Tom Lantos

Thomas Peter Lantos (born Tamás Péter Lantos; February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008)[1] was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 11th congressional district until 1993 and from then the 12th congressional district, which both included the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of the southwestern part of San Francisco after redistricting.

The native form of this personal name is Lantos Tamás Péter. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Tom Lantos
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from California
In office
January 3, 1981 – February 11, 2008
Preceded byWilliam Royer
Succeeded byJackie Speier
Constituency11th district (1981–1993)
12th district (1993–2008)
Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
In office
January 3, 2007 – February 11, 2008
Preceded byHenry Hyde
Succeeded byHoward Berman
Personal details
Born
Tamás Péter Lantos

(1928-02-01)February 1, 1928
Budapest, Hungary
DiedFebruary 11, 2008(2008-02-11) (aged 80)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Annette Tilleman
​
(m. 1950)​
Children2 daughters, including Katrina Swett
RelativesTomicah Tillemann (grandson)
Levi Tillemann (grandson)
Charity Tillemann-Dick (granddaughter)
EducationEötvös Loránd University
University of Washington, Seattle (BA, MA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)

Lantos, who served as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in his last term, announced in early January 2008 that he would not run for reelection because of cancer of the esophagus. He died before finishing his term.[2][3] A Hungarian American, Lantos is the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the United States Congress; he survived the genocide with help from Raoul Wallenberg.[4] In speaking before the House of Representatives after his death, Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that Lantos "devoted his public life to shining a bright light on the dark corners of oppression. He used his powerful voice to stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike."[5] U2 lead singer Bono called him a "prizefighter", whose stamina would make him go "any amount of rounds, with anyone, anywhere, to protect human rights and common decency".[6]

In 2008, after his death, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which he founded in 1983, was renamed the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Its mission is partly "to promote, defend and advocate internationally recognized human rights". In the final weeks of his life, Lantos asked that a non-profit be established to carry on the work he felt so passionately about. The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice was founded later that year to carry out that wish. In 2011, the Tom Lantos Institute was set up in Budapest to promote tolerance and support minority issues in Central Europe and Eastern Europe as well as in the world.[7]

Early years

World War II

Lantos was born Tamás Péter Lantos (Hungarian: [ˈtɒmaːʃ ˈpeːtɛr ˈlɒntoʃ]) into a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Anna, a high school English teacher, and Pál Lantos, a banker.[8] His family was heavily involved in education and included an uncle who was a professor at the University of Budapest and a grandmother who was a high school principal. His life in Hungary would change after the Third Reich annexing of Austria in 1938, with the Austrian border just 100 miles (160 km) from Budapest. Lantos remembered this period and a newspaper headline he read when he was ten years old, "Hitler Marches into Austria". Even at a young age, he understood the significance of this invasion:[9]

I sensed that this historic moment would have a tremendous impact on the lives of Hungarian Jews, my family, and myself.

Six years later, in March 1944, the German military invaded Hungary and occupied Budapest, its capital. As he was Jewish, Lantos, then 16, was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp outside of Budapest. He escaped but was soon caught by the Germans and beaten severely, to be returned to the labor camp. He again escaped but this time made his way back to Budapest, 40 miles (64 km) away. There, he hid with an aunt in a safe house set up by Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat.[9]

Lantos joined Wallenberg's network; his fair hair and blue eyes, which to the Nazis were physical signs of Aryanism, enabled him to serve as a courier and deliver food and medicine to Jews living in other safe houses.[10] In January 1945, less than a year later, Russian military forces fought door-to-door battles and liberated Hungary from Nazi occupation. However, Lantos, then 17, returned home only to discover that his mother and other family members had all been killed by the Germans, along with 440,000 other Hungarian Jews, during the preceding 10 months of their occupation.[9] Wallenberg, for his part, was later credited with saving the lives of thousands of other Hungarian Jews.[11]

