Edward R. Roybal
Encyclopedia
Edward Ross "Ed" Roybal was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council for thirteen years and of the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty years.

Biography

Roybal was born on February 10, 1916, into a Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 family that traced its roots in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...

 back hundreds of years, to the Roybal
Roybal
-History:The name first appears in documents dating to around 1680. One of the first recorded instances is that of Ignacio Roybal, a soldier who traveled with Don Diego de Vargas to reconquer the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico from the Indians after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680...

s who settled the area before the founding of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

. In 1922, a railroad strike prevented his father from being able to work, and Roybal, age 6, was brought his family to the East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles (region)
East Los Angeles is the portion of the City of Los Angeles that lies east of Downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River and the unincorporated areas of Lincoln Heights, west of the San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles and City Terrace, south of Cypress Park, and north of Vernon, California and...

 neighborhood of Boyle Heights
Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
Boyle Heights is a neighborhood east of Downtown Los Angeles on the East Side of Los Angeles. For much of the twentieth century, Boyle Heights was a gateway for new immigrants. This resulted in diverse demographics, including Jewish American, Japanese American and Mexican American populations,...

, where he graduated from Roosevelt High School
Theodore Roosevelt High School (Los Angeles)
See also Roosevelt High School for schools of the same nameTheodore Roosevelt High School is a high school located in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, California named for the 26th president of the United States....

 in 1934. After graduation, Roybal joined the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

. After serving in the CCC, Roybal studied business at UCLA and law at Southwestern University
Southwestern University School of Law
Southwestern Law School is a private ABA-accredited law school located in Los Angeles, California , with about 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an admired art deco National Register of Historic Places landmark built in 1929...

.

He served a stint in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, where he worked as an accountant for an infantry unit.

On January 8, 2001, he was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal
Presidential Citizens Medal
The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award in the United States, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded by the President of the United States, and may be given posthumously....

 by President Bill Clinton.

Roybal died of respiratory failure complicated by pneumonia at the age of 89 on October 24, 2005, at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. He was survived by his wife, Lucille, and children Lucille Roybal-Allard, Lillian Roybal-Rose and Edward Roybal Jr. A funeral service was held at the [Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels]], and burial was at Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...

.

Community

In 1942, Roybal began work as a public health educator with the California Tuberculosis Association. Upon returning home, he began work as director of health education for the Los Angeles County Tuberculosis and Health Association, a position he held until 1949. In 1949, Roybal teamed with local organizer Fred Ross
Fred Ross
Fred Ross was an American community organizer. He founded the Community Service Organization in 1948, which, with the support of the Industrial Areas Foundation, organized Mexican Americans in California. The CSO in San Jose, CA gave a young Cesar Chavez his first training in organizing, which he...

 and a group of people who had supported his earlier campaign to form the Community Service Organization
Community Service Organization
The Community Service Organization was an important California Latino civil rights organization, most famous for training Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta...

 (CSO), which tied together a variety of religious, political, and organized labor groups to fight local discrimination. The organization, which organized get-out-the-vote drives, did not explicitly endorse candidates, but Roybal's presence as president of the organization and the personal endorsements of many of its members helped form a groundswell of support that contributed to Roybal's victory. In 1960 Roybal helped organize the Mexican American Political Association
Mexican American Political Association
Mexican American Political Association is an organization that promotes the interests of Mexican-Americans, Mexicans, Latinos, Chicanos, Hispanics and Latino Economic Refugees in the United States.-History:...

 (MAPA) and served as its first president from 1960 to 1962.

After retiring from Congress, Roybal founded the Lucille and Edward R. Roybal Foundation, which awards scholarships to Latino students pursuing careers in the field of health. Edward R. Roybal lived the rest of his life in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

 as one of the deans of local and national politics, endorsing several candidates in elections throughout the region.

Elections

See Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1947 and after.

