Том Лантос больше не с нами

[Sari Galin]

02-11 Washington

In the nearly 60 years Rep. Tom Lantos spent in the United States, the San Mateo Democrat never lost his Hungarian accent, his love for animals or his stubborn belief that political leaders have a duty to speak out against tyranny or oppression, wherever it occurs.

Lantos, 80, died this morning at Maryland's Bethesda Naval Hospital from cancer of the esophagus. He spent 27 years in the House of Representatives as a champion of those who too often had no other voice, whether they were in Tibet, Darfur, China or anywhere else in the world.

As a teenage boy in Hungary, Lantos escaped from Nazi labor camps and the genocide of the Holocaust, which took the lives of most of his family. It was a time he never forgot and that shaped the rest of his life.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose district split San Francisco's voters with Lantos, said the Peninsula politician made it his life's work to shine "a bright light on the dark corners of oppression," and used his position in Congress to "empower the powerless and give a voice to the voiceless throughout the world."

President Bush, who felt the edge of the congressman's sharp tongue more than once, called Lantos "a man of character" who was "a living reminder that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the innocent at the hands of evil men."

With his shock of white hair and unmistakable European accent, Lantos was often described as "courtly" or as "a gentleman of the old school." But he also was a tough political infighter who didn't much care who he offended when it came to making his point.

He founded the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1983 and served unabashedly as Congress' conscience when it came to those issues.

His "tireless and passionate work for human rights around the globe is legendary," said Jackie Speier, a former Democratic state senator who Lantos endorsed on Jan. 16 to succeed him in Congress. "No one was more articulate, persuasive or tenacious in fighting for the common people and no adversary was too large for Tom," Speier added.

In 1987, then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping attacked Lantos by name for "slandering and vilifying China" over complaints about human rights abuses in Tibet.

Two years ago, Lantos was arrested in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington as he protested the continuing strife in the country's Darfur region.

"If you're looking for a lack of international morality, Darfur encompasses all aspects," he said.

When Yahoo, the Sunnyvale tech giant, was accused of providing the Chinese government with information that enabled them to track down and imprison dissidents who used the service, Lantos brought Jerry Yang, the company's founder, and the company's top lawyer to Washington last November and took them to task.

"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," he told them at the end of a three-hour hearing before his House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Lantos' life was "defined by courage, optimism and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family," Annette, his wife of 57 years, said in a statement. Lantos was surrounded by his wife, two daughters and many of his 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren when he died, a spokeswoman said.

Lantos was born in Budapest in 1928 and was 16 when the Nazis took the city in March 1944. Most Jews outside the Hungarian capital were sent to Auschwitz, while young Jewish men from Budapest were taken to forced labor camps.

Lantos was taken to a camp at Szob, a village about 40 miles from the capital, from which he escaped twice. The second time he made it to a safe house in Budapest.

The house was one of those under the protection of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazi death camps. In 1981, Lantos wrote the bill that made Wallenberg only the second honorary U.S. citizen, after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The Red Army liberated Budapest in January 1945, and Lantos began to search for his family. Most had died, but he managed to contact Annette Tillemann, a childhood friend who had escaped to Switzerland with her mother. Like Lantos, most of her relatives perished in the death camps.

The two were reunited in Hungary later that winter and married in 1950. She was a lifetime partner, volunteering in his office during his years in Congress.

Lantos began studying at the University of Budapest in 1946 and received a scholarship in 1947 to study in the United States. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Washington and a doctorate from UC Berkeley.

Lantos and his wife settled in San Mateo County in 1950, and Lantos became an economics professor at San Francisco State, where one student remembered him as one of the few teachers in the 1970s to wear a coat and tie to class every day.

He made his first foray into politics when he won a seat on the Millbrae school board and was a regular foreign policy analyst on public television. In 1978, he moved to Washington as an adviser to Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, who was planning a run for president.

"Tom Lantos was one of my closest friends in life," Biden said Today. "His steadfast commitment to human rights and freedom across the world will live long after today."

When Peninsula Rep. Leo Ryan was killed in Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978, Lantos wanted to run in the crowded special election to replace him, but kept his commitment to Biden and stayed in Washington. In a 2000 Chronicle interview, Lantos admitted that if he had run in that special election, he would have finished "somewhere between fifth and eighth and that would have been the end of my political career."

Instead, Lantos jumped into the 1980 race and shocked incumbent Republican Bill Royer, despite the Reagan landslide that devastated most Democratic hopes.

Despite his concern about foreign affairs, Lantos didn't neglect his district. While he lived nearly fulltime in Washington, he worked to add Sweeney Ridge near Pacifica and the Phleger Estate in Woodside to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, supported improvements at San Francisco International Airport and brought federal support for the Devil's Slide Bypass tunnel, which state Sen. Leland Yee wants named for Lantos.

