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The Jewish Journal of greater L.A, CA
Feb 14 2008
Congressman Tom Lantos left behind human rights legacy
Mel Levine: Losing Lantos means the end of an era
By Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The flags dipped at half-staff over the Capitol, the warm
remembrances flooded e-mail inboxes, the "Have you heard?" phone
calls took a solemn tone.
U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) earned all these tributes. He died
Monday of esophageal cancer at the age of 80.
The mourning was not just for a man but for the unique voice of the
only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress.
"We lose a voice for human rights, which was in his case unique,"
said Elie Wiesel, the novelist whose own writings have become icons
of Holocaust remembrance. "He spoke always against oppression,
against persecution, against racism."
Lantos died at the Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md.,
surrounded by his wife, Annette, two daughters and many of his 18
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
"As the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, Tom was a
living reminder that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering
of the innocent at the hands of evil men," President Bush said.
"Having lived through the worst evil known to mankind, Tom Lantos
translated the experience into a lifetime commitment to the fight
against anti-Semitism, Holocaust education, and a commitment to the
State of Israel," U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the
speaker of the House of Representatives, said in a statement.
Sallai Meridor, Israel's ambassador to Washington, said Israel "lost
one of our greatest friends."
The remembrances of Lantos, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, were a kaleidoscope of the human rights causes he
championed since his election to the House in 1980.
Wiesel remembered Lantos' contributions to the building of the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, which Wiesel helped found.
"From the very beginning in Washington he was with us, involved in
every step leading to the building of the museum, developing it into
a source for archives, learning and teaching," he said.
Mark Levin, the executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of
Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia, focused on
Lantos' role in the 1980s in pressing the Soviet Union to release its
Jews. Lantos made several trips to Russia to meet with refuseniks and
championed them in Congress.
"He was forthright, compassionate and deeply committed to the cause
of freeing Jews from the former Soviet Union," Levin said.
In 2003 he would found the House's Human Rights Caucus.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa remembered Lantos' moral leadership
and how he provided a passionate voice for those in need.
"Whether taking the lead on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
reminding us of our obligation to halt the genocide in Darfur,
warning his colleagues about the perils of a nuclear Iran, or
speaking out on behalf of new democracies springing up across Eastern
Europe, Tom Lantos' courageous stands and compassionate actions
served as an example of principled leadership for each and every
political official in the U.S. and around the world," he said.
Other encomiums came from The American Jewish World Service (AJWS),
which has led the Jewish community in pressing for an end to the
genocide in Sudan; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
which praised his steadfast support for Israel and his tough stance
on Iran; and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), which
commemorated his contributions to social welfare at home.
Adding their remembrances were the United Jewish Communities, B'nai
B'rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, the World Jewish
Congress, the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, Hadassah and
Americans for Peace Now.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) remembered Lantos' service to
his Silicon Valley district.
"In serving his constituents and his country, Tom never forgot the
Democratic Party's ideals of freedom, fairness and opportunity for
all," the chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean, said in a statement.
Lantos was not afraid to take on his allies. On the foreign affairs
committee, he blasted Silicon Valley giants like Google and Yahoo for
colluding with China's government in censorship. He authored tough
Iran sanctions legislation, but broke with pro-Israel orthodoxy by
offering to meet with the Islamic Republic's leaders.
Pro-Israel groups also opposed a nonbinding resolution that
recognized the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians as a genocide,
worried that it would cause a rift between Israel and Turkey. Lantos
pushed the measure through the committee, unwilling to countenance
what he saw as genocide revisionism.
His appeal crossed political aisles: Both the National Jewish
Democratic Council and the Republican Jewish Coalition issued
statements mourning his passing.
Top Republicans on his committee recalled him fondly.
"An unfailingly gracious and courageous man, Tom was recognized by
friends and colleagues alike as a leader who left an enviable legacy
of service to his country," said Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-Fla.),
the committee's ranking member.
The campaigns of the two Democrats left in the presidential field,
U.S. Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
also released statements mourning his passing.