Lantos described some of his experiences in the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Last Days (1998), produced by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. In his floor speeches as a congressman, he sometimes referred to himself as one of the few living members of Congress who had fought against fascism. In 1981, Lantos sponsored a bill making Wallenberg an Honorary Citizen of the United States and became a member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. In January 2006, he traveled to Hungary and attended a ceremony commemorating the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Budapest Ghetto. The event was held at the Great Synagogue in Budapest,[12] today the largest synagogue in Europe.[13]

Education

In 1946, Lantos enrolled at the University of Budapest. As a result of his fluent English, he wrote an essay about Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was awarded a scholarship by the Hillel Foundation to study in the United States. He then emigrated to the U.S. and studied economics at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned a B.A. in 1949 and an M.A. in 1950. He continued his post-graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Ph.D. in economics in 1953.[14]

Early career

After graduation from Berkeley, Lantos became a professor of economics at San Francisco State University. In subsequent years, he worked as a business consultant and television commentator on subjects of foreign policy. He eventually became a senior advisor to various U.S. Senators and in 1980 was elected to the U.S. Congress, where he remained until his death in February 2008. Recalling his early life, he announced his retirement by stating to Congress, "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."[9]

Personal and family life

Despite being fluent in English, Lantos never lost his Hungarian accent. During his childhood, he met his future wife, Annette Tilleman (or Tillemann; born June 27, 1931), then using the name Agnes Ethel Seymour. Her family had managed to escape to Switzerland, using Swedish passports issued by Raoul Wallenberg. After Hungary was liberated, she and her family returned to Budapest where she and Lantos met again. After emigrating to the United States, they married on July 13, 1950. They remained married until his death in 2008. Agnes Ethel Lantos became a naturalized United States citizen on May 17, 1954, under that name.[15][16] Annette (formerly Agnes) Lantos is a niece of Jolie Gabor, whose brother Sebastian was Mrs. Lantos's father, making Magda, Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor, Jolie's daughters, first cousins to Annette Lantos.[17]

Lantos and his wife had two daughters, Annette Marie and Katrina, and 18 grandchildren, including Levi, an author and energy expert; Tomicah, a former Democratic political speechwriter; and Charity, an opera singer and activist. The Lantoses' daughter Annette was married to Timber Dick, an independent businessman in Colorado,[18] until his accidental death in 2008.[19][20]

Lantos's younger daughter, Katrina, is married to ambassador and former U.S. Representative from New Hampshire, Richard Swett, and was herself a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire. Lantos considered himself a secular Jew.[21]

Political career and positions

Lantos made his first run for office in 1980, challenging Republican Congressman Bill Royer, who had won a 1979 special election after Democrat Leo Ryan was killed in the Jonestown massacre. Lantos defeated Royer by 5,700 votes. He never again faced such a close contest, and was reelected 13 times. Lantos earned a reputation as a champion for various human rights causes, such as having Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang testify at a congressional hearing, when the company turned over the email records of two Chinese dissidents to the Chinese government, allowing them to be traced and one sentenced to jail.[22][23]

Lantos was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and repeatedly called for reforms to the nation's health-care system, reduction of the national budget deficit and the national debt, repeal of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. He opposed Social Security privatization efforts. He supported same-sex marriage rights and marijuana for medical use, was a strong proponent of gun control and adamantly pro-choice.[24]

Lantos was an advocate on behalf of the environment, receiving consistently high ratings from the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental organizations for his legislative record. His long-standing efforts to protect open space brought thousands of acres under the protection of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including Mori Point, Sweeney Ridge, and Rancho Corral de Tierra, which will keep its watersheds and delicate habitats free from development permanently.[25][26]

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Lantos

While Lantos initially supported the Iraq War, from 2006 onward he distanced himself, making increasingly critical statements about the conduct of the war.

Foreign affairs issues
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon with Tom and Annette Lantos

Lantos served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Through its more than 20 years of work, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus—of which Lantos was co-chair with Representative Frank Wolf—covered a wide range of human rights issues. They included speaking for Christians in Saudi Arabia and Sudan to practice their faith, helping Tibetans to retain their culture and religion in Tibet, and advocating for other minorities worldwide.

