Garcia, Hector P(erez) (1914–1996)

Mexican-born US physician, humanitarian, civil-rights activist, and founder in 1948 of the American GI Forum (AGIF), a national organization that addresses the health, education, and civil rights of Hispanic veterans. He was a leading advocate for Mexican-American veterans' rights, and an activist in the Latino civil-rights movement. In 1967, US president Lyndon B Johnson appointed Garcia as an alternate ambassador to the United Nations, and in 1968 Garcia became the first Mexican-American to serve on the US Commission on Civil Rights. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.

A Mexican Revolution refugee, Garcia was born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and emigrated with his family to Mercedes, Texas, in 1918. He graduated from the University of Texas Medical School in 1940. Garcia served in World War II and received the Bronze Star Medal. Returning to Texas in 1946, he set up a medical practice in Corpus Christi and quickly became aware of the mistreatment and segregation of Mexican-American veterans. His response was to set up the AGIF. In 1949, the AGIF was propelled to national prominence by the Felix Longoria Affair, in which a funeral home refused burial rights to a Mexican-American World War II veteran. As a result of Garcia's efforts and teamwork with then Senator Johnson, Felix Longoria was finally buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Garcia, who became the first nationally known Latino civil-rights leader, continued to fight for labour and education reform for Mexican-Americans during the 1950s and 1960s, laying the foundations for the Chicano movement of the 1960s.