"If you don't take care of the people in the district, you can't take care of people on the other side of the world," said Rep. Anna Eshoo, whose Peninsula district adjoins that of Lantos. "He dominated the political scene for three decades and we worked together on many issues for San Mateo County."

Throughout his time in the House, Lantos, the lone Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, was a strong supporter of Israel and Jewish issues.

Lantos "transformed his own painful experience during the Holocaust into a lifelong commitment to preserving the dignity and security of the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and to fighting for the human rights of all," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Lantos also was one of the congressional leaders on animal welfare issues and was seldom spotted without his dog, Maxco. The national Humane Society plans to honor him with its highest award, previously given to people like Joy Adamson, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, James Herriot and Richard Leakey.

Lantos' final years in office were marked by a running battle with Bay Area liberals, including many in his own district. They were angered by Lantos' early support for the war in Iraq and his refusal to say that the U.S. was wrong to overturn Saddam Hussein.

"I abhor war in the way only a survivor and a grandfather of 17 can," Lantos said in a 2002 Chronicle interview. "But ... if the costs of war are great, the costs of inaction and appeasement are greater still."

That unpopular stand on the war, combined with a feeling that Lantos had lost touch with his district, convinced Speier to challenge him in the June 2008 Democratic primary. But on Jan 2, before she could officially open her campaign, Lantos announced that he had cancer and would not be running for re-election.

It was a hard decision for Lantos, who had said that he would never retire. But with the cancer already wearing him down, he was left with no choice but to concentrate on finishing his final term.

He left public life with no regrets.

"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust ... 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," he said as he announced his retirement. "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."

Services for Lantos are pending.

[Sari Galin]

My friend, Tom Lantos

By MORRIS J. AMITAY

Tom Lantos was truly one of a kind in the US Congress. His passing is an incalculable loss not only for his constituents, the US Congress, and the United States, his adopted country, but for Israel.

I first befriended Tom before he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980. Even back then, I was impressed by his incredible life story - surviving the Nazi occupation of Hungary and the Holocaust, coming to the US on an academic scholarship, earning a doctorate in economics, and making a name for himself in California.

I first encountered Tom's commitment to Israel and the Jewish people in 1976 when he called on me at AIPAC to discuss the Democratic presidential primary elections. At the time, almost all pro-Israel Democrats were, for good reasons, backing Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson. After our meeting, Tom wisely decided to help Sen. Frank Church because of his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Over the next three decades during his 27 years in Congress, Tom's contributions to Israel and the Jewish people were unparalleled. It was not only his considerable intellect and unique personal story that differentiated him from his 434 House colleagues, but the way he approached them.

Tom was definitely Old World when it came to his manners and charm. He didn't keep a desk in his office so that he could treat his guests as if they were in his own living room. Unfailingly polite and attentive, he treated his Democratic and Republican colleagues with equal respect, forging strong bipartisan bonds that endured even after partisan rancor became the order of the day on Capitol Hill.

And then there was the energy and devotion he applied to all of his causes, and the relationships he cultivated with foreign leaders, which culminated in his ascension to the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tom was thus able to influence policies affecting Israel positively more than any other single Member of Congress. For example, his strong working and personal relationship with former Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, now ranking Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, led to the kind of effective bipartisan legislative actions that are rarely seen in Washington's present acrimonious environment.

Prior to that, he was able to work harmoniously with the late Republican chairman Henry Hyde, someone whose background and views on a host of issues were so different than Tom's. During this period, Hyde essentially left one particular geographic area up to Tom.

Tom's activities involving Middle East policies and US-Israel relations dovetailed beautifully with the outstanding leadership he provided in championing human rights. He founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to highlight abuses worldwide, taking a leadership role and thereby increasing his credibility on Israel-related matters.

Not only did he highlight anti-Semitism, but genocide and, more recently, Darfur. In this cause he enlisted his wife, Annette, who worked on human rights issues on a daily basis, and had her own desk in his offices. But whether it was Tom's closeness to Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or his intimate conversations with President George W. Bush, Tom's overriding passion has always been his support for a secure Israel as being not only in the best geopolitical interests of the United States, but also one of our nation's highest moral callings.

Tom's admirers spanned both the American political spectrum from Left to Right, and also the often fractious organized American Jewish community. This is quite a remarkable accomplishment considering the differences of opinion (and animosity), which unfortunately exist today as Israel engages in the latest peace process, and confronts threats from Hamas and Hizbullah on its borders, and the growing menace of Iran.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has stated that, "the State of Israel owes a great debt to Lantos." She is certainly correct. However, much of the good that Tom accomplished in his 27 years in Congress to assist Israel's well-being has gone unrecorded. Very few are fully aware of all of Tom's efforts behind the scenes to benefit Israel and the Jewish people.

