector ‘‘fought for half a century for civil and educational rights of Mexican Americans. . . . Hillary and I extend our deepest condolences to his family and to all the Latino community."
Corpus Christi attorney Amador Garcia, Dr. Hector's cousin, said it is difficult to describe what the physician's loss will mean to the community, the state and the United States.
‘‘It's something you can't put your finger on," said Amador Garcia, his voice cracking. ‘‘He was so many things to so many people. He represented honesty and integrity. He loved his country. He loved us, and he loved the Constitution.
‘‘His favorite phrase was, ‘We the people.' "
Dr. Hector, who had been in Memorial Medical Center since February, died at 9:18 a.m. Friday with his brother, a close friend, a Catholic priest and a nurse by his side. He died of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and other medical conditions, said Michelle Trevino, hospital spokeswoman.
Survivors include his wife, Wanda; three daughters, Wanda Garcia of Austin, Cecilia Akers of San Antonio and Susie Garcia of Louisiana; a brother, Dr. Xico P. Garcia of Corpus Christi; and three sisters, Dr. Cuitlahuac P. Garcia of San Antonio and Dr. Dahlia P. Garcia and Dr. Clotilde Garcia, both of Corpus Christi; and Emilia Garcia Garza of Matamoros, Mexico.
‘‘Texas and the world are better places because of Hector Garcia's selfless service, hard work and dedication," Gov. George W. Bush said. ‘‘He will be missed."
Garcia, who founded the American GI Forum, a veterans and civil rights advocacy group, prided himself in working for change within the system.
‘‘The biggest impact I had was that I never pushed or favored any demonstrations or revolt to tear down the system," Garcia told the Caller-Times in 1993. ‘‘I always thought the system would work with us."
Before it was closed on March 29, Garcia's medical office at 1315 Bright St. was a journey through history, its walls blanketed with photos of him with U.S. presidents and various state and international figures.
Mixed with the photos were dozens of awards given to Garcia for his humanitarian work - awards he said he didn't deserve but appreciated.
Despite his actions and many accomplishments, Garcia shied from public recognition, such as the recent statue erected at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said Gilbert Jasso, a civil rights official with the GI Forum and Dr. Hector's executive assistant for the past three years.
‘‘We are very grateful we were able to have the statue made before he died," Jasso said. ‘‘He at first did not want it. I had to go to his brother in order to convince him to allow that to be made. And then Dr. Hector gave the OK. Dr. Hector said he didn't feel like he deserved it.
‘‘But he said that about everything. More than anything, that statue is a symbol of freedom," he said. ‘‘It's also a symbol of success in the fighting for civil rights.
‘‘Corpus Christi is going to take (Dr. Hector's death) very hard. And so is the nation."
Early years:
Friends and foes alike described Garcia as a short-tempered, aggressive man who was unwilling to reason at times. The physician also was called a natural leader, a self-appointed boss, kind and generous, and a believer in democracy and equality. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian, and also knew a smattering of Arabic, Portuguese and German.
Among his close friends, he was an avid devotee of dominoes.
He was born Jan. 17, 1914, one of the seven children of Jose and Faustina Perez Garcia of Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico. When revolution swept across Mexico in 1918, the family moved to Mercedes, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
His father, a strict, proud man who made his seven children study, was a professor who ran a dry-goods store in Mercedes. Garcia went to the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor's degree in zoology in 1936.
He received his medical degree in 1940 from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his surgical internship in 1942 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb.
Garcia joined the Army immediately after finishing medical training. He was awarded the Bronze Star with six battle stars for service during World War II and emerged with the rank of major in the Medical Corps.
Garcia met the woman he would marry, Wanda Fusillo, in Naples, Italy, in late 1944. At the time, she was a student at the University of Naples.
The couple were married on June 23, 1945, less than a month after she finished her doctoral studies in liberal arts.
Professional success:
Garcia started his medical practice in Corpus Christi in 1946. He contracted with the Veterans Administration to treat World War II veterans with service-connected disabilities.
‘‘Dr. Garcia was a tremendously decent man and his legacy to us is to treat each other decently as human beings," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. ‘‘There are a host of people in South Texas who received free medical care from him because they simply couldn't afford to pay him."
Many veterans told Garcia that the Veterans Administration was not complying with the GI Bill of Rights, which entitled them to financial assistance for educational training and health benefits.
On March 26, 1948, Garcia called a meeting at Lamar Elementary School to address the veterans' concerns. The American GI Forum was born that night, and Garcia was elected chairman.
‘‘When Dr. Hector founded the American GI Forum, it spread throughout the United States," Jasso said. ‘‘People looked toward Corpus Christi because Corpus Christi was the founding place for civil rights for Hispanics throughout the nation. Corpus Christi was held in high respect because of the founding of the GI Forum and also the founding of (the League of United Latin American Citizens)."
The organization captured national attention in 1949 when a Three Rivers funeral home would not allow the use of a chapel to bury Army private Felix Longoria, a veteran killed during World War II.
The director of the funeral home said Longoria could be buried in the town's segregated ‘‘Mexican" cemetery, but that the chapel could not be used because the local ‘‘whites would not like it," according to newspaper accounts at the time.
Garcia contacted the owner of the funeral home and asked whether he would reconsider. The owner refused.
Garcia wrote letters to members of the Legislature and the Texas congressional delegation. Longoria eventually was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The Three Rivers incident shocked Garcia, and from then on, he and the American GI Forum focused on combating discrimination, segregation and exploitation of Mexican-Americans.
GI Forum attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 to argue the case of Pete Hernandez, a Jackson County farm worker convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The GI Forum contended that Hernandez had not received a fair trial because Hispanics were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, found unanimously for Hernandez.
