[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 13, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E175]]
EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON THE DEATH 
     OF THE HONORABLE TOM LANTOS, A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STATE OF 
                               CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2008

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in mourning of a most 
distinguished colleague, a champion for America, a lifelong survivor, 
and a kind friend, Representative Tom Lantos.
  He stood at the near-perilous brink of history. Born to Jewish 
parents in Budapest, Hungary, he joined the Hungarian underground--at 
not yet 17--after the Nazi occupation and twice escaped from forced 
labor camp. He was beaten. His mother, much of his family, and the 
family of his high school sweetheart-turned-wife were killed.
  He transformed tragedy into triumph. After earning an American 
education and raising a family, he became the only Holocaust survivor 
elected to the U.S. Congress in 1980. Three years later, he had founded 
the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. And last year, he became the 
chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
  He was a man of steadfast principle. He was one of five members of 
Congress--at not yet 80--arrested in a protest outside the Sudanese 
Embassy, in opposition to the genocide in Darfur. He trumpeted the 
causes of civil liberties and human rights with a consistent, measured 
voice, having survived such great evil and wanting to spare the world 
that suffering.
  His soul, his convictions, his grit and determination--as genuine at 
age 17 as 80--remained uncompromising, unimpeachable.

                          ____________________