[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 8 (Tuesday, February 1, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H247-H249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DALIP SINGH SAUND POST OFFICE BUILDING
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 120) to designate the facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 30777 Rancho California Road in Temecula,
California, as the ``Dalip Singh Saund Post Office Building''.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 120
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DALIP SINGH SAUND POST OFFICE BUILDING.
(a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 30777 Rancho California Road in Temecula,
California, shall be known and designated as the ``Dalip
Singh Saund Post Office Building''.
(b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be
a reference to the Dalip Singh Saund Post Office Building.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Issa) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).
General Leave
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 120.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Committee on Government Reform, I rise in
support of H.R. 120. This bill is to designate a post office in
Temecula, California, within my congressional district as the Dalip
Singh Saund Post Office Building. Dalip Singh Saund was the first
Indian American Member of Congress, and I am pleased the House is
taking time out to remember his service.
Saund was born in India in 1899. He was educated in India before
moving to the United States in 1920 to attend graduate school at the
University of California. Saund proudly became a U.S. citizen in 1949.
Within a year, he was elected judge of the Justice Court in
Westmoreland Judicial District. Unfortunately, after his election,
Saund was denied his seat on the grounds that he had not been a citizen
for one year when he was elected. You might say he was reelected 2
years later and served on that court for 5 years.
Judge Saund retired from the bench because he chose to enter
politics. In November of 1956, Judge Saund was elected Congressman
Saund, and he was reelected to the House for three consecutive terms,
leaving in 1963. How remarkable it must have been to be the first Asian
American ever elected to Congress, the first Indian American ever
elected to Congress. Just imagine the powerful impact of his service
throughout those years.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Dalip Singh Saund passed away in Hollywood,
California, in 1973. It is a privilege to advance this legislation
honoring his legacy as an American citizen, as a judge and as a
Congressman. I especially want to thank my California colleagues,
including the minority speaker here today, for co-sponsoring
unanimously this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to
support H.R. 120.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague in the consideration
of H.R. 120 which names the post office in Temecula, California, after
Dalip Singh Saund.
H.R. 120 was introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa)
on January 4, 2005. Former Congressman Dalip Singh Saund, the first
Asian American elected to Congress, was born in India. He came to the
United States to enroll in the University of California at Berkley and
study agriculture. Instead, he ended up with a PhD in mathematics.
Unfortunately, degrees in mathematics were not sufficient to overcome
the rampant discrimination facing Indians and other minorities.
{time} 1500
In the 1920s, Indian Americans were not eligible for U.S. citizenship
and could not own land. So Saund worked as a lettuce foreman,
eventually rising to be a distributor of chemical fertilizer in the
Imperial Valley in California.
Saund married a Czech immigrant and became very active in the Indian-
American community, championing the rights of Asian Indians both in the
United States and abroad. He became a popular speaker and authored a
book entitled ``My Mother India'' as a way to present Indian people in
a positive light.
Saund went on to fight against discrimination, eventually securing
the passage of legislation which made Asian Indians eligible for
citizenship.
As a result of his success, Saund became active in the Democratic
Party. He ran to represent California's 29th Congressional District. He
won and served in the Congress from 1957 until 1962 when he lost his
re-election bid after suffering a stroke. Dalip Singh Saund died in
1973.
Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues for seeking to honor the legacy
of former Congressman Saund, and I urge the swift adoption of this
bill.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, at the present time I have no further
speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for
the time, and I thank the committee and the gentleman from California
(Mr. Issa) for bringing this to the floor.
Congressman Saund, whom we are recognizing today, represented parts
of the gentleman from California's (Mr. Issa) district and parts of my
district, the 51st district, Imperial County in California. So I am
really thankful that he is doing this, and we are honoring a great man.
[[Page H248]]
We have heard how he triumphed in spite of the prejudice that was
around him. He did this through hard work, constantly turning the other
cheek; and he was a charismatic individual.
