Héctor P. García facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Héctor P. James García IV
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Héctor P. García in 1976
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| Born | January 17, 1914 Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico
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| Died | July 26, 1996 (aged 82) |
| Resting place | Seaside Funeral Home & Memorial Park, Corpus Christi, Texas |
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| Known for | Chicano Movement |
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Wanda Fusillo
(m. 1945) |
| Children | Daisy Wanda |
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Héctor Pérez García (born January 17, 1914 – died July 26, 1996) was an important Mexican American doctor, surgeon, and World War II veteran. He was a strong supporter of civil rights and started the American GI Forum (AGIF).
Because of his important work helping Hispanic Americans, he became well-known across the country. He helped Vicente T. Ximenes, a Mexican American and early AGIF member, get appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1966. Dr. García was also chosen as a representative to the United Nations in 1967. He was appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1968. In 1984, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award a civilian can get in the United States. In 1990, Pope John Paul II honored him with the Order of St. Gregory the Great. After he passed away in 1998, he received Mexico's highest award for foreigners, the Order of the Aztec Eagle, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Héctor García was born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico. His parents, José García and Faustina Pérez García, were both school teachers. In 1917, his family moved to Mercedes, Texas, to escape the violence of the Mexican Revolution.
His father's teaching degrees were not recognized in the U.S., so he started a dry goods business. Both parents taught their children to love learning and hoped they would all become doctors. Héctor and five of his siblings did become physicians.
In 1929, García joined the Citizens' Military Training Camp (CMTC), a youth program of the United States Army. He finished high school in 1932 from a segregated school. That same year, he became an officer in the CMTC, similar to a second lieutenant in the U.S. infantry.
He started college at Edinburg Junior College. He had to hitchhike about 30 miles (48 km) every day to get there. His father used his life insurance money to pay for Héctor's education. In 1932, García went to the University of Texas at Austin and earned a degree in zoology. He was one of the top students in his class. He then studied at the University of Texas Medical Branch, becoming a doctor in 1940. He completed his medical training at St. Joseph's Hospital at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1942.
Serving in the Army
After finishing his training in 1942, Dr. García joined the army because the U.S. had entered World War II. He first led a group of infantry soldiers. Later, he commanded a group of combat engineers. He was then moved to the medical corps. He served in Europe and became a major.
He received several awards for his service, including the Bronze Star Medal. He also earned the European African Middle Eastern Medal with six bronze stars and the World War II Victory Medal. While serving in Italy, he met Wanda Fusillo from Naples. They fell in love and got married in 1945.
Life After the War
In 1945, after the war ended, Dr. García and his wife Wanda moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in South Texas. Their first child, Daisy Wanda, was born in 1946. Dr. García and his brother José Antonio opened a private medical practice. They treated all patients, even if they could not pay.
In 1947, Dr. García was chosen as president of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). This group was started by Hispanic veterans to protect their rights. That same year, Dr. García became very sick with a kidney disease. While recovering, he heard a school superintendent talking about how schools were separated by race in his district. In many Southern states, public places were segregated, meaning different facilities for different races. At that moment, Dr. García promised himself that if he got better, he would work to achieve equality for his people.
Starting the American GI Forum
After leaving the hospital, Dr. García began helping other Mexican-American veterans. He helped them file claims with the Veteran's Administration (VA). The VA was often slow to help Hispanic-American veterans. In 1948, he looked into the poor living conditions of migrant workers in Mathis, Texas. He found that these workers were very poor, sick, and lacked basic hygiene.
On March 26, 1948, he held a meeting to discuss the problems faced by Mexican-American veterans. This meeting led to the creation of the American GI Forum (AGIF). Soon, AGIF had chapters in 40 cities across Texas. It became the main way Mexican-American veterans spoke out against unfair treatment and demanded their rights. They chose the name "American GI Forum" to show that their members were American citizens who deserved their constitutional rights. Because of their strong patriotism, the FBI did not investigate AGIF, unlike some other Mexican-American groups at the time.
The Felix Longoria Case
In 1945, a Mexican-American soldier named Felix Z. Longoria Jr. was killed in the Philippines. His body was returned to Texas in 1949. His widow wanted to use the funeral chapel in Three Rivers, Texas, but the funeral director refused. He said that "the whites won't like it."
Dr. García and AGIF stepped in to help. They asked U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson to fix this injustice. Senator Johnson arranged for Longoria to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was the first Mexican American to receive this honor. When The New York Times reported on the case, it gained national attention. This event brought AGIF to the forefront of the civil rights movement. After this, AGIF grew and started chapters in New Mexico and Colorado.
AGIF's Role in American Politics
AGIF became an important voice for Mexican Americans after World War II. Besides offering veterans a social and political network, AGIF took practical steps. They raised money to pay for poll taxes for poor people, so they could vote. They also campaigned against the Bracero Program, which brought migrant workers during the war but was known for unfair treatment.
Dr. García spoke before the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor. He stated that "The migrant problem is not only a national emergency, it has become a national shame on the American conscience." His work connected him with national political figures like Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern. The organization's efforts to highlight poverty and discrimination in Texas also caught the attention of Look magazine. It published an article about the high rates of diseases like diphtheria and tuberculosis in the neglected community.