In 1947 Roybal ran to fill the Los Angeles City Council District 9
Los Angeles City Council District 9
Los Angeles City Council District 9 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council. The Ninth District encompasses the western section of Downtown Los Angeles and much of South Los Angeles. The current council member is Jan Perry....

 seat held by Parley Parker Christensen. The district, which included Boyle Heights, Bunker Hill
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California
Bunker Hill, in the downtown area of Los Angeles, California, is a short, developed hill with its peak located roughly around 3rd Street. It is located directly east of the Harbor Freeway...

, Civic Center
Civic Center, Los Angeles, California
The Civic Center neighborhood of Los Angeles, California is the administrative core of the City of Los Angeles and a complex of city, state, and federal government offices, buildings, and courthouses.-Location:...

, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and the Central Avenue corridor, was then 45% White, 34% Latino, 15% African American, and 6% "other" residents. Roybal placed third in a field of five. In 1949, though, he defeated Christensen in the runoff election, for a two-year term. He was reelected in every vote thereafter until leaving office in 1962 after 13 years, He was president pro tempore in his last term.

Positions

Roybal was noted as "often the spokesman for minority groups" in the City Council and "recognized leader of East Side minority groups." He was also seen as a "consistent supporter" of subsidized low-cost public housing.

Other positions taken:

Communists, 1950. Roybal cast the sole negative vote against an ordinance that required "Communists and other subversives" to register with the police. He told the council he believed he was "signing a political death warrant" with his vote, adding that the law "places every citizen and organization . . . at the mercy of any biased crackpot who may decide to report the matter to the Police Department as subversive."

Juveniles, 1950. The council adopted a motion by Don A. Allen
Don A. Allen
Not to be confused with Charles A. Allen, Los Angeles City Council member, 1941–47.Don A. Allen, also known as Don A. Allen, Sr., was a member of the California State Assembly in the 1940s and 1950s and of the Los Angeles City Council between 1947 and 1956.-Biography:Allen was born on May 13, 1900...

 asking the Police Department what was being done to enforce curfew laws. Allen said it was his opinion that if policemen were "equipped with a good old-fashioned hair brush, which could be applied to some of these kids," there might be a lessening of juvenile crime. But Roybal disagreed, noting that most of the "hoodlums" were over 21 and recommending closer cooperation by the police with agencies "dealing with youth problems."

Rabies, 1953. He and his public health and welfare committee supported proposed legislation requiring all dogs to be vaccinated against rabies.

Dodgers, 1957. Roybal was opposed to the use of Chavez Ravine
Chávez Ravine
Chavez Ravine is an area in Sulfir Canyon that is the current site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles Councilman in the 19th century.-History:...

 as a Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 stadium, claiming that "Chavez Ravine is the worst place in the world for a baseball park." He favored Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)
Wrigley Field was a ballpark in Los Angeles, California which served as host to minor league baseball teams in the region for over 30 years, and was the home park for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as well as a current major league team, the later Los Angeles Angels, in their...

.

Employment, 1958. He voted in favor of establishing a Fair Employment Practices Commission
Fair Employment Practices Commission
The Fair Employment Practices Commission implemented US Executive Order 8802, requiring that companies with government contracts not to discriminate on the basis of race or religion. It was intended to help African Americans and other minorities obtain jobs in the homefront industry...

 for the city. The bid lost on a 7-7 tie vote.

Bunker Hill, 1959. Roybal threatened a filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...

 when the council would not accede to a request he made for monthly reports on the fate of residents evicted from Bunker Hill to make room for a massive improvement project.

Apology, 1960. Before and during a City Council meeting, he demanded an apology from Police Chief William H. Parker for Parker's having condemned some Latino residents
White Hispanic and Latino Americans
White Hispanic and Latino Americans are citizens and residents of the United States who are racially White and ethnically Hispanic or Latino.White American, itself an official U.S...

 of East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles can refer to:* East Los Angeles, California * East Los Angeles...

 as "not too far removed from the wild tribes of the inner mountains of Mexico. I don't think you can throw the genes out of the question when you discuss the behavior patterns of people." Parker made the statement at a hearing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; he refused to apologize but said that the word "wild" was ill-advised.