‘‘He gave the system integrity and direction," Amador Garcia said. ‘‘He gave the minorities a lot of hope that the system worked for all of us. He was the personification of leadership. He led by example. He would not expect people to do anything that he wouldn't do."
Pursuing politics:
Dr. Hector Garcia was politically active throughout his life.
In 1954, Garcia was on the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee. He also was chairman of the Mexican-Spanish section of the Nationalities Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1960.
In the 1960 presidential election, Garcia helped organize ‘‘Viva Kennedy" clubs in support of Democratic candidate John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who in turn made Garcia a member of the American delegation to sign a treaty between the United States and the Federation of West Indies in 1961.
Garcia also helped Lyndon B. Johnson get elected to the presidency and kept close ties with him throughout his administration.
Johnson appointed Garcia to the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity and later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also was a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1968.
In February 1972, Garcia was appointed to the Texas Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
In 1978, he was a member of the White House conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; and in 1979, a member of U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti's Hispanic Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
President Jimmy Carter invited Garcia to participate in a high-level briefing on Iran and Afghanistan in January 1980.
Garcia also was involved in Texas politics.
In the 1960s, Garcia fought to get the poll tax repealed in Texas. The tax required every voting Texan to pay $1.75 per year to participate in state, regional or local elections.
In 1987, Garcia spoke out against a bill in the Legislature to make English the official language of Texas. He also lobbied hard for a four-year university in Corpus Christi. His efforts won him respect from lawmakers statewide.
Highest honors:
Garcia has received some of the nation's most prestigious honors.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded Garcia the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president. Established in 1963, the award is given to those who have made outstanding contributions to U.S. security or national interest, world peace or cultural endeavors.
Garcia was honored extensively in Corpus Christi. A city park and post office are named after him, and a bronze sculpture of him was placed on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
In May 1991, the university awarded Garcia its first honorary doctorate in recognition of his efforts as a scholar, teacher and leader. The following year, Garcia donated his papers to the university library's Special Collections and Archives Department.
Memorial Medical Center named its indigent health clinic after Garcia, as a tribute to his 47 years of care for the most needy.
He had health problems of his own. He was stricken with a serious kidney ailment when he returned to civilian life after World War II. He suffered a heart attack in 1980 and had open-heart surgery shortly thereafter and again in 1985. He also had half of his stomach removed after doctors found a cancerous tumor.
‘‘Although it is not unexpected, his death was a shock to all of us," said Ken DeDominicis, vice president for institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
DeDominicis helped coordinate the drive to build the university's $500,000 plaza where the 9-foot bronze statue of Garcia is located. The committee that oversaw the campaign to build the plaza is continuing work to enlarge a scholarship endowment connected to the project. The endowment already has $60,000.
‘‘He was a great man, a visionary man whose work made a difference in the lives of millions of people," DeDominicis said. ‘‘He won't be forgotten."
January 17, 1914 --- Born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
1918 --- Family immigrates to Mercedes in South Texas.
1922 --- The infamous Texas Rangers raid his family's home.
1924 --- Anglos set fire to his father's and uncle's store.
1936 --- Graduates from the University of Texas.
1940 --- Graduates from University of Texas Medical School.
1942 --- Joins the United States Army and serves duty in World War II.
1945 --- Marries Wanda Fusillo whom he met while serving in Italy.
1946 --- Dr. Garcia is awarded the Bronze Medal with six stars for his service in the battlefields of North Africa and Italy.
1946 --- Is discharged from the U.S. Army with a rank of Major.
1946 --- Sets up medical practice in Corpus Christi.
1948 --- Organizes the Amercian G.I. Forum for Mexican-American veterans.
1949 --- The "Felix Longoria Affair" propels the A.G.I.F. to national prominence.
1949 --- Dr. Garcia, his wife and daughters are denied service in a Three Rivers, Texas restaurant.
1950 --- Works to eliminate the exploitive "Bracero Program" and for Mexican-American labor reform.
1952 --- Works to eliminate "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" signs in Texas restaurants and to stop the practice of whipping Mexican school children for speaking Spanish.
1955 --- Works diligently for education reform for Mexican-Americans.
1960 --- Organizes the VIVA KENNEDY clubs throughout the nation.
1962 --- Appointed by President Kennedy to negotiate the Chamizal with the Mexican government and a defense treaty with the Fedrations of the West Indies.
1967 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia as an alternate Ambassador to the United Nations.
1968 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
1984 --- President Reagan awards Dr. Garcia this nation's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1984 --- Pope John Paul II awards Dr. Garcia the Equestrian Order of Pope Gregory the Great.
July 26, 1996 --- Dr. Hector P. Garcia dies in Corpus Christi, Texas at age 82 and is eulogized at his funeral by President Bill Clinton.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS AND AWARDS
1996 --- The City of Corpus Christi names one of its plaza's after Hector P. Garcia.
1996 --- A statue of Hector P. Garcia is erected on the campus of Texas A&M University.
1998 --- The United States Congress declares the A.G.I.F. "congressionally chartered."
1998 --- The Mexican Government awards the "Aztec Eagle", its highest honor to Dr. Garcia.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Legacy endures in the hearts left behind; Loved by the poor, courted by the mighty; Mourners recall believer in democracy and equality
By LIBBY AVERYT and RON GEORGE/Corpus Christi Caller-Times - July 27, 1996
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, legendary civil rights advocate, adviser to presidents and hero to Hispanics nationwide, died Friday after a long illness. He was 82.
Garcia was known in the power circles of Austin and Washington, D.C., and in the poorest regions of South Texas, where he was known to dispense free medical care to those who could not pay. Although he never aspired to elected office, Garcia carried clout among national, state and local politicians, who sought his counsel and his blessing.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president.