Coming to the United States after his undergraduate education in
India, as we heard, he got a Ph.D. from the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1924, but could not get a job because of his nationality.
Rather than give up, go home perhaps, maybe where he could use his
education a little bit more to better himself, he decided to stay in
the United States and work to improve the situation.
That is when, in 1925, he moved to the Imperial Valley to become a
cotton picking crew foreman, as we have heard. That is right, a man
with a Ph.D. in mathematics from Berkeley became a foreman of a cotton
picking crew to make ends meet; and through sheer hard work and
determination, he was able to save money to start his own farm growing
lettuce.
He always had an interest in politics. He carried this enthusiasm
over to the Imperial Valley; and even though he was not a citizen or
able to vote, he became a constant presence at official meetings, I
hate to tell the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) this, of the
county Democratic Party central committee where he promoted the
policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In 1937, Congressman Saund organized the Current Events Club in
Imperial Valley to discuss the major topics of the day with other
politically active members of the community and became a member of the
Brawley California Toastmasters.
So we see, even though he was not a citizen, he was becoming an
integral part of the community in which he lived. In fact, if he was
doing irrigation of his fields on the Toastmasters nights, he would
take his dress suit with him to the field, at six o'clock change, set
the irrigation to go for 3 hours, go to the Toastmasters meeting, come
back to work, change clothes and go on with irrigation. Now, that is a
Horatio Alger, the American Dream, for someone who was not an American
citizen.
He was actively involved in trying to get naturalization rights for
natives of Asia and India particularly, and President Truman actually
signed the law to end the ban on Asian naturalization in 1946; and one
of the earliest applicants under this new law was, in fact, Dalip Singh
Saund, who became a citizen in December of 1949.
As we heard, his first task as a citizen was to run for office. He
ran for justice of the peace in Westmorland, California, in Imperial
County. He won the ballot, but a lawsuit said he had not been a citizen
the year before, and so he was declared ineligible. Typical of
Congressman Saund, or Judge Saund as he was known, he became chairman
of the county Democratic central committee even after he lost the
judgeship.
I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) for naming after
this great Democrat a post office in his district. Maybe we will bring
true Democracy, with a capital D, to the 49th Congressional District.
In 1955, he decided to run for Congress in what was then the 29th
Congressional District, which included Riverside County and Imperial
County. He easily won the primary and beat his Republican opponent, who
brought in Vice President Nixon, brought in Bob Hope and even Rin Tin
Tin, but that did not impress the constituents; and he was able to win
and became the first Indian American Congressman of the United States
of America.
He did this through politicking in grassroots style, a truly
effective politician. By the way, he was the only Indian American until
this very year in this Congress when the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr.
Jindal) was elected. So we have, at last, the continuing of a tradition
here.
He might have been called a liberal, but he was very active in trying
to deal with foreign aid to the wrong kind of governments, and he
believed that tyrants would use the money in a corrupt way, and he was
right.
He was incapacitated, unfortunately, by a stroke in his third term
and could not run for a fourth term. His most lasting memory, I
believe, will be that of opening the door of politics to those who
otherwise would not have considered running for office because of their
race or national origin.
Interestingly enough, my connection with Judge Saund was not only
because I became a Congressman from Imperial County, but also because
his daughter Julie Fisher became a member of the San Diego school board
in the 1970s. She became my mentor. She was the one who was really
advocating for students in the wake of a very repressive administration
and superintendent. I was able to run for the San Diego school board
because of Julie Fisher's teaching. So my relationship goes back
through his daughter, who is a wonderful lady and who really brought
Judge Saund's politics to San Diego with a real interest in the young
people of our county.
Saund always accented the positive. He never complained or even
mentioned discriminatory treatment against himself, and he never made
it an issue. So I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) very
much for bringing us this bill, and I am truly honored to have some
part in the tradition that Judge Saund started.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
I would like to thank many people involved, and I did it in an
overall fashion; but, particularly, I would like to thank the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Crowley), who just had to leave, and the gentleman
from California (Mr. Filner) who just spoke. Each in his own way has
been instrumental in helping point out the good deeds of this historic
figure, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) said of the
Democrat Party and of the democratic process. He is an inspiration to
people on both sides of the aisle here in the Congress.