Lantos was 16 in 1944 when the Nazis invaded his native Hungary; his
Web site tells of his fighting in the anti-Nazi underground.
In 1947 he came to the United States to study. Lantos was a noted
economist and consultant prior to his House election in 1980.
Expressions of his love for his adopted country were as constant as
his defenses of human rights.
"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the
Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have
received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of
serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress,"
he said in his statement last month announcing his retirement. "I
will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to
this great country."
Lantos, Wiesel said, died too young -- even at 80, even after serving
nearly three decades in public office. He noted that Lantos only
ascended to the committee chairmanship in 2006 after Democrats
regained Congress.
"He had influence," Wiesel said. "He would have had more had he
lived."
Losing Lantos Means End of an Era
by Mel Levine
Tom Lantos was one of a kind. He was the only survivor of the Shoah
ever to serve in Congress -- and he was fiercely proud of that
distinction. No one ever doubted where Tom stood on issues. He was
forceful, courageous, eloquent, witty, acerbic, and, as a true
American patriot, was also totally committed to the security and
survival of the state of Israel and to ending bigotry and intolerance
wherever it raised its ugly head.
Whether it was human rights in China, or in Tibet, or in any other
part of the globe, Tom was an eloquent and passionate spokesman
against it. He devoted his life, and his career in Congress, to
combating human rights abuses -- everywhere -- and to protecting and
enhancing Israel's security. And he fought for these causes with a
passionate commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. Tom liked
to remind people that he fought fascism directly -- as a part of the
anti-Nazi underground in Hungary. His personal values were forged in
that fight -- and he never forgot them.
He embraced these causes with gusto and with great skill. He was an
eloquent debater and an effective strategist.
We first became friends during the time in which Tom was fighting for
his legislation to make Raoul Wallenberg an honorary American
citizen. He made Wallenberg known to the U.S. Congress and to all of
America. He ensured that Wallenberg's courageous intervention, using
his Swedish diplomatic post to rescue thousands of Hungarian Jews
from the Holocaust, including Tom, would be forever remembered by
Americans of all faiths. And Tom's support for the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington was indispensable to the
strong support the museum obtained from Congress.
In these efforts, Tom won the support and praise of Democrats and
Republicans alike. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, Tom regularly sought and obtained bipartisan support for
his passionate efforts.
Tom and I worked closely together and forged a close friendship
during all of the 10 years in which I served as his colleague on the
Foreign Affairs Committee. Together with other dedicated members of
that committee -- notably Rep. Howard Berman [D-Sherman Oaks], who
will now inherit Tom's mantle as the able leader of that committee --
a core group of that committee's members could always rely on Tom's
wisdom, counsel and active engagement on every matter that was
important to the U.S.-Israel relationship. Whether it was an
authorization bill, a "Dear Colleague" letter, a resolution of
approval or condemnation, an arms sale to a country hostile to Israel
or a strategy session late at night which no one ever heard about,
Tom's leadership was always a key component of these efforts to
insure that the U.S.-Israel relationship was impregnable.
Tom's partner in life -- and in his legislative and political career
-- was his devoted and extremely effective wife Annette. Annette was
always at Tom's side, in life and in Congress (generally accompanied
by their poodle, Gigi, or, subsequently, by their little terrier,
Macko [or little bear, in Hungarian]). The pride of Tom's and
Annette's life, understandably, were their daughters, Annette and
Katrina, and their 18 grandchildren. I had the pleasure of serving in
the Congress not only with Tom but with Katrina's husband, Dick
Swett, who represented New Hampshire in the House. I am proud to
claim the greater Lantos family as friends.
Tom's passing signals the end of an era. There will, in all
likelihood, be no more Holocaust survivors serving in the U.S.
Congress. But the indelible impression left by Tom will remind Jewish
and non-Jewish Americans alike to "Never Forget" and to continue to
fight for the causes that Tom cherished and passionately defended
throughout his distinguished career.
