Dr. Héctor Pérez García, Hometown Hero of Mercedes, Texas

November 2007

Héctor Pérez García, a physician, surgeon, civil rights advocate, community leader, political activist, and founder of the American G.I. Forum, was born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico on January 17, 1914, son of college professor José García and Faustina Pérez García, a schoolteacher. In 1917 when the Mexican Revolution endangered the family, the García parents, together with seven of their ten children, fled to the United States, legally taking up residence in Mercedes, Texas in 1918. Initially the family members had to perform manual field and other labor to sustain themselves. Later Héctor's father joined his brother in the dry good business. Their business would expand and become one of the prime commercial stores in the young town. In either 1924 or 1927, depending on the source, the store sustained a devastating fire whose origins were suspicious and may have been arson.

The accomplished parents were to instill in all of their children the value of education, so much so that Héctor and five of his siblings would go on to obtain degrees in medicine. These were José Antonio García, Clotilde Pérez García, Cuitlahuac Pérez García Xicotencatl Pérez Garcia, and Dalia García-Malison.

At age fifteen in 1929 García joined the Citizens Military Training Corps (CMTC), a predecessor to high school R.O.T.C., This same year he earned a commission equivalent to a second lieutenant in the US Army infantry. In 1932 Hector was valedictorian of his segregated Mercedes high school graduating class. He began attending Edinburg Junior College for which his father cashed in his own life insurance policy in order to raise funds to cover tuition and other costs. Transferring to Austin, Garcia went on to graduate with honors in 1936 from the University of Texas, earning a B.A. degree with a zoology major. With a quota system in effect for Mexican Americans, García was the sole Latin admitted to and then to be graduated with the 1940 class of the University of Texas Medical School (Galveston). He then took his two-year residency training at St. Joseph's Hospital at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska.

With WWII in progress and his residency training completed, Dr. García volunteered for Army duty in 1942. He served as an infantry officer, a combat engineer officer, and finally as a Medical Corps officer and surgeon. Discharged as a major in 1945, he had been awarded a Bronze Star with six battle stars for service in North Africa and Italy. He also brought home a war bride, Wanda Fusillo of Naples, who was a recent PhD recipient. They had been married June 23, 1945 and had a son soon after.

In 1946 García, his wife, and young son came to South Texas, where in Corpus Christi, he opened a private practice with his bother José Antonio. Soon he was also to be involved with the League of United American Citizens (LULAC), being elected its chapter president in 1947 and Tejano politics. His work in LULAC exposed García to the legalized inequities, such as school segregation, that Hispanics were experiencing. After volunteering to help Mexican American veterans file claims with the Veterans Administration, Dr. García found himself more and more drawn to address concerns of Mexican American veterans in pursuit of their rights. In a Corpus Christi elementary school classroom on March 26, 1948 he and others met and from this meeting the American G.I. Forum, which was soon to have chapters in 40 cities, evolved as an organizational force. An unfortunate discriminatory 1948 incident was to garner national attention for Dr. García and the G.I. Forum. The body of Felix Longoria of Three Rivers, Texas, and who had been a private killed in the Philippines by a Japanese sniper in 1945, was being returned to the US. The mortuary director of his hometown refused the use of the funeral home's chapel to Longoria's family. In a January 1949 communications to US Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas García appealed for redress of this situation. Johnson offered the Longoria family a burial for Pvt. Longoria with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. This came to pass. He was very likely the second Mexican American soldier to be buried in Arlington. The resulting publicity brought an expansion of the G.I. Forum into New Mexico and Colorado. The Forum went on to expand its activities into the areas of education, farm labor, jury selection, desegregation of schools, hospitals, and public swimming pools, poll tax reform, and more. One key decision dealing with jury selection was rendered by US Supreme Court in the case of Hernandez v.Texas.

When, in 1960, García became the national coordinator of the Viva Kennedy Clubs organized to elect John F. Kennedy as president, he commenced a long association with the Democrat Party. Kennedy upon election did not pursue any Hispanic agenda but in 1962 did appoint Dr. García as representative of the US to effect a mutual defense treaty with the Federation of the West Indies. In 1966 now President, Lyndon B. Johnson appointed García as alternate ambassador to the United Nations with a directive to better relations with Latin American nations and Spain. This same year the President also appointed him to the US Commission on Civil Rights.

When in 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning author Edna Ferber wrote her very popular book Giant upon which the motion picture was later based, she used an interview with Dr. Garcia as a basis for the Mexican American doctor in the novel and two striking scenes in the film. One was crafted after the Longoria incident and the second involved the refusal of a restaurant to serve Latinos.