Statewide

During his time in the City Council, Roybal, as a prominent young Democrat, received encouragement to run for higher office. In 1954, he lost an effort to become Lieutenant Governor despite receiving more votes than the Democratic candidate.

Board of Supervisors

Running in 1958 against Ernest E. Debs
Ernest E. Debs
Ernest Eugene Debs , who went by Ernest E. Debs, was a California State Assembly member from 1942 to 1947, a Los Angeles city councilman from 1947 to 1958 and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from 1958 to 1974....

 for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...

, Roybal lost a bitterly-contested election in which he held a slim lead on election night, but lost after four recounts gave the election to Debs, fueling suspicions of voter fraud.

U.S. Congress

Despite this, Roybal ran for Congress in 1962, winning election in the 25th District, an area that included his native Boyle Heights, the larger East Los Angeles area, Downtown
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...

, and parts of Hollywood. Beginning his term in 1963, he became the first Latino Congressperson from California since the 1879 election of Romualdo Pacheco
Romualdo Pacheco
José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco Jr. was an American politician and diplomat. Involved in California state and federal politics, Pacheco was elected and appointed to various posts and offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including the California State Senate, the 12th Governor of...

.

As Congressman, Roybal was generally known for a low-key legislative style. In his first term, he served on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee
United States House Committee on Resources
The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, or Natural Resources Committee is a Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the "Committee on Interior & Insular Affairs," the name was changed to the Natural Resources Committee in 1993...

 and the Post Office Committee. In his next term, he served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and on the Veteran's Affairs Committee.

Beginning in 1971, he served on the House Appropriations Committee for more than two decades and authored a number of bills, many of which were not universally popular, which offered support for groups he saw as disenfranchised; many of his actions were on behalf of veterans, the elderly, and Mexican-Americans. In 1967 he wrote the first bill giving federal support to bilingual education
Bilingual education
Bilingual education involves teaching academic content in two languages, in a native and secondary language with varying amounts of each language used in accordance with the program model.-Bilingual education program models:...

, creating specialized language instruction for immigrant populations. As Chairman of the House Select Committee on Aging, he led a successful campaign to restore $15 million in funding the low-cost health programs for senior citizens and an expanded public housing program for seniors. In 1982 he worked to preserve the Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels are programs that deliver meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. The name is often used generically to refer to home-delivered meals programs, not all of which are actually named "Meals on Wheels"...

 program and veterans' preferences in hiring. In the early 1980s, against the wishes of many of his own constituents, he argued for expanded funding for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 research.

In 1976 he became a founder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus comprises 21 Democratic members of the United States Congress most of whom are of Hispanic origin. The Caucus is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States and Puerto Rico...

 (CHC) and later co-founded the [(National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials)] (NALEO
NALEO
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials is the leadership organization of the nation's more than 6,000 Latino elected and appointed Latino public officials in the United States. -History:...

). In 1986, as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, he led the unsuccessful opposition to the Simpson-Mazzoli Act.

In 1978, Roybal was involved in a vote-buying investigation known as the Koreagate
Koreagate
"Koreagate" was an American political scandal in 1976 involving South Korean political figures seeking influence from 10 Democratic members of Congress. An immediate goal of the scandal seems to have been reversing President Richard Nixon's decision to withdraw troops from South Korea...