Mel Levine is a former member of the House of Representatives and a
partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/previ ew.php?id=18932
Feb 14 2008
Congressman Tom Lantos left behind human rights legacy
Mel Levine: Losing Lantos means the end of an era
By Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The flags dipped at half-staff over the Capitol, the warm
remembrances flooded e-mail inboxes, the "Have you heard?" phone
calls took a solemn tone.
U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) earned all these tributes. He died
Monday of esophageal cancer at the age of 80.
The mourning was not just for a man but for the unique voice of the
only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress.
"We lose a voice for human rights, which was in his case unique,"
said Elie Wiesel, the novelist whose own writings have become icons
of Holocaust remembrance. "He spoke always against oppression,
against persecution, against racism."
Lantos died at the Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md.,
surrounded by his wife, Annette, two daughters and many of his 18
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
"As the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, Tom was a
living reminder that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering
of the innocent at the hands of evil men," President Bush said.
"Having lived through the worst evil known to mankind, Tom Lantos
translated the experience into a lifetime commitment to the fight
against anti-Semitism, Holocaust education, and a commitment to the
State of Israel," U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the
speaker of the House of Representatives, said in a statement.
Sallai Meridor, Israel's ambassador to Washington, said Israel "lost
one of our greatest friends."
The remembrances of Lantos, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, were a kaleidoscope of the human rights causes he
championed since his election to the House in 1980.
Wiesel remembered Lantos' contributions to the building of the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, which Wiesel helped found.
"From the very beginning in Washington he was with us, involved in
every step leading to the building of the museum, developing it into
a source for archives, learning and teaching," he said.
Mark Levin, the executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of
Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia, focused on
Lantos' role in the 1980s in pressing the Soviet Union to release its
Jews. Lantos made several trips to Russia to meet with refuseniks and
championed them in Congress.
"He was forthright, compassionate and deeply committed to the cause
of freeing Jews from the former Soviet Union," Levin said.
In 2003 he would found the House's Human Rights Caucus.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa remembered Lantos' moral leadership
and how he provided a passionate voice for those in need.
"Whether taking the lead on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
reminding us of our obligation to halt the genocide in Darfur,
warning his colleagues about the perils of a nuclear Iran, or
speaking out on behalf of new democracies springing up across Eastern
Europe, Tom Lantos' courageous stands and compassionate actions
served as an example of principled leadership for each and every
political official in the U.S. and around the world," he said.
Other encomiums came from The American Jewish World Service (AJWS),
which has led the Jewish community in pressing for an end to the
genocide in Sudan; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
which praised his steadfast support for Israel and his tough stance
on Iran; and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), which
commemorated his contributions to social welfare at home.
Adding their remembrances were the United Jewish Communities, B'nai
B'rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, the World Jewish
Congress, the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, Hadassah and
Americans for Peace Now.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) remembered Lantos' service to
his Silicon Valley district.
"In serving his constituents and his country, Tom never forgot the
Democratic Party's ideals of freedom, fairness and opportunity for
all," the chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean, said in a statement.
Lantos was not afraid to take on his allies. On the foreign affairs
committee, he blasted Silicon Valley giants like Google and Yahoo for
colluding with China's government in censorship. He authored tough
Iran sanctions legislation, but broke with pro-Israel orthodoxy by
offering to meet with the Islamic Republic's leaders.
Pro-Israel groups also opposed a nonbinding resolution that
recognized the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians as a genocide,
worried that it would cause a rift between Israel and Turkey. Lantos
pushed the measure through the committee, unwilling to countenance
what he saw as genocide revisionism.
His appeal crossed political aisles: Both the National Jewish
Democratic Council and the Republican Jewish Coalition issued
statements mourning his passing.
Top Republicans on his committee recalled him fondly.
"An unfailingly gracious and courageous man, Tom was recognized by
friends and colleagues alike as a leader who left an enviable legacy
of service to his country," said Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-Fla.),
the committee's ranking member.
The campaigns of the two Democrats left in the presidential field,
U.S. Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
also released statements mourning his passing.