Among his other efforts was a demand that Japan apologize for sex slavery during World War II.[27] He declared Turkey's mass killings of Armenians during World War I to be Genocide.[27] In more recent times, he supported democracy in Burma and pressed for sanctions on Iran for supporting terrorism.[27] In 2004, he sponsored a bill to stop the spread of anti-semitism.[28]

On other aspects of American foreign policy, Lantos spoke out against waste, fraud and abuse in the multi-billion dollar U.S. reconstruction program in Iraq, and warned that the U.S. could lose Afghanistan to the Taliban if the Bush administration failed to take decisive action to halt the current decline in political stability there. Lantos was against U.S. military aid to Egypt as the Egyptian military had failed to stop the flow of money and weapons across the Egyptian border to Hamas in Gaza, and Egypt had not contributed troops to the peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere.[29]

1991 Gulf War
See also: Nurse Nayirah

Lantos was a strong supporter of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. During the run-up to the war, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, of which Lantos was co-chairman, hosted a young Kuwaiti woman identified only as "Nurse Nayirah", who told of horrific abuses by Iraqi soldiers, including the killing of Kuwaiti babies by taking them out of their incubators and leaving them to die on the cold floor of the hospital. These alleged atrocities figured prominently in the rhetoric at the time about Iraqi abuses in Kuwait. The girl's account was later challenged by independent human rights monitors.[30]

"Nurse Nayirah" later turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Asked about having allowed the girl to give testimony without identifying herself, and without her story having been corroborated, Lantos replied, "The notion that any of the witnesses brought to the caucus through the Kuwaiti Embassy would not be credible did not cross my mind... I have no basis for assuming that her story is not true, but the point goes beyond that. If one hypothesizes that the woman's story is fictitious from A to Z, that in no way diminishes the avalanche of human rights violations."[30]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation sent investigators to Kuwait who went through the hospital and counted the incubators and they found that "except for one or two that may have been misplaced" all of the incubators were still in the hospital. The investigators concluded that there were no deaths resulting from stolen equipment. And the doctor who provided Amnesty International with the number of babies killed dropped from 312 to 72 and then 30, 19 of which died before the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. After the war, The New York Times wrote, "It's plainly wrong for a member of congress to collaborate with a public relations firm to produce knowingly deceptive testimony on an important issue.[31] Yet Representative Tom Lantos has been caught doing exactly that. His behavior warrants a searching inquiry by the House Ethics Committee."[32]

War in Iraq

On October 4, 2002, Lantos led a narrow majority of Democrats on the House International Relations Committee to a successful vote in support of the Resolution for the Use of Force, seeking the approval of the United Nations and under the condition that President George W. Bush would allow UN weapons inspectors to finish their work and that Bush would need to return to Congress for an actual declaration of war before invading Iraq. The resolution later passed the House and the Senate with a total of 373 members of Congress supporting it. "The train is now on its way", said Lantos after the resolution successfully passed both houses of Congress.[33] In later hearings on the war, Lantos continued his enthusiastic support.

Starting in early 2006, Lantos distanced himself from the Bush Administration's Iraq policy, making critical statements at hearings, on the House floor and in published media interviews about the conduct of the war. During hearings of the House International Relations Committee, where he was then the ranking member, Lantos repeatedly praised the investigative work of the office of the Special Inspector of Iraq Reconstruction General Stuart Bowen, which uncovered evidence of waste, fraud and abuse in the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars intended to help secure and rebuild Iraq. Lantos was an immediate and consistent critic of the troop surge advocated by President Bush. On the night in January 2007 that Bush announced his plan, Lantos responded, "I oppose the so-called surge that constitutes the centerpiece of the President's plan. Our efforts in Iraq are a mess, and throwing in more troops will not improve it."[34]

During a joint House hearing on September 10, 2007, featuring General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Lantos said:

The Administration's myopic policies in Iraq have created a fiasco. Is it any wonder that on the subject of Iraq, more and more Americans have little confidence in this Administration? We can not take ANY of this Administration's assertions on Iraq at face value anymore, and no amount of charts or statistics will improve its credibility. This is not a knock on you, General Petraeus, or on you, Ambassador Crocker. But the fact remains, gentlemen, that the Administration has sent you here today to convince the members of these two Committees and the Congress that victory is at hand. With all due respect to you, I must say ... I don't buy it.