 scandal, in which he failed to properly report to the House Ethics Committee a gift of $1000 from a South Korean lobbyist, Tongsun Park. During the investigation by the Ethics Committee, Roybal mistakenly stated he had never met Park. Park later testified that he had met Roybal four years earlier, for less than two minutes, and that he hardly remembered the man. It should be noted that Roybal voted against every bill that would have benefitted Park, thus discrediting allegations of a vote buying scheme. Requests by Hispanic leaders, and testimony by Representatives Ronald Dellums and Phillip Burton
Phillip Burton
Phillip Burton was a United States Representative from California. A Democrat, he was instrumental in creating the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Burton was one of the first members of Congress to acknowledge the need for AIDS research and introduce an AIDS bill. He was the brother of...

 as to the facts of the case, as well as many representatives who spoke against the Ethics Committee recommendation for censure, resulted in the potential censure being reduced to a reprimand (the same punishment given the other two Representatives involved). Undeterred, he ran for reelection the same year and won 70% of the vote.

Roybal retired in 1993 after thirty years in office. That year, following redistricting, his daughter Lucille Roybal-Allard became the Representative for the 33rd District, which contained part of Roybal's district, while Xavier Becerra
Xavier Becerra
Xavier Becerra is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in Los Angeles.-Early life, education and career:...

, with Roybal's endorsement, won election in 30th District, which included much of the remaining territory of Roybal's former 25th District.

Legacy

At the time of his death, more buildings in Los Angeles and in the nation were named after him than any other single person. Among the buildings named for Roybal are the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, located in what had been his home district in California, and the main campus of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...

 is home to the Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology.

On March 25, 2008, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to name Central Los Angeles High School #11 (formerly Belmont Learning Center) as Edward R. Roybal Learning Center. The school opened on September 3, 2008.

Every February, on or near Roybal's birthday, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) hosts the Edward R. Roybal Legacy Gala http://www.naleo.org/RoybalGala.html in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to the contributions he made to the nation, to NALEO and to the NALEO Educational Fund, of which he was the Founder Emeritus.

The Metro Gold Line Edward R. Roybal Linea de Oro Eastside Extension opened in November 2009. It runs through East Los Angeles from Union Station
Union Station (Los Angeles)
Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California. The station has rail services by Amtrak and Amtrak California and Metrolink; light rail/subways are the Metro Rail Red Line, Purple Line, Gold Line. Bus rapid transport runs on the Silver Line...

 to Atlantic.

Other references

  • http://www.naleo.org/aboutroybal.html National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund
  • http://www.latinola.com/story.php?story=2735 John P. Schmal, "Fracturing the Chicano Vote in California," LatinoLA, July 20, 2005, citing (1) Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and William C. Velasquez Institute, "California Congressional Redistricting Plan," at http://www.maldef.org/publications/pdf/Congressional_Plan_Supplement.pdf, (2) Richard Santillan, "California Reapportionment and the Chicano Community: An Historical Overview 1960-1980," in The Chicano Community and California Redistricting, Vol. I, Rose Institute of State and Local Government, Claremont Men's College, 1981, (3) Richard Santillan,Chicano Politics: La Raza Unida (Los Angeles: Tlaquilo Publications, 1973), p. 11, and (4) Katherine Underwood "Pioneering Minority Representation: Edward Roybal and the Los Angeles City Council, 1949-1962," Pacific Historical Review, 1997.
  • http://www.latinola.com/story.php?story=2941 John P. Schmal, "Edward Roybal Was a Pioneer," LatinoLA, October 27, 2005, citing (1) Alford, Harold. "The Proud Peoples." New York: David McKay Co., 1972, (2) Diaz, Katherine A., "Congressman Edward Roybal: Los Angeles Before the 1960's," Caminos 4:7 (July-August 1983), (3) Underwood, Katherine. "Pioneering Minority Representation: Edward Roybal and the Los Angeles City Council, 1949-1962." Pacific Historical Review 66:3 (August 1997): 399-425, and (4) Library of Congress, "Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822-1995: Edward R. Roybal," Online: http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/congress/roybal.html



External links

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Further reading

  • Sanchez, George J., "Edward R. Roybal and the Politics of Multiracialism," Southern California Quarterly, 92 (Spring 2010), 51–73.
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