President Clinton, in a statement faxed to the Caller- Times, called Garcia a national hero. Those who knew him, and looked up to him as a hero, called him Dr. Hector.
Clinton said Dr. Hector ‘‘fought for half a century for civil and educational rights of Mexican Americans. . . . Hillary and I extend our deepest condolences to his family and to all the Latino community."
Corpus Christi attorney Amador Garcia, Dr. Hector's cousin, said it is difficult to describe what the physician's loss will mean to the community, the state and the United States.
‘‘It's something you can't put your finger on," said Amador Garcia, his voice cracking. ‘‘He was so many things to so many people. He represented honesty and integrity. He loved his country. He loved us, and he loved the Constitution.
‘‘His favorite phrase was, ‘We the people.' "
Dr. Hector, who had been in Memorial Medical Center since February, died at 9:18 a.m. Friday with his brother, a close friend, a Catholic priest and a nurse by his side. He died of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and other medical conditions, said Michelle Trevino, hospital spokeswoman.
Survivors include his wife, Wanda; three daughters, Wanda Garcia of Austin, Cecilia Akers of San Antonio and Susie Garcia of Louisiana; a brother, Dr. Xico P. Garcia of Corpus Christi; and three sisters, Dr. Cuitlahuac P. Garcia of San Antonio and Dr. Dahlia P. Garcia and Dr. Clotilde Garcia, both of Corpus Christi; and Emilia Garcia Garza of Matamoros, Mexico.
‘‘Texas and the world are better places because of Hector Garcia's selfless service, hard work and dedication," Gov. George W. Bush said. ‘‘He will be missed."
Garcia, who founded the American GI Forum, a veterans and civil rights advocacy group, prided himself in working for change within the system.
‘‘The biggest impact I had was that I never pushed or favored any demonstrations or revolt to tear down the system," Garcia told the Caller-Times in 1993. ‘‘I always thought the system would work with us."
Before it was closed on March 29, Garcia's medical office at 1315 Bright St. was a journey through history, its walls blanketed with photos of him with U.S. presidents and various state and international figures.
Mixed with the photos were dozens of awards given to Garcia for his humanitarian work - awards he said he didn't deserve but appreciated.
Despite his actions and many accomplishments, Garcia shied from public recognition, such as the recent statue erected at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said Gilbert Jasso, a civil rights official with the GI Forum and Dr. Hector's executive assistant for the past three years.
‘‘We are very grateful we were able to have the statue made before he died," Jasso said. ‘‘He at first did not want it. I had to go to his brother in order to convince him to allow that to be made. And then Dr. Hector gave the OK. Dr. Hector said he didn't feel like he deserved it.
‘‘But he said that about everything. More than anything, that statue is a symbol of freedom," he said. ‘‘It's also a symbol of success in the fighting for civil rights.
‘‘Corpus Christi is going to take (Dr. Hector's death) very hard. And so is the nation."
Early years:
Friends and foes alike described Garcia as a short-tempered, aggressive man who was unwilling to reason at times. The physician also was called a natural leader, a self-appointed boss, kind and generous, and a believer in democracy and equality. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian, and also knew a smattering of Arabic, Portuguese and German.
Among his close friends, he was an avid devotee of dominoes.
He was born Jan. 17, 1914, one of the seven children of Jose and Faustina Perez Garcia of Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico. When revolution swept across Mexico in 1918, the family moved to Mercedes, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
His father, a strict, proud man who made his seven children study, was a professor who ran a dry-goods store in Mercedes. Garcia went to the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor's degree in zoology in 1936.
He received his medical degree in 1940 from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his surgical internship in 1942 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb.
Garcia joined the Army immediately after finishing medical training. He was awarded the Bronze Star with six battle stars for service during World War II and emerged with the rank of major in the Medical Corps.
Garcia met the woman he would marry, Wanda Fusillo, in Naples, Italy, in late 1944. At the time, she was a student at the University of Naples.
The couple were married on June 23, 1945, less than a month after she finished her doctoral studies in liberal arts.
Professional success:
Garcia started his medical practice in Corpus Christi in 1946. He contracted with the Veterans Administration to treat World War II veterans with service-connected disabilities.
‘‘Dr. Garcia was a tremendously decent man and his legacy to us is to treat each other decently as human beings," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. ‘‘There are a host of people in South Texas who received free medical care from him because they simply couldn't afford to pay him."
Many veterans told Garcia that the Veterans Administration was not complying with the GI Bill of Rights, which entitled them to financial assistance for educational training and health benefits.
On March 26, 1948, Garcia called a meeting at Lamar Elementary School to address the veterans' concerns. The American GI Forum was born that night, and Garcia was elected chairman.
‘‘When Dr. Hector founded the American GI Forum, it spread throughout the United States," Jasso said. ‘‘People looked toward Corpus Christi because Corpus Christi was the founding place for civil rights for Hispanics throughout the nation. Corpus Christi was held in high respect because of the founding of the GI Forum and also the founding of (the League of United Latin American Citizens)."
The organization captured national attention in 1949 when a Three Rivers funeral home would not allow the use of a chapel to bury Army private Felix Longoria, a veteran killed during World War II.
The director of the funeral home said Longoria could be buried in the town's segregated ‘‘Mexican" cemetery, but that the chapel could not be used because the local ‘‘whites would not like it," according to newspaper accounts at the time.
Garcia contacted the owner of the funeral home and asked whether he would reconsider. The owner refused.
Garcia wrote letters to members of the Legislature and the Texas congressional delegation. Longoria eventually was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The Three Rivers incident shocked Garcia, and from then on, he and the American GI Forum focused on combating discrimination, segregation and exploitation of Mexican-Americans.