At the same hearing, Lantos drew comparisons between some of the current U.S. activities in Iraq to U.S. support two decades ago of Islamic militants in Afghanistan:

America should not be in the business of arming, training and funding both sides of a religious civil war in Iraq. Did the Administration learn nothing from our country's actions in Afghanistan two decades ago, when by supporting Islamist militants against the Soviet Union, we helped pave the way for the rise of the Taliban? Why are we now repeating the short-sighted patterns of the past?[29]

Human rights advocate
Presenting the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal, 2007

Tibet

As co-founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1983 and as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Lantos would "stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike", according to Representative Nancy Pelosi. She added: "Wherever there was injustice or oppression, he used his expertise and moral authority to put the United States on the side of justice and human rights". In 2007, in his effort to help the people of China and Tibet, he presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal.[35]

Darfur

On April 28, 2006, Lantos and four other Democratic U.S. Representatives, along with six other activists, took part in a civil disobedience action in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C. They were protesting the role of the Sudanese government in carrying out genocide in the Darfur conflict and were arrested for disorderly conduct.[36]

Hungarian minorities

Lantos was an activist for the rights of Hungarian minorities;[37][38] as a member of the US House of Representatives. In a 2007 letter he asked Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia to distance themselves from the Beneš decrees, a reasonable process in the Hedvig Malina case, and to treat members of the Hungarian minority as equal.[39][40]

The American Hungarian Federation recognized Congressman Lantos for his "Leadership in Support of Democracy, Human Rights and Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe", awarding him the organization's highest award, the "Col. Commandant Michael Kovats Medal of Freedom", at the October 19, 2005, Congressional Reception commemorating the 49th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.[41]

Lebanon

On August 27, 2006, at the Israeli Foreign Ministry building in Israel, Lantos said he would block a foreign aid package promised by President George W. Bush to Lebanon unless and until Beirut agreed to the deployment of international troops on the border with Syria and Lebanon takes control of its borders with Syria to prevent arms smuggling to Hezbollah guerrillas.[42]

Morocco and Western Sahara

Lantos supported Morocco's demand to gain sovereignty over Western Sahara, and criticized the Polisario Front, which demands independence for the disputed region. In 2007, he backed Morocco's proposal to make the region autonomous under Moroccan rule, saying: "I urge the leadership of the Polisario to realize that they will never again get such a good deal for the population they purport to represent."[43]

Death and legacy
Lantos's grave in Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C. The letters at the bottom are a Hebrew abbreviation for May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

On January 2, 2008, after having been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Lantos announced he would not run for a 15th term in the House, but planned to complete his final term, and thanked Congress:

It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."[27]

Lantos died of complications from esophageal cancer on February 11, 2008, before finishing his term. A special election was held to fill his seat on April 8, 2008, and was won by former State Senator Jackie Speier, whom Lantos had endorsed.[44] Shortly after his death, Roy Blunt, the House Republican Whip, stated that "Chairman Lantos will be remembered as a man of uncommon integrity and sincere moral conviction — and a public servant who never wavered in his pursuit of a better, freer and more religiously tolerant world."[45]

A memorial service was held for Lantos on February 14, 2008, at Statuary Hall in the Capitol. Speakers included Senator Joe Biden, Bono of U2, Rep. Steny Hoyer, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Christopher Shays and Elie Wiesel.[46]