Throughout his long distinguished career Dr .García was to receive numerous recognitions, awards, and accolades. One singular high point was when on March 26, 1984 he received from President Ronald Reagan the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In Corpus Christi Dr. García, who already had an indigent care clinic named for him, had, in November 1985, a city park named in his honor, and in September 1988, the Main Post Office was renamed in his honor. The Dr. Hector Perez Garcia Endowed Chair was created at Yale University in 1985, and in June 1996 a nine-foot statue of him was dedicated at the Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi campus. A Catholic, Garcia was named to the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II in 1990. In 1999 Dr. García's image was placed on the US Treasury $75 I Bond Series honoring great Americans.

On a personal level Dr. García, with his vast experience, knowledge, and skill that he used in the pursuit of social justice, could impress some as "undemocratic" and perhaps autocratic. An associate portrayed his personality as "generosity mixed with impatience." His compassion for others, as illustrated by his often free medical services, his many appearances at the funerals of Vietnam veterans, and efforts to improve colonia conditions in South Texas, overshadowed his faults. His hardscrabble early years had imparted to him a lifelong empathy for the downtrodden and dispossessed.

Dr. García's last years were physically painful. He underwent successful open-heart surgery only to later develop stomach cancer. He was to die at age 82 on July 26, 1996 of pneumonia complications and congestive heart failure. Upon his death, he was survived by his wife, three daughters, Wanda, Cecelia, and Susana, and many of his siblings. His son, Hector Jr., had died in an accident at age13.

The Dr. Héctor P. García Papers are in the Special Collection and Archives of the Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Dr. García's legacy lives on in many institutional areas not the least being, in 2006, the 502 chapters of the American G. I. Forum with 160,000 members in 24 states. The University of Texas Medical Branch maintains a comprehensive biography online titled "Hector P. Garcia A Texas Legend."

This brief biographical sketch cannot do justice to Dr. Garcia's many accomplishments. Readers may wish to delve further in the following sources:

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ignacio M. Garcia, Hector P. Garcia: In Relentless Pursuit of Justice (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 2002). Henry Ramos, The American G. I. Forum: In Pursuit of the Dream, 1948-1983 (Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1998). KEDT, The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Story <http://www.justiceformypeople.com/interview_hgarcia.html>, 2007. Anon., Hector P. Garcia < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_P_Garcia > Nov.13, 2007.

The Family Secret of Dr. Hector P. Garcia
By
Daisy Wanda Garcia

The Garcia family valued the role of history in understanding who they were. Dr. Hector Garcia believed not knowing their history was an obstacle to the self-determination of the Mexican Americans. My father reaffirmed this belief when he addressed the University of Texas Hispanic Alumni.  

"We are a lost people. We are lost to ourselves. We do not know our origins. We do not know who we are and where we are going. We do not have a history and a people without a history have nothing."  

The history of Mexican Americans in Northeastern Mexico and South Texas was lost for many reasons. In Texas, the main reason was that Mexico lost the war for independence. For this reason, Spaniards/ Mexicans are portrayed as villains or their contributions are not included in Texas textbooks.  

This practice called Damnatio memoriae means literally "damnation of memory", in the sense of erased from memory. Thus, few Texas students know about the roles of Spaniards/Mexicans in Texas, that Mexicans fought on both sides at the Alamo or about the Hispanic Civil Rights movement. During the August 23, 2002 state textbook review process, a tearful Lucy Camarillo confronted the board about the omission in the Texas school textbooks of the overt discrimination Mexican Americans faced until the 1960s. The board was indifferent to her pleas.  

Dr. Hector spent a lot of time researching the history of the Mexican American in Texas. One summer, my Papa taught me the history of Mexico. Later, he recruited me into the historical research process as well. When I was a student at the University of Texas @Austin, my papa asked me to research the lives of some of the "movers and shakers" in Texas history. What I found startling was that all of these men adopted Spanish names when they moved to Texas. Many married Mexican women, became Mexican citizens and tried to blend within the Mexican culture. The Texas History books neglected to mention this information!

Dr. Cleo Garcia, my aunt was the family historian. Dr. Cleo devoted much of her time to the uncovering of the past. She traveled in Mexico, Spain and the United States to recover Mexican and American history. Dr. Cleo was an accomplished historian and wrote ten books and two articles about her research. In 1986, she participated in the founding of the Spanish American Genealogical Association (SAGA). In 1990, United States Senator, Lloyd Bentsen, presented Dr. Cleo with a document from the 101^st sense of erased from memory. Thus, few Texas students know about the roles of Spaniards/Mexicans in Texas, that Mexicans fought on both sides at the Alamo or about the Hispanic Civil Rights movement. During the August 23, 2002 state textbook review process, a tearful Lucy Camarillo confronted the board about the omission in the Texas school textbooks of the overt discrimination Mexican Americans faced until the 1960s. The board was indifferent to her pleas.  

Dr. Hector spent a lot of time researching the history of the Mexican American in Texas. One summer, my Papa taught me the history of Mexico. Later, he recruited me into the historical research process as well. When I was a student at the University of Texas @Austin, my papa asked me to research the lives of some of the "movers and shakers" in Texas history. What I found startling was that all of these men adopted Spanish names when they moved to Texas. Many married Mexican women, became Mexican citizens and tried to blend within the Mexican culture. The Texas History books neglected to mention this information!

