[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 23240-23241]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               EL SENADOR

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 7, 2004

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
the nation's longest serving Hispanic Senator, Dennis Chavez.
  Yesterday, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs September 
15th to October 15th, I hosted a screening of a documentary about 
Senator Chavez called El Senador, in conjunction with the Congressional 
Hispanic Caucus. I was privileged to be joined by Senator Chavez's 
daughters, Mrs. Gloria Tristani and Mrs. Ymelda Dixon, his 
granddaughter, Ms. Gloria Tristani, and Wayne Coy, the husband of 
Cissie Coy, who is Mrs. Dixon's daughter.
  It was a pleasure to work with the family and the rest of the Dennis 
Chavez Foundation to bring that event together. And many thanks are due 
to Paige Martinez, the extraordinary filmmaker behind El Senador, who 
has correctly deemed the legacy of Senator Chavez as an important part 
not only of New Mexican history, but also of American and world 
history.
  I have the privilege of representing the 3rd district of New Mexico, 
the state that Senator Dennis Chavez represented for 32 long years. My 
father, Stewart Udall, served in the U.S. Congress with Dennis Chavez 
in the late fifties and early sixties. He has always said that what he 
saw in Senator Chavez was a visionary and a man of courage.
  In 1944, Senator Chavez cosponsored a bill to prohibit discrimination 
in employment. Such forward thinking was not well received by the 
Southern senators at the time. A legendary filibuster and eventual 
interference by President Truman forced him to withdraw his bill. 
Twenty years later, in 1964, these rights were finally secured with the 
passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A true visionary, Senator Chavez 
was far ahead of his time in progressive thinking.
  Dennis Chavez was also a man of courage. At the height of anti-
Communist sentiment in

[[Page 23241]]

the 1950s, he was one of the first to denounce the activities of Joseph 
McCarthy, and expose him for being a demagogue. Imagine the kind of 
courage it took speak out loudly against McCarthy's Committee on Un-
American Activities during a time when spreading fear of Communist 
infiltration was rampant. The following is a quote by Senator Chavez 
from a speech he gave on the Senate floor about the McCarthy hearings 
in 1950:
  ``I should like to be remembered as the man who raised a voice and I 
devoutly hope not a voice in the wilderness at a time in the history of 
this body when we seem bent upon placing limitations on the freedom of 
the individual. I would consider all of the legislation which I have 
supported meaningless if I were to sit idly by, silent, during a period 
which may go down in history as an era when we permitted the 
curtailment of our liberties, a period when we quietly shackled the 
growth of men's minds.''
  Just outside the Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol stands New 
Mexico's only statue in the building. At the base, there is a quote in 
three languages: Spanish, English, and Navajo--a testament to New 
Mexico's diverse population. It reads, ``He left a mark that will never 
be forgotten in the hopes that others would follow.'' It's a tall 
statue, imposing statue--one with mighty big shoes to fill.
  I appreciate this opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Senator 
Dennis Chavez during the 2004 Hispanic Heritage Month.

                          ____________________