GI Forum attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 to argue the case of Pete Hernandez, a Jackson County farm worker convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The GI Forum contended that Hernandez had not received a fair trial because Hispanics were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, found unanimously for Hernandez.
‘‘He gave the system integrity and direction," Amador Garcia said. ‘‘He gave the minorities a lot of hope that the system worked for all of us. He was the personification of leadership. He led by example. He would not expect people to do anything that he wouldn't do."
Pursuing politics:
Dr. Hector Garcia was politically active throughout his life.
In 1954, Garcia was on the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee. He also was chairman of the Mexican-Spanish section of the Nationalities Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1960.
In the 1960 presidential election, Garcia helped organize ‘‘Viva Kennedy" clubs in support of Democratic candidate John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who in turn made Garcia a member of the American delegation to sign a treaty between the United States and the Federation of West Indies in 1961.
Garcia also helped Lyndon B. Johnson get elected to the presidency and kept close ties with him throughout his administration.
Johnson appointed Garcia to the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity and later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also was a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1968.
In February 1972, Garcia was appointed to the Texas Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
In 1978, he was a member of the White House conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; and in 1979, a member of U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti's Hispanic Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
President Jimmy Carter invited Garcia to participate in a high-level briefing on Iran and Afghanistan in January 1980.
Garcia also was involved in Texas politics.
In the 1960s, Garcia fought to get the poll tax repealed in Texas. The tax required every voting Texan to pay $1.75 per year to participate in state, regional or local elections.
In 1987, Garcia spoke out against a bill in the Legislature to make English the official language of Texas. He also lobbied hard for a four-year university in Corpus Christi. His efforts won him respect from lawmakers statewide.
Highest honors:
Garcia has received some of the nation's most prestigious honors.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded Garcia the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president. Established in 1963, the award is given to those who have made outstanding contributions to U.S. security or national interest, world peace or cultural endeavors.
Garcia was honored extensively in Corpus Christi. A city park and post office are named after him, and a bronze sculpture of him was placed on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
In May 1991, the university awarded Garcia its first honorary doctorate in recognition of his efforts as a scholar, teacher and leader. The following year, Garcia donated his papers to the university library's Special Collections and Archives Department.
Memorial Medical Center named its indigent health clinic after Garcia, as a tribute to his 47 years of care for the most needy.
He had health problems of his own. He was stricken with a serious kidney ailment when he returned to civilian life after World War II. He suffered a heart attack in 1980 and had open-heart surgery shortly thereafter and again in 1985. He also had half of his stomach removed after doctors found a cancerous tumor.
‘‘Although it is not unexpected, his death was a shock to all of us," said Ken DeDominicis, vice president for institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
DeDominicis helped coordinate the drive to build the university's $500,000 plaza where the 9-foot bronze statue of Garcia is located. The committee that oversaw the campaign to build the plaza is continuing work to enlarge a scholarship endowment connected to the project. The endowment already has $60,000.
‘‘He was a great man, a visionary man whose work made a difference in the lives of millions of people," DeDominicis said. ‘‘He won't be forgotten."
January 17, 1914 --- Born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
1918 --- Family immigrates to Mercedes in South Texas.
1922 --- The infamous Texas Rangers raid his family's home.
1924 --- Anglos set fire to his father's and uncle's store.
1936 --- Graduates from the University of Texas.
1940 --- Graduates from University of Texas Medical School.
1942 --- Joins the United States Army and serves duty in World War II.
1945 --- Marries Wanda Fusillo whom he met while serving in Italy.
1946 --- Dr. Garcia is awarded the Bronze Medal with six stars for his service in the battlefields of North Africa and Italy.
1946 --- Is discharged from the U.S. Army with a rank of Major.
1946 --- Sets up medical practice in Corpus Christi.
1948 --- Organizes the Amercian G.I. Forum for Mexican-American veterans.
1949 --- The "Felix Longoria Affair" propels the A.G.I.F. to national prominence.
1949 --- Dr. Garcia, his wife and daughters are denied service in a Three Rivers, Texas restaurant.
1950 --- Works to eliminate the exploitive "Bracero Program" and for Mexican-American labor reform.
1952 --- Works to eliminate "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" signs in Texas restaurants and to stop the practice of whipping Mexican school children for speaking Spanish.
1955 --- Works diligently for education reform for Mexican-Americans.
1960 --- Organizes the VIVA KENNEDY clubs throughout the nation.
1962 --- Appointed by President Kennedy to negotiate the Chamizal with the Mexican government and a defense treaty with the Fedrations of the West Indies.
1967 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia as an alternate Ambassador to the United Nations.
1968 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
1984 --- President Reagan awards Dr. Garcia this nation's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1984 --- Pope John Paul II awards Dr. Garcia the Equestrian Order of Pope Gregory the Great.
July 26, 1996 --- Dr. Hector P. Garcia dies in Corpus Christi, Texas at age 82 and is eulogized at his funeral by President Bill Clinton.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS AND AWARDS
1996 --- The City of Corpus Christi names one of its plaza's after Hector P. Garcia.
1996 --- A statue of Hector P. Garcia is erected on the campus of Texas A&M University.
1998 --- The United States Congress declares the A.G.I.F. "congressionally chartered."
1998 --- The Mexican Government awards the "Aztec Eagle", its highest honor to Dr. Garcia.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dr. Hector: 1914-1996
Legacy endures in the hearts left behind; Loved by the poor, courted by the mighty; Mourners recall believer in democracy and equality
By LIBBY AVERYT and RON GEORGE/Corpus Christi Caller-Times - July 27, 1996
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, legendary civil rights advocate, adviser to presidents and hero to Hispanics nationwide, died Friday after a long illness. He was 82.