I would also like to take a moment to thank David Dillon, a former
mayor out in Imperial County, who has fought tirelessly to bring this
to the attention of so many of us who were not as fully informed as to
Dalip's great service throughout his term.
On a closing note, I would like to say that this post office is being
named after the first Asian American Congressman, yes, after the first
Indian American Congressman; but I think it is also being named after a
generation of men and women who came here during the turn of the
century into the 1930s, a whole generation who passed through Ellis
Island. They were not always treated with a welcome mat. They were not
always given their due for the hard work, ingenuity, ambition, and raw
intelligence they brought with them; but they persevered and they
changed America for the better.
So it has been a great pleasure to point out one of that generation
and name a post office in Temecula after him; but I think on both sides
of the aisle, by immigrants, both Republicans and Democrats, we are
thankful in this country for a generation who came here in the greatest
out-migration from the rest of the world and in-migration to the United
States in history because that generation led to the generation that we
now have and that enjoys the fruits of their hard labor.
Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 120,
legislation to designate the United States Postal Service facility
located at 30777 Rancho California Road in Temecula, CA, as the ``Dalip
Singh Saund Post Office Building.'' This postal naming bill is a small
act of appreciation for a statesman and activist who contributed so
much to our nation.
As chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, CAPAC, I
feel privileged today to speak about the late Congressman Saund.
Congressman Saund came to the United States in 1920 to study at the
University of California, Berkeley, where in 4 years he earned a
master's degree and doctorate in mathematics. Despite his impressive
education, he was denied professional opportunities due to
discrimination against South Asians in the United States.
Despite discrimination, Congressman Saund built a successful life in
the United States. He entered the agricultural sector, one of the few
open to South Asians in the 1920s. From 1930 to 1953, Congressman Saund
was first a lettuce farmer and then a distributor of chemical
fertilizer in California's Imperial Valley.
In 1928, he married Ms. Marian Kosa, despite stigma against
interracial marriages at the time. The marriage also led to the loss of
American citizenship for the former Ms. Kosa. The Quota Immigration Act
of 1921 and Cable Act of 1922 revoked the citizenships for American
women who married foreigners.
Throughout his life, Congressman Saund was a champion for South Asian
Americans'
[[Page H249]]
rights. As the national president of the Hindustan Association of
America, he fought for citizenship rights for the 2,500 South Asians
living in the United States. Gaining citizenship, he argued, would give
South Asian farmers the right to own their own farms and share in the
American dream. The Supreme Court, however, ruled in 1923, United
States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind (261 US 204), that ``while persons from
India were Caucasians, they were not `white persons', and therefore
were, aliens ineligible to citizenship.''
On July 3, 1946, President Harry Truman signed the Luce-Cellar
legislation that granted South Asians their right to citizenship. Three
years later, Congressman Saund received his citizenship and became an
active member of the Democratic Party. He ran for a judgeship in
Westmoreland in 1950 and won, but he was barred from taking oath
because he had not been a citizen for a full year before the election.
Congressman Saund was disappointed, but undeterred and won again in
1952.
In 1956, he campaigned for California's 29th Congressional District
seat. Despite the use of racial epithets and anti-immigrant rhetoric,
Congressman Saund defeated Republican Jacqueline Odlum by a margin of 3
percent. The voters of Imperial and Riverside counties knew in that
election what the entire Congress would soon learn: Congressman Saund
was a man of integrity and compassion with an unwavering commitment to
bettering our Nation.
When he took the oath of office in 1957, Congressman Saund became the
first South Asian American elected to Congress. He was truly a champion
for the farmers, working poor, and immigrants, and today he continues
to serve as a role model for all South Asians. His impressive
accomplishments should not be overshadowed by the tribulations he
endured. Congressman Saund served this country admirably until 1962
when he lost his re-election bid after suffering from a stroke.
