[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 151 (Friday, December 8, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRIBUTE IN MEMORY OF FORMER CONGRESSMAN HENRY B. GONZALEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 2000

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to our 
colleague, the late Henry B. Gonzalez, who died on November 28, 2000, 
and who served the House and the Nation for 37 years as one of its most 
revered public servants. To his family, his wife Bertha, his son 
Charlie who now serves in the House as our colleague, and to all of his 
constituents in the 20th District in Texas, I extend my most sincere 
condolences. My prayers are with all of you in the hope of giving 
comfort against the grief of your great loss.
  What to say about Henry B., as he was affectionately known in his San 
Antonio Congressional District. In the House, Henry B. was known as a 
fierce activist for the poor and for minorities in the field of 
housing, small business, community development, and consumer fairness. 
He was an unbridled advocate for what he believed was right for his 
constituents and the Nation.
  For Members like me, he was a friend, a mentor and an educator--
because without his knowledge and willingness to share, many of us who 
did not have the privilege or opportunity to serve with him on the 
Banking and Housing Committee would not have known what was going on, 
or how to resolve the problems facing the Nation--from affordable 
housing to community development to salvaging the savings and loan 
industry, naming only a few of his many struggles to secure the 
American dream for all Americans.
  From the beginning of his adult life, Henry B. was on fire to help 
his people and his State and his country. A feisty first-ever Mexican-
American to serve in the State Legislature, he was also the first to be 
selected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1963--and in 
both jobs he went about kicking down ethnic barriers, facing civil 
rights issues with searing defiance that meant a 36 hour filibuster in 
the Texas State Senate, defeating 16 segregationist bills, to punching 
out a restaurant patron in the 1970's for calling him a ``communist.'' 
When an apology was demanded, Henry B. said only that he was sorry he 
had pulled the punch.
  During his 37 years in the House of Representatives, Henry B. 
Gonzalez spoke out for the people--all people--on behalf of the needs 
of the working poor--long before it was popular to do so. He held in 
his hand the day of his swearing in as a Member of this House a bill to 
abolish the Poll Tax which was eventually enacted, and he never stopped 
working against all kinds of discrimination against the poor and the 
disenfranchised in our country.
  And so we say goodbye to Henry Gonzalez, knowing that the rich, the 
poor, the powerful, the disadvantaged, the young and the old, are 
better off than they would have otherwise been without his caring and 
compassion, and without the fire in his heart and the courage of his 
convictions as a public servant that left so much good in its wake--
enough to last a lifetime.
  We celebrate the life of Henry B. Gonzalez, who served under eight 
presidents and became a legend in his own time, by conferring upon him 
the titles of statesman, warrior, pioneer, patriot, hero and a national 
treasure. We also remember him as funny, brilliant, a maverick, and a 
coalition builder who lived his life and served his people with 
exuberant ardor. Most of all he was genuine, and he was honest to a 
fault.
  But Henry B. Gonzalez said it best: ``I have never failed myself, and 
I have never failed you.''
  He provided the opportunity for all of us to follow in his footsteps, 
and none more so than his beloved son, the gentleman from Texas, 
Charlie Gonzalez, our colleague now serving the 20th District of Texas, 
and I again extend to him and his family my heartfelt sorrow and tell 
them, Henry B. will never be forgotten.

                          ____________________