Garcia was known in the power circles of Austin and Washington, D.C., and in the poorest regions of South Texas, where he was known to dispense free medical care to those who could not pay. Although he never aspired to elected office, Garcia carried clout among national, state and local politicians, who sought his counsel and his blessing.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president.
President Clinton, in a statement faxed to the Caller- Times, called Garcia a national hero. Those who knew him, and looked up to him as a hero, called him Dr. Hector.
Clinton said Dr. Hector ‘‘fought for half a century for civil and educational rights of Mexican Americans. . . . Hillary and I extend our deepest condolences to his family and to all the Latino community."
Corpus Christi attorney Amador Garcia, Dr. Hector's cousin, said it is difficult to describe what the physician's loss will mean to the community, the state and the United States.
‘‘It's something you can't put your finger on," said Amador Garcia, his voice cracking. ‘‘He was so many things to so many people. He represented honesty and integrity. He loved his country. He loved us, and he loved the Constitution.
‘‘His favorite phrase was, ‘We the people.' "
Dr. Hector, who had been in Memorial Medical Center since February, died at 9:18 a.m. Friday with his brother, a close friend, a Catholic priest and a nurse by his side. He died of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and other medical conditions, said Michelle Trevino, hospital spokeswoman.
Survivors include his wife, Wanda; three daughters, Wanda Garcia of Austin, Cecilia Akers of San Antonio and Susie Garcia of Louisiana; a brother, Dr. Xico P. Garcia of Corpus Christi; and three sisters, Dr. Cuitlahuac P. Garcia of San Antonio and Dr. Dahlia P. Garcia and Dr. Clotilde Garcia, both of Corpus Christi; and Emilia Garcia Garza of Matamoros, Mexico.
‘‘Texas and the world are better places because of Hector Garcia's selfless service, hard work and dedication," Gov. George W. Bush said. ‘‘He will be missed."
Garcia, who founded the American GI Forum, a veterans and civil rights advocacy group, prided himself in working for change within the system.
‘‘The biggest impact I had was that I never pushed or favored any demonstrations or revolt to tear down the system," Garcia told the Caller-Times in 1993. ‘‘I always thought the system would work with us."
Before it was closed on March 29, Garcia's medical office at 1315 Bright St. was a journey through history, its walls blanketed with photos of him with U.S. presidents and various state and international figures.
Mixed with the photos were dozens of awards given to Garcia for his humanitarian work - awards he said he didn't deserve but appreciated.
Despite his actions and many accomplishments, Garcia shied from public recognition, such as the recent statue erected at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said Gilbert Jasso, a civil rights official with the GI Forum and Dr. Hector's executive assistant for the past three years.
‘‘We are very grateful we were able to have the statue made before he died," Jasso said. ‘‘He at first did not want it. I had to go to his brother in order to convince him to allow that to be made. And then Dr. Hector gave the OK. Dr. Hector said he didn't feel like he deserved it.
‘‘But he said that about everything. More than anything, that statue is a symbol of freedom," he said. ‘‘It's also a symbol of success in the fighting for civil rights.
‘‘Corpus Christi is going to take (Dr. Hector's death) very hard. And so is the nation."
Early years:
Friends and foes alike described Garcia as a short-tempered, aggressive man who was unwilling to reason at times. The physician also was called a natural leader, a self-appointed boss, kind and generous, and a believer in democracy and equality. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian, and also knew a smattering of Arabic, Portuguese and German.
Among his close friends, he was an avid devotee of dominoes.
He was born Jan. 17, 1914, one of the seven children of Jose and Faustina Perez Garcia of Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico. When revolution swept across Mexico in 1918, the family moved to Mercedes, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
His father, a strict, proud man who made his seven children study, was a professor who ran a dry-goods store in Mercedes. Garcia went to the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor's degree in zoology in 1936.
He received his medical degree in 1940 from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his surgical internship in 1942 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb.
Garcia joined the Army immediately after finishing medical training. He was awarded the Bronze Star with six battle stars for service during World War II and emerged with the rank of major in the Medical Corps.
Garcia met the woman he would marry, Wanda Fusillo, in Naples, Italy, in late 1944. At the time, she was a student at the University of Naples.
The couple were married on June 23, 1945, less than a month after she finished her doctoral studies in liberal arts.
Professional success:
Garcia started his medical practice in Corpus Christi in 1946. He contracted with the Veterans Administration to treat World War II veterans with service-connected disabilities.
‘‘Dr. Garcia was a tremendously decent man and his legacy to us is to treat each other decently as human beings," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. ‘‘There are a host of people in South Texas who received free medical care from him because they simply couldn't afford to pay him."
Many veterans told Garcia that the Veterans Administration was not complying with the GI Bill of Rights, which entitled them to financial assistance for educational training and health benefits.
On March 26, 1948, Garcia called a meeting at Lamar Elementary School to address the veterans' concerns. The American GI Forum was born that night, and Garcia was elected chairman.
‘‘When Dr. Hector founded the American GI Forum, it spread throughout the United States," Jasso said. ‘‘People looked toward Corpus Christi because Corpus Christi was the founding place for civil rights for Hispanics throughout the nation. Corpus Christi was held in high respect because of the founding of the GI Forum and also the founding of (the League of United Latin American Citizens)."
The organization captured national attention in 1949 when a Three Rivers funeral home would not allow the use of a chapel to bury Army private Felix Longoria, a veteran killed during World War II.
The director of the funeral home said Longoria could be buried in the town's segregated ‘‘Mexican" cemetery, but that the chapel could not be used because the local ‘‘whites would not like it," according to newspaper accounts at the time.
Garcia contacted the owner of the funeral home and asked whether he would reconsider. The owner refused.
Garcia wrote letters to members of the Legislature and the Texas congressional delegation. Longoria eventually was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The Three Rivers incident shocked Garcia, and from then on, he and the American GI Forum focused on combating discrimination, segregation and exploitation of Mexican-Americans.