On June 19, 2008, President George W. Bush posthumously awarded Lantos the Medal of Freedom. In a ceremony at the White House, Bush stated "We miss his vigorous defense of human rights and his powerful witness for the cause of human freedom. For a lifetime of leadership, for his commitment to liberty, and for his devoted service to his adopted nation, I am proud to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously, to Tom Lantos, and proud that his loving wife Annette will receive the award on behalf of his family."[47]

In 2008, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which he founded in 1983, was renamed The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Its mission is partly "to promote, defend and advocate internationally recognized human rights." The first Lantos Human Rights Prize, named in the congressman's memory, was presented to the 14th Dalai Lama in 2009. In 2011, the Institute was set up in Budapest to promote tolerance and support minority issues in central and eastern Europe and in the world.[7]

In the final weeks of his life, Lantos asked that a non-profit be established to carry on the work he felt so passionately about. The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice was founded later that year to carry out that wish.[48] Lantos's daughter, Katrina Lantos Swett, serves as the Foundation's President and CEO.

On September 10, 2011, the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA officially opened the Tom and Annette Lantos Center for Compassion, located at 1450 Rollins Road in Burlingame, California. The facility was funded with a naming gift in the Lantos's honor by Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, and his wife, Melanie.[49]

  • Tom Lantos Tunnels south of San Francisco have been named after the late Congressman, as has a street in Netanya, Israel.
  • BBYO, Inc. (formerly B'nai B'rith Youth Organization) chapter honored Tom Lantos's legacy by naming the chapter in his honor. Lantos AZA #2539 now thrives in the Rockville, Maryland, area.

Budapest named a promenade in the city in honor of Lantos in 2016.[50]

Lantos received the Grand Cross, Hungary's highest civilian honor.[51]

Congressional scorecards

See also

Project Vote Smart provides the following results from congressional scorecards.[52]

Controversies

During a 1996 congressional inquiry into the Filegate scandal, Lantos told witness Craig Livingstone that "with an infinitely more distinguished public record than yours, Admiral Boorda committed suicide when he may have committed a minor mistake". Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, had taken his own life after his right to wear Combat V decorations had been questioned. Lantos was criticized by some (including fellow Congressman Joe Scarborough) for this comment.[54]

On May 3, 2000, Lantos was involved in an automobile accident while driving on Capitol Hill. He drove over a young boy's foot and then failed to stop his vehicle and was later fined over the incident for inattentive driving.[55]

In 2002, Lantos, who was on the House Committee on International Affairs, took Colette Avital, a Labor Party member of the Israeli Knesset, by the hand and, according to Haaretz, tried to reassure her with these words: "My dear Colette, don't worry. You won't have any problem with Saddam. We'll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we'll install a pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you."[56] He later denied saying this, but Avital confirmed it, according to Ben Terrall, an adviser to Maad H. Abu-Ghazalah, a Libertarian Party candidate who ran against Lantos that year.[57]

In June 2007, Lantos called former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a "political prostitute" at the dedication ceremony of the Victims of Communism Memorial, which caused a political backlash from the German government. Lantos was referring to Schröder's ties to energy business in Russia, and remarked that this appellation would offend prostitutes.[58]

In October 2007, Dutch parliament members said Lantos insulted them while discussing the War on Terror by stating that the Netherlands had to help the United States because it liberated them in World War II, while adding that "Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay."[59]

On January 6, 2008, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds included Lantos's photograph among others featured in the "State Secrets Privilege Gallery" posted on her website, composing images of figures considered to be relevant to her case.[60] On August 8, 2009, she gave sworn testimony about Lantos and others during a witness deposition before the Ohio Elections Commission in the Schmidt v. Krikorian case, in which she alleged that he had engaged in "[N]ot only ... bribe[ry], but also ... disclosing highest level protected U.S. intelligence and weapons technology information both to Israel and to Turkey. ... other very serious criminal conduct."[61][62]

