The Hispanic vote's rapid growth spurt

CORPUS CHRISTI - On Thursday, Jan. 17, we will celebrate what would have been my father Dr. Hector P. Garcia's 99th birthday. There are many events planned across the state and nationally honoring his life and accomplishments.

My father's life work was dedicated to improving the socioeconomic and educational status of Hispanic Americans. He decided early in the game that the only way to accomplish these goals was by electing officials sympathetic to the Hispanic cause while promoting the Hispanic culture and language to mainstream America.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy recognized the potential in mobilizing the Hispanic vote during the 1960 presidential campaign. Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's campaign manager, contacted Dr. Hector P. Garcia, founder of the American GI Forum. Robert Kennedy met with Dr. Garcia and Carlos McCormick, a GI Forum member and JFK staff member, to discuss strategy. In August 1960 at the American GI Forum National Convention, McCormick and Dr. Garcia conceived the concept of the Viva Kennedy movement. The Viva Kennedy Clubs spread nationwide. U.S. Sen. Dennis Chavez and Texas Congressman Henry B. Gonzales along with other notable Hispanics became involved with the Viva Kennedy clubs on a national level. GI Forum Forumeers were heavily involved in the election through these clubs. In addition, Kennedy ran political ads with Jacqueline Kennedy speaking in Spanish to ask the Hispanic populace to vote for her husband. The Hispanic vote gave JFK the margin he needed to win the presidential election and from that time was considered an important bloc vote. In Texas, Kennedy received 85 percent of the Hispanic vote. Later when Lyndon Baines Johnson ran for the presidency, Dr. Garcia revitalized the Viva Kennedy clubs in Texas but renamed them Viva Johnson. Again, the Hispanic vote played an important role in the election, helping LBJ to an easy win. Hispanic votes were the determining factors in the elections of JFK and LBJ, but were overlooked when political favors were dispensed. This was a constant source of frustration to my father.

The 1980s was named the Decade of the Hispanics. During the 1980s, Hispanic population, the number of Hispanic elected officials and the appointment of several Hispanics to high-level government jobs increased along with better education and income. Political analysts believed that a time would come when Latinos in the United States would organize to demand equal opportunity and coined the term Sleeping Giant in anticipation of this occurrence.

During this period, anti-Hispanic sentiment gained national momentum in an attempt to suppress the growing wave of Hispanic influence, reflected in the English only movement, harsh immigration reforms and many other abuses. My father would often remark, We (Mexican Americans) live in a culture that suppresses us, and the English Only movement is a part of the greater plan to hold us back.

Through the following decades, politicians including Robert Kennedy, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter. George Bush Sr. and Jr. and Bill Clinton recognized the importance of the Hispanic vote and began to court Hispanic voters.

Thirty years passed. But not until the 2012 election was the Hispanic vote acknowledged as decisive in determining the results of this national election. Again the speculation surfaced that the Sleeping Giant finally woke up.

Hispanics, which number more than 50 million according to the 2010 U.S. Census, played a major role. These numbers are significant when you consider that the Hispanic population in the USA is larger than the entire national populations of Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic combined. FOX News felt that Hispanics got unparalleled attention in the 2012 election because they had simply become too numerous to ignore.

I wish my father was alive to witness this ironic turn of events and wonder how he would react. He devoted his life to getting Hispanics accepted by the mainstream. Now we are the mainstream. I suspect Papa is pleased.


This Week's Events