GI Forum attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 to argue the case of Pete Hernandez, a Jackson County farm worker convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The GI Forum contended that Hernandez had not received a fair trial because Hispanics were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, found unanimously for Hernandez.
‘‘He gave the system integrity and direction," Amador Garcia said. ‘‘He gave the minorities a lot of hope that the system worked for all of us. He was the personification of leadership. He led by example. He would not expect people to do anything that he wouldn't do."
Pursuing politics:
Dr. Hector Garcia was politically active throughout his life.
In 1954, Garcia was on the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee. He also was chairman of the Mexican-Spanish section of the Nationalities Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1960.
In the 1960 presidential election, Garcia helped organize ‘‘Viva Kennedy" clubs in support of Democratic candidate John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who in turn made Garcia a member of the American delegation to sign a treaty between the United States and the Federation of West Indies in 1961.
Garcia also helped Lyndon B. Johnson get elected to the presidency and kept close ties with him throughout his administration.
Johnson appointed Garcia to the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity and later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also was a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1968.
In February 1972, Garcia was appointed to the Texas Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
In 1978, he was a member of the White House conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; and in 1979, a member of U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti's Hispanic Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
President Jimmy Carter invited Garcia to participate in a high-level briefing on Iran and Afghanistan in January 1980.
Garcia also was involved in Texas politics.
In the 1960s, Garcia fought to get the poll tax repealed in Texas. The tax required every voting Texan to pay $1.75 per year to participate in state, regional or local elections.
In 1987, Garcia spoke out against a bill in the Legislature to make English the official language of Texas. He also lobbied hard for a four-year university in Corpus Christi. His efforts won him respect from lawmakers statewide.
Highest honors:
Garcia has received some of the nation's most prestigious honors.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded Garcia the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president. Established in 1963, the award is given to those who have made outstanding contributions to U.S. security or national interest, world peace or cultural endeavors.
Garcia was honored extensively in Corpus Christi. A city park and post office are named after him, and a bronze sculpture of him was placed on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
In May 1991, the university awarded Garcia its first honorary doctorate in recognition of his efforts as a scholar, teacher and leader. The following year, Garcia donated his papers to the university library's Special Collections and Archives Department.
Memorial Medical Center named its indigent health clinic after Garcia, as a tribute to his 47 years of care for the most needy.
He had health problems of his own. He was stricken with a serious kidney ailment when he returned to civilian life after World War II. He suffered a heart attack in 1980 and had open-heart surgery shortly thereafter and again in 1985. He also had half of his stomach removed after doctors found a cancerous tumor.
‘‘Although it is not unexpected, his death was a shock to all of us," said Ken DeDominicis, vice president for institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
DeDominicis helped coordinate the drive to build the university's $500,000 plaza where the 9-foot bronze statue of Garcia is located. The committee that oversaw the campaign to build the plaza is continuing work to enlarge a scholarship endowment connected to the project. The endowment already has $60,000.
‘‘He was a great man, a visionary man whose work made a difference in the lives of millions of people," DeDominicis said. ‘‘He won't be forgotten."
January 17, 1914 --- Born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
1918 --- Family immigrates to Mercedes in South Texas.
1922 --- The infamous Texas Rangers raid his family's home.
1924 --- Anglos set fire to his father's and uncle's store.
1936 --- Graduates from the University of Texas.
1940 --- Graduates from University of Texas Medical School.
1942 --- Joins the United States Army and serves duty in World War II.
1945 --- Marries Wanda Fusillo whom he met while serving in Italy.
1946 --- Dr. Garcia is awarded the Bronze Medal with six stars for his service in the battlefields of North Africa and Italy.
1946 --- Is discharged from the U.S. Army with a rank of Major.
1946 --- Sets up medical practice in Corpus Christi.
1948 --- Organizes the Amercian G.I. Forum for Mexican-American veterans.
1949 --- The "Felix Longoria Affair" propels the A.G.I.F. to national prominence.
1949 --- Dr. Garcia, his wife and daughters are denied service in a Three Rivers, Texas restaurant.
1950 --- Works to eliminate the exploitive "Bracero Program" and for Mexican-American labor reform.
1952 --- Works to eliminate "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" signs in Texas restaurants and to stop the practice of whipping Mexican school children for speaking Spanish.
1955 --- Works diligently for education reform for Mexican-Americans.
1960 --- Organizes the VIVA KENNEDY clubs throughout the nation.
1962 --- Appointed by President Kennedy to negotiate the Chamizal with the Mexican government and a defense treaty with the Fedrations of the West Indies.
1967 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia as an alternate Ambassador to the United Nations.
1968 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
1984 --- President Reagan awards Dr. Garcia this nation's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1984 --- Pope John Paul II awards Dr. Garcia the Equestrian Order of Pope Gregory the Great.
July 26, 1996 --- Dr. Hector P. Garcia dies in Corpus Christi, Texas at age 82 and is eulogized at his funeral by President Bill Clinton.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS AND AWARDS
1996 --- The City of Corpus Christi names one of its plaza's after Hector P. Garcia.
1996 --- A statue of Hector P. Garcia is erected on the campus of Texas A&M University.
1998 --- The United States Congress declares the A.G.I.F. "congressionally chartered."
1998 --- The Mexican Government awards the "Aztec Eagle", its highest honor to Dr. Garcia.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Legacy endures in the hearts left behind; Loved by the poor, courted by the mighty; Mourners recall believer in democracy and equality
By LIBBY AVERYT and RON GEORGE/Corpus Christi Caller-Times - July 27, 1996
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, legendary civil rights advocate, adviser to presidents and hero to Hispanics nationwide, died Friday after a long illness. He was 82.