Electoral history
California's 11th congressional district: Results 1980–1990[63]
Year Democratic Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1980 Tom Lantos 85,823 46% Bill Royer 80,100 43% Wilson Branch Peace and Freedom 13,723 7% William S. Wade, Jr. Libertarian 3,816 2% *
1982 Tom Lantos 109,812 57% Bill Royer 76,462 40% Chuck Olson Libertarian 2,920 2% Wilson Branch Peace and Freedom 1,928 1% *
1984 Tom Lantos 147,607 70% Jack Hickey 59,625 28% Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff American Independent 3,883 2%
1986 Tom Lantos 112,380 74% Bill Quraishi 39,315 26%
1988 Tom Lantos 145,484 71% Bill Quraishi 50,050 24% Bill Wade Libertarian 4,683 2% Victor Martinez Peace and Freedom 2,906 1% *
1990 Tom Lantos 105,029 66% Bill Quraishi 45,818 29% June R. Genis Libertarian 8,518 5%

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1980, Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff, American Independent Party, received 1,550 votes (1%). In 1982, Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff, American Independent Party, received 1,250 votes (1%). In 1988, Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff, American Independent Party, received 1,893 votes (1%).

California's 12th congressional district: Results 1992–2006[63]
Year Democratic Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1992 Tom Lantos 157,205 69% Jim Tomlin 53,278 23% Mary Weldon Peace and Freedom 10,142 4% George O'Brien Libertarian 7,782 3%
1994 Tom Lantos 118,408 67% Deborah Wilder 57,228 33%
1996 Tom Lantos 149,049 72% Storm Jenkins 49,276 24% Christopher V.A. Schmidt Libertarian 6,111 3% Richard Borg Natural Law 3,472 2%
1998 Tom Lantos 128,135 74% Robert Evans, Jr. 36,562 21% Michael J. Moloney Libertarian 8,515 5%
2000 Tom Lantos 158,404 75% Mike Garza 44,162 21% Barbara J. Less Libertarian 6,431 3% Rifkin Young Natural Law 3,559 2%
2002 Tom Lantos 105,597 68% Michael Moloney 38,381 25% Maad H. Abu-Ghazalah Libertarian 11,006 7%
2004 Tom Lantos 171,852 68% Mike Garza 52,593 21% Pat Gray Green 23,038 9% Harland Harrison Libertarian 5,116 2%
2006 Tom Lantos 138,650 76% Michael Moloney 43,674 24%