Congressman Saund died at the age of 74 in 1973.
Mr. Speaker, today we remember and honor Congressman Saund. He proved
in his own life what he preached in his public career, ``There is no
room in the United States of America for second-class citizenship.''
Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the
resolution introduced by my friend from California Congressman Issa.
I am honored to speak in support of this legislation to honor the
life and achievements of former Congressman Dalip Singh Saund.
Congressman Saund was the first Asian American to be elected as a
full voting Member of Congress and the first Indian American to be
elected to U.S. Congress.
While I am proud to have the privilege to serve with the second
Indian American in the U.S. Congress, we cannot forget that almost 50
years ago this glass ceiling was broken by Congressman Saund and the
people of southern California who put their trust in him to represent
them in the U.S. Congress.
Congressman Darrell Issa now represents parts of the district that
Congressman Saund represented.
Congressman Saund was elected to the House of Representatives in
1956, just 6 years after his work to secure citizenship for Indian
Americans.
He served as a distinguished Congressman from California for three
terms before he suffered a stroke during his campaign for a fourth term
in the House.
His book ``The Congressman from India'' tells the remarkable story of
how he became the first Indian American member of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
As cochairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian
Americans during the past 108th Congress, I had the honor of
highlighting the accomplishments of Congressman Saund and the trail he
blazed for young Indian Americans today.
From New York to Iowa to New Jersey to Minnesota to the U.S. House of
Representatives the accomplishments of Indian Americans in politics
today is because of the trail blazed by Congressman Saund.
I am proud to join my friend Darrell Issa in recognizing the life of
this great American.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of
H. Res. 120, the Dalip Singh Saund Post Office Building Designation
Act, which would designate the United States Postal Office at 30777
Rancho California Road in Temecula, California, as the Dalip Singh
Saund Post Office Building. By renaming this building for Congressman
Saund, we will properly honor and remember one of California's most
respected and accomplished leaders.
Dalip Singh Saund was born on September 20, 1899, in a village in
Punjab. He went to a boarding school in Jammu and graduated with a B.A.
degree in Mathematics from Punjab University in 1919. In 1920, he
immigrated to the United States and received his Masters and Doctorate
degrees from the University of California-Berkeley. From lettuce farmer
to judge to legislator, Saund became a great American success story. An
admirer of Lincoln, Gandhi, and Churchill, Saund devoted his life to
serving the people in his community and furthering a cause greater than
his own. At every stage of his remarkable story, Saund embodied
Churchill's words to ``never, never, never, never give up.''
Saund remained proud of his Indian heritage and became a strong voice
for immigrants from India. After a two-year battle, he convinced
Congresswoman Clare Booth and Congressman Emanuel Celler to sponsor
legislation that would allow for Indian immigrants to become American
citizens. The legislation was passed by Congress and on July 3, 1946,
was signed into law by President Harry Truman. After becoming a
citizen, his passion for democracy and politics led him into a life of
public service. He served as a judge in Westmorland and a member of
Congress for three terms.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be able to speak about Congressman Saund's
rich legacy today and I would like to thank my good friend Congressman
Darrell Issa for sponsoring this legislation. Additionally, I've
introduced H. Res. 31 calling for a portrait of Congressman Saund to be
displayed on Capitol Hill and will work for its passage.
Mr. JINDAL. Mr. Speaker, Dalip Saund's story is one of determination
and true accomplishment. He personifies the idea that every person can,
through hard work and dedication, achieve amazing heights.
Through his election to Congress, Dalip Saund brought pride and joy
not only to Indian-Americans, but to all Americans. Each of us owes a
debt of gratitude to his trailblazing efforts, so that America could
continue to be a land of opportunity.
The naming of this post office in Mr. Saund's honor does justice not
only to the man and his actions, but also to the American spirit and
the belief that America is still the land of the free and the home of
the brave.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Aderholt). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 120.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________