Garcia was known in the power circles of Austin and Washington, D.C., and in the poorest regions of South Texas, where he was known to dispense free medical care to those who could not pay. Although he never aspired to elected office, Garcia carried clout among national, state and local politicians, who sought his counsel and his blessing.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president.
President Clinton, in a statement faxed to the Caller- Times, called Garcia a national hero. Those who knew him, and looked up to him as a hero, called him Dr. Hector.
Clinton said Dr. Hector ‘‘fought for half a century for civil and educational rights of Mexican Americans. . . . Hillary and I extend our deepest condolences to his family and to all the Latino community."
Corpus Christi attorney Amador Garcia, Dr. Hector's cousin, said it is difficult to describe what the physician's loss will mean to the community, the state and the United States.
‘‘It's something you can't put your finger on," said Amador Garcia, his voice cracking. ‘‘He was so many things to so many people. He represented honesty and integrity. He loved his country. He loved us, and he loved the Constitution.
‘‘His favorite phrase was, ‘We the people.' "
Dr. Hector, who had been in Memorial Medical Center since February, died at 9:18 a.m. Friday with his brother, a close friend, a Catholic priest and a nurse by his side. He died of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and other medical conditions, said Michelle Trevino, hospital spokeswoman.
Survivors include his wife, Wanda; three daughters, Wanda Garcia of Austin, Cecilia Akers of San Antonio and Susie Garcia of Louisiana; a brother, Dr. Xico P. Garcia of Corpus Christi; and three sisters, Dr. Cuitlahuac P. Garcia of San Antonio and Dr. Dahlia P. Garcia and Dr. Clotilde Garcia, both of Corpus Christi; and Emilia Garcia Garza of Matamoros, Mexico.
‘‘Texas and the world are better places because of Hector Garcia's selfless service, hard work and dedication," Gov. George W. Bush said. ‘‘He will be missed."
Garcia, who founded the American GI Forum, a veterans and civil rights advocacy group, prided himself in working for change within the system.
‘‘The biggest impact I had was that I never pushed or favored any demonstrations or revolt to tear down the system," Garcia told the Caller-Times in 1993. ‘‘I always thought the system would work with us."
Before it was closed on March 29, Garcia's medical office at 1315 Bright St. was a journey through history, its walls blanketed with photos of him with U.S. presidents and various state and international figures.
Mixed with the photos were dozens of awards given to Garcia for his humanitarian work - awards he said he didn't deserve but appreciated.
Despite his actions and many accomplishments, Garcia shied from public recognition, such as the recent statue erected at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said Gilbert Jasso, a civil rights official with the GI Forum and Dr. Hector's executive assistant for the past three years.
‘‘We are very grateful we were able to have the statue made before he died," Jasso said. ‘‘He at first did not want it. I had to go to his brother in order to convince him to allow that to be made. And then Dr. Hector gave the OK. Dr. Hector said he didn't feel like he deserved it.
‘‘But he said that about everything. More than anything, that statue is a symbol of freedom," he said. ‘‘It's also a symbol of success in the fighting for civil rights.
‘‘Corpus Christi is going to take (Dr. Hector's death) very hard. And so is the nation."
Early years:
Friends and foes alike described Garcia as a short-tempered, aggressive man who was unwilling to reason at times. The physician also was called a natural leader, a self-appointed boss, kind and generous, and a believer in democracy and equality. He was fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian, and also knew a smattering of Arabic, Portuguese and German.
Among his close friends, he was an avid devotee of dominoes.
He was born Jan. 17, 1914, one of the seven children of Jose and Faustina Perez Garcia of Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico. When revolution swept across Mexico in 1918, the family moved to Mercedes, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
His father, a strict, proud man who made his seven children study, was a professor who ran a dry-goods store in Mercedes. Garcia went to the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor's degree in zoology in 1936.
He received his medical degree in 1940 from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his surgical internship in 1942 at St. Joseph's Hospital, Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb.
Garcia joined the Army immediately after finishing medical training. He was awarded the Bronze Star with six battle stars for service during World War II and emerged with the rank of major in the Medical Corps.
Garcia met the woman he would marry, Wanda Fusillo, in Naples, Italy, in late 1944. At the time, she was a student at the University of Naples.
The couple were married on June 23, 1945, less than a month after she finished her doctoral studies in liberal arts.
Professional success:
Garcia started his medical practice in Corpus Christi in 1946. He contracted with the Veterans Administration to treat World War II veterans with service-connected disabilities.
‘‘Dr. Garcia was a tremendously decent man and his legacy to us is to treat each other decently as human beings," said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi. ‘‘There are a host of people in South Texas who received free medical care from him because they simply couldn't afford to pay him."
Many veterans told Garcia that the Veterans Administration was not complying with the GI Bill of Rights, which entitled them to financial assistance for educational training and health benefits.
On March 26, 1948, Garcia called a meeting at Lamar Elementary School to address the veterans' concerns. The American GI Forum was born that night, and Garcia was elected chairman.
‘‘When Dr. Hector founded the American GI Forum, it spread throughout the United States," Jasso said. ‘‘People looked toward Corpus Christi because Corpus Christi was the founding place for civil rights for Hispanics throughout the nation. Corpus Christi was held in high respect because of the founding of the GI Forum and also the founding of (the League of United Latin American Citizens)."
The organization captured national attention in 1949 when a Three Rivers funeral home would not allow the use of a chapel to bury Army private Felix Longoria, a veteran killed during World War II.
The director of the funeral home said Longoria could be buried in the town's segregated ‘‘Mexican" cemetery, but that the chapel could not be used because the local ‘‘whites would not like it," according to newspaper accounts at the time.