Lantos was 16 in 1944 when the Nazis invaded his native Hungary; his
Web site tells of his fighting in the anti-Nazi underground.
In 1947 he came to the United States to study. Lantos was a noted
economist and consultant prior to his House election in 1980.
Expressions of his love for his adopted country were as constant as
his defenses of human rights.
"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the
Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have
received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of
serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress,"
he said in his statement last month announcing his retirement. "I
will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to
this great country."
Lantos, Wiesel said, died too young -- even at 80, even after serving
nearly three decades in public office. He noted that Lantos only
ascended to the committee chairmanship in 2006 after Democrats
regained Congress.
"He had influence," Wiesel said. "He would have had more had he
lived."
Losing Lantos Means End of an Era
by Mel Levine
Tom Lantos was one of a kind. He was the only survivor of the Shoah
ever to serve in Congress -- and he was fiercely proud of that
distinction. No one ever doubted where Tom stood on issues. He was
forceful, courageous, eloquent, witty, acerbic, and, as a true
American patriot, was also totally committed to the security and
survival of the state of Israel and to ending bigotry and intolerance
wherever it raised its ugly head.
Whether it was human rights in China, or in Tibet, or in any other
part of the globe, Tom was an eloquent and passionate spokesman
against it. He devoted his life, and his career in Congress, to
combating human rights abuses -- everywhere -- and to protecting and
enhancing Israel's security. And he fought for these causes with a
passionate commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. Tom liked
to remind people that he fought fascism directly -- as a part of the
anti-Nazi underground in Hungary. His personal values were forged in
that fight -- and he never forgot them.
He embraced these causes with gusto and with great skill. He was an
eloquent debater and an effective strategist.
We first became friends during the time in which Tom was fighting for
his legislation to make Raoul Wallenberg an honorary American
citizen. He made Wallenberg known to the U.S. Congress and to all of
America. He ensured that Wallenberg's courageous intervention, using
his Swedish diplomatic post to rescue thousands of Hungarian Jews
from the Holocaust, including Tom, would be forever remembered by
Americans of all faiths. And Tom's support for the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington was indispensable to the
strong support the museum obtained from Congress.
In these efforts, Tom won the support and praise of Democrats and
Republicans alike. As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, Tom regularly sought and obtained bipartisan support for
his passionate efforts.
Tom and I worked closely together and forged a close friendship
during all of the 10 years in which I served as his colleague on the
Foreign Affairs Committee. Together with other dedicated members of
that committee -- notably Rep. Howard Berman [D-Sherman Oaks], who
will now inherit Tom's mantle as the able leader of that committee --
a core group of that committee's members could always rely on Tom's
wisdom, counsel and active engagement on every matter that was
important to the U.S.-Israel relationship. Whether it was an
authorization bill, a "Dear Colleague" letter, a resolution of
approval or condemnation, an arms sale to a country hostile to Israel
or a strategy session late at night which no one ever heard about,
Tom's leadership was always a key component of these efforts to
insure that the U.S.-Israel relationship was impregnable.
Tom's partner in life -- and in his legislative and political career
-- was his devoted and extremely effective wife Annette. Annette was
always at Tom's side, in life and in Congress (generally accompanied
by their poodle, Gigi, or, subsequently, by their little terrier,
Macko [or little bear, in Hungarian]). The pride of Tom's and
Annette's life, understandably, were their daughters, Annette and
Katrina, and their 18 grandchildren. I had the pleasure of serving in
the Congress not only with Tom but with Katrina's husband, Dick
Swett, who represented New Hampshire in the House. I am proud to
claim the greater Lantos family as friends.
Tom's passing signals the end of an era. There will, in all
likelihood, be no more Holocaust survivors serving in the U.S.
Congress. But the indelible impression left by Tom will remind Jewish
and non-Jewish Americans alike to "Never Forget" and to continue to
fight for the causes that Tom cherished and passionately defended
throughout his distinguished career.
Mel Levine is a former member of the House of Representatives and a
partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/previ ew.php?id=18932