Kika de la Garza, Texas Congressman and Farmers’ Ally, Dies at 89

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/kika-de-la-garza-dead.html

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Kika de la Garza, a Democrat who helped found the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and whose 32-year tenure in the House representing South Texas spanned the presidencies of Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton, died on Monday in McAllen, Tex. He was 89.

The cause was heart and kidney failure, his wife, Lucille, said.

In 1965, Mr. de la Garza, who was raised less than two miles from the Mexican border, became the first Mexican-American to represent the 15th District and only the second whom Texans had elected to Congress.

A backyard gardener who cultivated chiles and tomatoes, he championed the legislative agenda of farmers and immigrant agricultural workers as chairman of the Agriculture Committee from 1981 to 1995. When named to the post, he became the first Hispanic to head a standing committee since at least 1935, according to the Library of Congress.

From that seat he was an advocate for food stamps, drought relief for parched farms, expanded markets for American products in Mexico promoted by the North American Free Trade Agreement, and price supports for homegrown commodities like sugar, cotton, mohair, honey and even Lone Star State wine.

Regarded as a conservative Democrat, Mr. de la Garza endorsed constitutional amendments requiring a balanced budget and allowing prayer in public school classrooms.

He formed the Hispanic Caucus with three other congressmen in 1976 to lobby for common goals and later led the group, but he distinguished himself from ethnic separatists.

“The thing about all this Chicano and Mexican-American and so forth is that the Spanish-speaking are members of the white race,” he was quoted as saying in The Washington Post in 1983.

A vigorous supporter of civil rights, he opposed legislation that would have penalized employers who hired illegal immigrants, telling The New York Times in 1982, “Anyone who looks like me is going to have to identify himself every time he asks for a job.”

“People have trouble pronouncing my name in the realms of Capitol Hill,” he said. “Can you imagine what happens if I show up looking for a job in Alabama or West Texas or Kentucky, maybe?”

Eligio de la Garza II, who was descended from Spanish land grantees who had lived in Texas since the early 18th century, was born on Sept. 22, 1927, in Mercedes, Tex., in Hidalgo County. He was raised in nearby Mission, in the Rio Grande Valley.

His father, Dario, worked for maintenance crews for the city and the federal government. His mother was the former Elisa Villarreal.

He acquired the name Kika, a diminutive for Enrique, from an uncle by that name, a baseball player whom young Eligio idolized and followed everywhere. To distinguish them, the uncle became Big Kika; Eligio was nicknamed Little Kika.

Mr. de la Garza dropped out of high school at 17 to join the Navy in 1945. He also served in the Army during the Korean War and was discharged as a second lieutenant. He attended Edinburg Junior College in Hidalgo County and earned a law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio in 1952.

In addition to his wife, the former Lucille Alamia, he is survived by two sons, Jorge and Michael; a daughter, Angela Cisneros; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in Austin in 1953, Mr. de la Garza was instrumental in establishing the first state-run system of English instruction for preschool students. He served in the House until his incumbent congressman retired, then defeated a more liberal rival for the seat.

In his first term as Agriculture Committee chairman, as the Reagan administration sought to cut the federal budget, Mr. de la Garza struggled to forge a compromise on agricultural subsidies. When the 1981 farm bill passed the House by two votes, he christened himself “Landslide Kika.”

He described his goal in Congress as bridging “the tremendous gap between the consumer and the fellow who rides on the tractor or who is picking the fruit.”

Mr. de la Garza lost his chairmanship when the Republicans gained control of the House in 1995. He decided against seeking a 17th term.

Among his legacies is an official portrait in Washington that pictures him leaning on a fence wearing boots and bluejeans as cattle graze in the background.

When the portrait was unveiled in 2007, Mr. de la Garza recounted a story he often told to remind his urban colleagues of the utility of agriculture. It was about his visit to the nuclear submarine Cincinnati.

“I asked the commander, ‘How long can you keep this thing underwater?’ He says, ‘Oh, take a guess.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, one year, two years, three years?’

“He said: ‘No. You are in the Congress?’

“ ‘Yes, of course.’

“ ‘You are on the Agriculture Committee?’

“ ‘Yes.’

“He said, ‘We can keep this submarine underwater as long as we have food for our crew.’ That was the secret. So who saved us from all that happened with the Soviet Union? It was the farmers and ranchers of America.”