On a personal level, I will miss our wide ranging conversations, where we exchanged information, probed each other's views and even engaged in the latest political gossip, of which there was always an abundance on Capitol Hill. But the backdrop invariably was how it all affected Israel.

It was during one of our meetings last spring when Tom suggested that my 16 - year-old daughter intern in his office last summer. I thought she might be too young to take full advantage of this opportunity. As it turned out, it was an experience she will always treasure. It gave her the opportunity to be close to a great man, and an opportunity which I hope she takes advantage of later on in her life.

My friend, Tom Lantos, was someone who was truly able to make a difference. That is why he will be missed by so many, and particularly those of us who had the privilege of knowing and working with him.

first befriended Tom before he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980. Even back then, I was impressed by his incredible life story - surviving the Nazi occupation of Hungary and the Holocaust, coming to the US on an academic scholarship, earning a doctorate in economics, and making a name for himself in California.

I first encountered Tom's commitment to Israel and the Jewish people in 1976 when he called on me at AIPAC to discuss the Democratic presidential primary elections. At the time, almost all pro-Israel Democrats were, for good reasons, backing Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson. After our meeting, Tom wisely decided to help Sen. Frank Church because of his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Over the next three decades during his 27 years in Congress, Tom's contributions to Israel and the Jewish people were unparalleled. It was not only his considerable intellect and unique personal story that differentiated him from his 434 House colleagues, but the way he approached them.

Tom was definitely Old World when it came to his manners and charm. He didn't keep a desk in his office so that he could treat his guests as if they were in his own living room. Unfailingly polite and attentive, he treated his Democratic and Republican colleagues with equal respect, forging strong bipartisan bonds that endured even after partisan rancor became the order of the day on Capitol Hill.

And then there was the energy and devotion he applied to all of his causes, and the relationships he cultivated with foreign leaders, which culminated in his ascension to the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tom was thus able to influence policies affecting Israel positively more than any other single Member of Congress. For example, his strong working and personal relationship with former Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, now ranking Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, led to the kind of effective bipartisan legislative actions that are rarely seen in Washington's present acrimonious environment.

PRIOR TO that, he was able to work harmoniously with the late Republican chairman Henry Hyde, someone whose background and views on a host of issues were so different than Tom's. During this period, Hyde essentially left one particular geographic area up to Tom.

Tom's activities involving Middle East policies and US-Israel relations dovetailed beautifully with the outstanding leadership he provided in championing human rights. He founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to highlight abuses worldwide, taking a leadership role and thereby increasing his credibility on Israel-related matters.

Not only did he highlight anti-Semitism, but genocide and, more recently, Darfur. In this cause he enlisted his wife, Annette, who worked on human rights issues on a daily basis, and had her own desk in his offices. But whether it was Tom's closeness to Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or his intimate conversations with President George W. Bush, Tom's overriding passion has always been his support for a secure Israel as being not only in the best geopolitical interests of the United States, but also one of our nation's highest moral callings.

Tom's admirers spanned both the American political spectrum from Left to Right, and also the often fractious organized American Jewish community. This is quite a remarkable accomplishment considering the differences of opinion (and animosity), which unfortunately exist today as Israel engages in the latest peace process, and confronts threats from Hamas and Hizbullah on its borders, and the growing menace of Iran.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has stated that, "the State of Israel owes a great debt to Lantos." She is certainly correct. However, much of the good that Tom accomplished in his 27 years in Congress to assist Israel's well-being has gone unrecorded. Very few are fully aware of all of Tom's efforts behind the scenes to benefit Israel and the Jewish people.

On a personal level, I will miss our wide ranging conversations, where we exchanged information, probed each other's views and even engaged in the latest political gossip, of which there was always an abundance on Capitol Hill. But the backdrop invariably was how it all affected Israel.

It was during one of our meetings last spring when Tom suggested that my 16 - year-old daughter intern in his office last summer. I thought she might be too young to take full advantage of this opportunity. As it turned out, it was an experience she will always treasure. It gave her the opportunity to be close to a great man, and an opportunity which I hope she takes advantage of later on in her life.

My friend, Tom Lantos, was someone who was truly able to make a difference. That is why he will be missed by so many, and particularly those of us who had the privilege of knowing and working with him.

The writer is a former executive director of AIPAC and currently vice chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). He is also the founder and treasurer of the Washington Political Action Committee