Dr. García also worked to bring attention to the poor conditions of schools for children in South Texas. In 1950, he asked the Texas Department of Health to inspect schools to prevent diseases. He also spoke out against school segregation and discrimination in classrooms. Many white people opposed Dr. García's work and felt threatened by AGIF. One letter even compared him to Joseph Stalin and said Texans should "drive [him] back to Mexico."
In 1953, AGIF published its own study called "What Price Wetbacks." This study focused on issues related to farm labor in South Texas. They invited Senator Lyndon Johnson to speak at their state convention. In 1954, lawyers funded by AGIF and LULAC won the case Hernandez v. Texas in the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiff's murder conviction was unfair because he did not have a jury of his peers. Court records showed that no one with a Spanish surname had served on a jury in that county for 25 years.
After the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, LULAC and AGIF worked to ensure this ruling applied to Mexican-American students in Texas. They challenged school districts in Driscoll, Carrizo Springs, and Kingsville.
In 1960, Dr. García became the national leader for the Viva Kennedy Campaign. This campaign aimed to elect Senator John F. Kennedy as president. Dr. García is credited with helping the Democratic party get 85 percent of the Hispanic vote in that close election. However, the Kennedy administration did not prioritize AGIF's civil rights goals. Dr. García was appointed in 1962 to represent the U.S. in defense treaty talks with the West Indies Federation. This was important because it was the first time a Mexican American represented an American President. The talks were successful.
After President Kennedy was assassinated, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson became president. He appointed Dr. García as a Special Ambassador to the inauguration of Dr. Raúl Leoni, the President of Venezuela.
In 1966, thanks to AGIF and other groups, the Texas state legislature removed the poll tax. This tax had made it hard for poor people to vote. AGIF also organized a march to the Texas state capital to protest the low wages of Mexican farm workers. In 1967, President Johnson appointed Dr. García as an alternate representative, with the rank of Ambassador, to the United Nations. His job was to improve U.S. relations with Latin American countries. On October 26, Dr. García made history by speaking to the UN in Spanish. He was the first U.S. representative to speak before the UN in a language other than English.
Starting in 1968, Dr. García and other AGIF members began meeting families of fallen soldiers at the airport. They would collect the bodies of soldiers returning from Vietnam. He often spoke at the soldiers' funerals and never refused a request to do so. In the same year, President Johnson appointed Dr. García to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
In 1972, Dr. García was arrested during a sit-in protest against the segregation in the Corpus Christi school district. He also advised President Jimmy Carter several times in the 1970s. In 1987, he fought against the movement to make English the only official language of the U.S. This was important because many new Spanish speakers were immigrating to the country. His last major project was to improve living conditions in the colonias (poor communities) in the Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.–Mexico border.
Death
Dr. Héctor P. García passed away on July 26, 1996, in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the age of 82. He was buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi. President Bill Clinton gave a speech honoring him.
Honors and Awards
Dr. García received many awards from governments and organizations throughout his life. Some of these include:
- The U.S. Army's Bronze Star Medal and other military awards (1942–1946).
- AGIF's Medalla al Merito (Medal of Merit) in 1952 for his work with Mexican-American veterans.
- National Coordinator for the "Viva Kennedy" clubs in 1960.
- Representative of President John F. Kennedy for a defense treaty in 1961.
- Presidential representative with the rank of Special Ambassador to Venezuela in 1964.
- The Republic of Panama's Condecoracion, Orden Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1965.
- A humanitarian award from the Corpus Christi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1969.
- The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.
- The Equestrian Order of Pope Gregory the Great from Pope John Paul II in 1990.
- The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Plaza and Statue were dedicated at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi in 1996.
- Several schools were named after him, including Hector P. Garcia Elementary School in Grand Prairie, Texas (1997) and Hector P. Garcia Middle School in Dallas, Texas (2007).
- His image was placed on the U.S. Treasury's $75 I Bond series honoring great Americans in 1999.
- Texas State Highway 286 was named the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Highway in 2008.
Legacy and Impact
Dr. García was one of the first important leaders in the Hispanic civil rights movement. His actions helped pave the way for the Chicano Movement. As a nationally and internationally recognized figure, his life had an impact on all parts of society. He fought to improve conditions in poor neighborhoods and influenced the highest levels of government.
By the end of the 1950s, hotels, cinemas, and restaurants in Texas were no longer segregated. Beauty parlors and barbershops followed in the 1960s. Cemeteries and swimming pools finally opened to Mexican Americans in the 1970s.
In popular culture, Pulitzer Prize winner Edna Ferber interviewed Dr. García in 1950 to understand the Mexican American experience in Texas. She later used this interview to write her 1952 novel Giant. This book was made into a famous 1956 film starring James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.
In 1985, the Dr. Héctor Pérez García Endowed Chair was created at Yale University. In 1988, the main post office in Corpus Christi was renamed in his honor. In 1996, a 9-foot (2.7 m) statue of him was dedicated at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. In 1999, his image appeared on the U.S. Treasury's $75 I Bond series, which honors great Americans.
In 2002, the public television station KEDT in Corpus Christi, Texas, produced a documentary about him called "Justice for my People: The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Story." This program was shown across the country on PBS.
In 2009, the state of Texas passed a law (Senate Bill 495) establishing the third Wednesday of each September as "Dr. Hector P. Garcia Texas State Recognition Day." In April 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized Dr. Héctor García's leadership and historical contributions to the Hispanic community and his efforts to fight discrimination in the U.S.