See also

References
  1. "Tom Lantos Dies". Associated Press. 2008-02-11. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, died early Monday morning, his spokeswoman said.
  2. Lantos, stricken with cancer, to retire at the end of the year San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2008; retrieved January 2, 2008.
  3. Simon, Richard (January 3, 2008). "California's Lantos says cancer will prevent another House run". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  4. Louis Sandy Maisel; et al. (2001). Jews in American Politics. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742501812. Retrieved May 21, 2011. "The only Holocaust survivor to serve in the United States Congress, Tom Lantos was born February 1, 1928, in Budapest. Just 16 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary, Lantos was active in the underground resistance before he was imprisoned in a Nazi labor camp in Hungary."
  5. Representative Nancy Pelosi, "The World Lost One Of Its Greatest Champions Of Human Rights" on YouTube video, 7 min.
  6. "Bono Remembers the Honorable Tom Lantos" on YouTube video clip, 2 minutes
  7. "Tom Lantos Institute set up in Budapest", Politics.hu, May 2, 2011
  8. Thomas Fields-Meyer. "Second Start". People.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  9. Tom Lantos biography, biography.com; accessed May 27, 2015.
  10. Jewish Survivor Tom Lantos Testimony, USC Shoah Foundation; accessed August 26, 2016.
  11. Janine Zacharia. "Lantos's list". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on January 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-15. Born in Hungary in 1928 to assimilated Jewish parents, he escaped from a forced-labor brigade, joined the resistance and was eventually, with his later-to-be-wife Annette, among the tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews rescued by the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
  12. "Congressman Lantos Commemorates Liberation of Budapest Ghetto" Archived 2011-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, U.S. Dept. of State, 2006
  13. Steves, Rick. Rick Steves' Budapest, Public Affairs publ. (2009) pp. 72-73
  14. Lantos profile, cnn.com, February 11, 2008; accessed November 19, 2014.
  15. Agnes Ethel Lantos naturalization info, ancestry.com; accessed June 28, 2016.
  16. Timmerman, Kenneth R. Countdown to crisis: the coming nuclear showdown with Iran, Random House (2005)
  17. Edward Epstein (January 1, 2007). "Lantos the master storyteller, communicator". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  18. "Tom Lantos for Congress". Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  19. Pankratz, Howard (April 11, 2008). "Denver inventor Dick dies after crash". The Denver Post.
  20. Timber Dick, a former city council candidate, dies, Rocky Mountain News, April 11, 2008.
  21. "Project Vote Smart: Tom Lantos". Votesmart.org. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  22. "Yahoo Criticized in Case of Jailed Dissident". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 7, 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 'While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies', Tom Lantos, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said angrily after hearing from the two executives, Jerry Yang, the chief executive, and Michael J. Callahan, the general counsel.
  23. Aleza Goldsmith (October 4, 2002). "Arab-American challenges Lantos in three-way race". Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  24. "PRO-CHOICE AMERICANS PAY TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE TOM LANTOS' LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP", NARAL: Pro-Choice America, February 11, 2008.
  25. Edward Epstein (December 7, 2005). "Bay Area: Recreation area about to get bigger: Historic rancho near Devil's Slide a deal at $15 million". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  26. "Bush signs Lantos' open space bill". San Mateo Daily Journal. December 22, 2005. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  27. "Tom Lantos, 80, Is Dead; Longtime Congressman", New York Times, Feb. 12, 2008
  28. "Bush inks Jewish bill by Lantos". San Francisco Chronicle. October 19, 2004. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  29. Opening Statement by Chairman Lantos at hearing With General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker Archived 2015-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, September 10, 2007; accessed November 18, 2014.
  30. Clifford Krauss (January 12, 1992). "Congressman Says Girl Was Credible". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  31. "Deception on Capitol Hill". The New York Times. January 15, 1992. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  32. ProQuest Historical Newspapers, The New York Times [1851-2007], p. A-20)
  33. Alison Mitchell (October 4, 2002). "Threats and Responses: the Congressional Resolution; Lawmakers Begin Push to Give Bush Authority on Iraq". The New York Times.
  34. Lantos, Tom. "I Am Disappointed in the President's Alleged New Plan for Iraq", The Hill, Jan. 12, 2007
  35. "PELOSI — 'America Is More True to Its Founding Ideals Because Tom Lantos Chose to Call This Land His Home'", Nancy Pelosi, at Democraticleader.gov Feb. 12, 2008
  36. Jim Doyle (April 28, 2006). "Five members of Congress arrested over Sudan protest". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  37. "Letter of Lantos, titled "The Arrest Of Hungarian Intellectual Miklós Duray By The Government Of Czechoslovakia"". US Congressional Record. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
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  39. "Official Letter from Tom Lantos to Robert Fico" (PDF). Congress of the United States, Committee on Foreign affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
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U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
William Royer		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 11th congressional district
1981–1993		 Succeeded by
Richard Pombo
Preceded by
Tom Campbell		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 12th congressional district
1993–2008		 Succeeded by
Jackie Speier
New office Chair of the House Human Rights Commission
1983–1995		 Succeeded by
John Porter
Preceded by
John Porter		 Ranking Member of the House Human Rights Commission
1995–2007		 Succeeded by
Frank Wolf
Preceded by
Sam Gejdenson		 Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee
2001–2007		 Succeeded by
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Preceded by
Henry Hyde		 Chair of House Foreign Affairs Committee
2007–2008		 Succeeded by
Howard Berman
Preceded by
Frank Wolf		 Chair of the House Human Rights Commission
2007–2008		 Succeeded by
Jim McGovern
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