Dr. Cleo Garcia, my aunt was the family historian. Dr. Cleo devoted much of her time to the uncovering of the past. She traveled in Mexico, Spain and the United States to recover Mexican and American history. Dr. Cleo was an accomplished historian and wrote ten books and two articles about her research. In 1986, she participated in the founding of the Spanish American Genealogical Association (SAGA). In 1990, United States Senator, Lloyd Bentsen, presented Dr. Cleo with a document from the 101^st Congress, honoring my aunt as a "Re-discoverer of Texas."  

Dr. Cleo gave me a reproduction of the Garcia coat of arms. She told me about our roots in Spain and how the Garcias immigrated to this continent. Not only did her research uncover our cultural heritage but also the "Family Secret." We were in her den. After she revealed the "Family Secret" to me, she looked at me waiting for a reaction. At the time, I did not really grasp the significance of what she said because Dr. Cleo was understated even when she was dropping a bomb. Therefore, I said nothing. Dr. Cleo told me she was working on a book about the Garcia family. She said it would be similar to "Roots" in scope.

Regrettably, Dr. Cleo had a stroke and was unable to complete her book. My dear aunt died in May 2003. My "Mama Grande" went to join my father on the other side.

The Garcia family had its origins in Galicia, in Northern Spain. In 1492, the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued an order expelling all Jews from Spain. The day following the order, Christopher Columbus set sail upon his voyage to the New World. The Garcia ancestors were on some of the voyages that came to the New World.

In 1739, King Phillip V of Spain issued a royal decree for the colonization of the coast along the Gulf of Mexico. The viceroy of New Spain appointed Captain Jose de Escandon to explore and colonize a new province named Nuevo Santander in South Texas. Escandon brought in families already established in northern Mexico from the states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. One family headed by Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon lived in New Spain since 1550-fifty-eight years after Columbus discovered American. De la Garza Falcon was instrumental in developing the new province, Nuevo Santander that included present day South Texas. Ten settlers from Camargo joined the expedition. Among them were Rafael Garcia and Matias Garcia. These Garcia family ancestors were among the forty colonial families de la Garza Falcon brought to settle Nuevo Santander. The crown bequeathed land grants in Nuevo Santander to the Garcias as a reward for their participation in the Escandon mission.

The Mexican Inquisition forced Sephardic Jews to flee Mexico and relocate in Texas, New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Like many other Jews in Mexico, the Garcias were anxious to flee Mexico because of the Catholic Inquisition. Nuevo Santander was ideal because of the proximity to the Garcia land grant near the border town of Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  

Jose Antonio Garcia, my grandfather kept the family heritage a secret. None of the Garcia siblings knew they were Jewish, until Dr. Cleo stumbled on the "Family Secret" while conducting genealogical research on the Garcia family. Perhaps the "Family Secret" would explain my grandfather’s strong anti-clerical sentiments. Even Dr. Hector would remark he did not understand why his father felt that way. I can only speculate on Grandfather’s reasons.  

In 1985, Juan Jose Gussoni, Honorable Vice Council of Spain presented my father with a framed facsimile of the Garcia coat of arms depicting the family motto and a letter. He captured the spirit of my father in two short sentences, Dr. Garcia con su liderazgo y forma de actuar ha hecho realidad la divisa de los Garcias. Ya que yo no conozco a nadie que con justicia y verdad pueda decir o considerarse superior a usted en su labor en favor de los americanos de origen hispano.  

Jose Antonio Garcia, my grandfather kept the family heritage a secret. None of the Garcia siblings knew they were Jewish, until Dr. Cleo stumbled on the "Family Secret" while conducting genealogical research on the Garcia family. Perhaps the "Family Secret" would explain my grandfather’s strong anti-clerical sentiments. Even Dr. Hector would remark he did not understand why his father felt that way. I can only speculate on Grandfather’s reasons.  

In 1985, Juan Jose Gussoni, Honorable Vice Council of Spain presented my father with a framed facsimile of the Garcia coat of arms depicting the family motto and a letter. He captured the spirit of my father in two short sentences, Dr. Garcia con su liderazgo y forma de actuar ha hecho realidad la divisa de los Garcias. Ya que yo no conozco a nadie que con justicia y verdad pueda decir o considerarse superior a usted en su labor en favor de los americanos de origen hispano.  

Standard (coat of arms) of the Garcias a reality. Truthfully, I do not know anyone who might be considered superior to you in your work on behalf of Americans of Hispanic origins.  

I never knew if the knowledge of his Jewish roots affected Dr. Hector. In any case, he focused on his mission for Hispanic Civil Rights. Dr. Hector set high standards for himself because he constantly challenged himself to be the best he could be.

De Garcia Nadie Diga Arriba
Of Garcia No One Can Say Anything Higher.

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