Garcia contacted the owner of the funeral home and asked whether he would reconsider. The owner refused.
Garcia wrote letters to members of the Legislature and the Texas congressional delegation. Longoria eventually was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The Three Rivers incident shocked Garcia, and from then on, he and the American GI Forum focused on combating discrimination, segregation and exploitation of Mexican-Americans.
GI Forum attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 to argue the case of Pete Hernandez, a Jackson County farm worker convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The GI Forum contended that Hernandez had not received a fair trial because Hispanics were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, found unanimously for Hernandez.
‘‘He gave the system integrity and direction," Amador Garcia said. ‘‘He gave the minorities a lot of hope that the system worked for all of us. He was the personification of leadership. He led by example. He would not expect people to do anything that he wouldn't do."
Pursuing politics:
Dr. Hector Garcia was politically active throughout his life.
In 1954, Garcia was on the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee. He also was chairman of the Mexican-Spanish section of the Nationalities Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1960.
In the 1960 presidential election, Garcia helped organize ‘‘Viva Kennedy" clubs in support of Democratic candidate John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who in turn made Garcia a member of the American delegation to sign a treaty between the United States and the Federation of West Indies in 1961.
Garcia also helped Lyndon B. Johnson get elected to the presidency and kept close ties with him throughout his administration.
Johnson appointed Garcia to the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity and later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also was a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1968.
In February 1972, Garcia was appointed to the Texas Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
In 1978, he was a member of the White House conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; and in 1979, a member of U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti's Hispanic Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.
President Jimmy Carter invited Garcia to participate in a high-level briefing on Iran and Afghanistan in January 1980.
Garcia also was involved in Texas politics.
In the 1960s, Garcia fought to get the poll tax repealed in Texas. The tax required every voting Texan to pay $1.75 per year to participate in state, regional or local elections.
In 1987, Garcia spoke out against a bill in the Legislature to make English the official language of Texas. He also lobbied hard for a four-year university in Corpus Christi. His efforts won him respect from lawmakers statewide.
Highest honors:
Garcia has received some of the nation's most prestigious honors.
In 1984, President Reagan awarded Garcia the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given a civilian by the president. Established in 1963, the award is given to those who have made outstanding contributions to U.S. security or national interest, world peace or cultural endeavors.
Garcia was honored extensively in Corpus Christi. A city park and post office are named after him, and a bronze sculpture of him was placed on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
In May 1991, the university awarded Garcia its first honorary doctorate in recognition of his efforts as a scholar, teacher and leader. The following year, Garcia donated his papers to the university library's Special Collections and Archives Department.
Memorial Medical Center named its indigent health clinic after Garcia, as a tribute to his 47 years of care for the most needy.
He had health problems of his own. He was stricken with a serious kidney ailment when he returned to civilian life after World War II. He suffered a heart attack in 1980 and had open-heart surgery shortly thereafter and again in 1985. He also had half of his stomach removed after doctors found a cancerous tumor.
‘‘Although it is not unexpected, his death was a shock to all of us," said Ken DeDominicis, vice president for institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
DeDominicis helped coordinate the drive to build the university's $500,000 plaza where the 9-foot bronze statue of Garcia is located. The committee that oversaw the campaign to build the plaza is continuing work to enlarge a scholarship endowment connected to the project. The endowment already has $60,000.
‘‘He was a great man, a visionary man whose work made a difference in the lives of millions of people," DeDominicis said. ‘‘He won't be forgotten."
January 17, 1914 --- Born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
1918 --- Family immigrates to Mercedes in South Texas.
1922 --- The infamous Texas Rangers raid his family's home.
1924 --- Anglos set fire to his father's and uncle's store.
1936 --- Graduates from the University of Texas.
1940 --- Graduates from University of Texas Medical School.
1942 --- Joins the United States Army and serves duty in World War II.
1945 --- Marries Wanda Fusillo whom he met while serving in Italy.
1946 --- Dr. Garcia is awarded the Bronze Medal with six stars for his service in the battlefields of North Africa and Italy.
1946 --- Is discharged from the U.S. Army with a rank of Major.
1946 --- Sets up medical practice in Corpus Christi.
1948 --- Organizes the Amercian G.I. Forum for Mexican-American veterans.
1949 --- The "Felix Longoria Affair" propels the A.G.I.F. to national prominence.
1949 --- Dr. Garcia, his wife and daughters are denied service in a Three Rivers, Texas restaurant.
1950 --- Works to eliminate the exploitive "Bracero Program" and for Mexican-American labor reform.
1952 --- Works to eliminate "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" signs in Texas restaurants and to stop the practice of whipping Mexican school children for speaking Spanish.
1955 --- Works diligently for education reform for Mexican-Americans.
1960 --- Organizes the VIVA KENNEDY clubs throughout the nation.
1962 --- Appointed by President Kennedy to negotiate the Chamizal with the Mexican government and a defense treaty with the Fedrations of the West Indies.
1967 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia as an alternate Ambassador to the United Nations.
1968 --- President Johnson appoints Dr. Garcia to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
1984 --- President Reagan awards Dr. Garcia this nation's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1984 --- Pope John Paul II awards Dr. Garcia the Equestrian Order of Pope Gregory the Great.
July 26, 1996 --- Dr. Hector P. Garcia dies in Corpus Christi, Texas at age 82 and is eulogized at his funeral by President Bill Clinton.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS AND AWARDS
1996 --- The City of Corpus Christi names one of its plaza's after Hector P. Garcia.
1996 --- A statue of Hector P. Garcia is erected on the campus of Texas A&M University.
1998 --- The United States Congress declares the A.G.I.F. "congressionally chartered."
1998 --- The Mexican Government awards the "Aztec Eagle", its highest honor to Dr. Garcia.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
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