House Foreign Affairs Chairman to Retire After Cancer Diagnosis
Congressional Quarterly, January 2, 2008
By Edward Epstein, CQ Staff
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said Wednesday that he was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and will not seek re-election to a 15th term in November.
The 79-year-old Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, plans to serve out his current term as he undergoes treatment.
His staff said he received the cancer diagnosis shortly before the first session of the 110th Congress ended.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whose San Francisco district adjoins Lantos', said in a statement that she had learned of his illness with "great personal sadness and deep appreciation for his outstanding leadership." She added, "His experience, intelligence, and compassion will be deeply missed."
Lantos announced his decision to retire in a statement issued at mid-day.
"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," the Budapest-born Lantos said. "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."
In addition to his committee chairmanship, Lantos is the second-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, behind fellow Californian Henry A. Waxman, the panel's chairman.
"Throughout my adult life I have sought to be a voice for human rights, civil liberties and social justice, both at home and around the world," Lantos said. "My wife, Annette, and I look forward to continuing this vital work with purpose and verve every day for the remainder of my term."
For Lantos, the cancer diagnosis and decision not to seek re-election in November is particularly poignant. He had risen steadily through the ranks on the House foreign policy committee and had served as ranking minority member under Republican Chairman Henry J. Hyde of Illinois for years until Democrats took back the House in November 2006.
Human Rights Champion
Since then, Lantos has held a long series of oversight hearings on the Iraq War. He had voted for the October 2002 resolution authorizing President Bush to use force to oust Saddam Hussein, but had become a harsh critic of the administration's conduct of the war over the past five years.
Over the years, he also has been a staunch supporter of Israel, and both a supporter and a critic of the United Nations. He has advocated a policy of talking to all nations, including enemies of the United States.
Lantos in 1983 was a founding co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, and under his leadership, the Foreign Affairs Committee took up a range of human rights issues.
In his first year as chairman, the panel held a series of hearings about the conduct of big Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo in cooperating with Chinese authorities who sought to crack down on human rights campaigners.
In April 2006, Lantos was arrested outside the embassy of Sudan for trespassing during a protest against the violence in Darfur.
Just two days ago, on Dec. 31, President Bush signed into law a bill (S 2271) authorizing state and local governments to divest from companies doing business in Sudan. Lantos was a cosponsor of the House version of the measure (HR 180), which was approved by the Financial Services Committee. The measure passed the House July 31 by 418-1.
Lantos had other interests in Congress as well. A self-described "crazy pet owner," he has led the congressional animal caucus. After Hurricane Katrina, he shepherded to passage legislation requiring authorities to include accommodations for pets in their disaster planning.
For years, Lantos and his wife were accompanied to his Rayburn House Office Building offices by their poodle Gigi. After she died of old age, Lantos began bringing to his office his neighbor's West Highlands terrier Max. He calls the little white dog Macko, which means "little teddy bear" in Hungarian.
If Democrats keep control of the House after November's elections, Rep. Howard L. Berman, D-Calif., would be next in line by seniority for the Foreign Affairs chairmanship. However, Berman chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, where he has devoted years to advancing intellectual property rights. He is arguably the House's leading expert on copyrights, patents and similar topics and he may be reluctant to give up his sway over such issues to take the Foreign Affairs chairmanship. He would have to choose between the two gavels.
Ranking just below Berman on Foreign Affairs is Democrat Gary L. Ackerman of New York, who currently chairs the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee. Ackerman also serves on the Financial Services Committee, but his strong support for Israel and deep interest in global issues make him a logical choice to succeed Lantos.
Unique Life Story
Lantos' life story is the stuff of novels. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, he was only 16 when the Nazis occupied the Hungarian capital in 1944 and began to round up the country's Jews, the last major Jewish population in Eastern Europe that had escaped the Holocaust until that time. He was sent to a labor camp in Szob, a village north of Budapest, escaped, was captured and beaten, and escaped a second time.
He returned to the capital and found refuge in one of the apartment buildings that the audacious Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg had taken over as safe havens for Jews. The blue-eyed Lantos served as a courier, secretly delivering food to other Jews.
After his election to Congress, Lantos repaid his debt to Wallenberg by pushing through legislation making the Swede, who disappeared into Soviet captivity after World War II, an honorary U.S. citizen. He also got a bust of Wallenberg installed in a niche in the Capitol.
After the Soviets liberated Budapest in 1945, Lantos searched unsuccessfully for his mother and other family members, all of whom had perished. He later located childhood friend Annette Tilleman, a cousin of the famous Gabor sisters, who had fled to Switzerland. The two married and have been considered inseparable ever since. She comes to work every day with Lantos and is a familiar figure in the Capitol, where she frequently gives tours to Lantos' constituents.
In 1947, Lantos won a scholarship to study in the United States. He earned an economics degree from the University of Washington and a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. He subsequently taught economics at San Francisco State University.
The Lantoses settled in San Mateo County, on the peninsula south of San Francisco, and raised two daughters. They have 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
One of his daughters, Katrina, is married to Dick Swett, a Democrat from New Hampshire who served in the House from 1991 to 1994. Katrina Swett, who lost a bid for the House in 2002, had been raising funds and running hard for the Senate nomination in New Hampshire in 2008, but party leaders preferred former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Once Shaheen jumped into the race, Swett announced in September that she was dropping out.
Democratic District
Before his election to Congress in 1980, Lantos' only previous elective experience was his service on the Millbrae School District board. He came to Congress due to a tragedy.
In 1979, Rep. Leo J. Ryan was killed in Jonestown, Guyana, by a religious cult whose members included several people from his House district. The cult leader, Rev. Jim Jones, then engineered a mass suicide of his followers.
Ryan's seat was initially filled by a Republican, Rep. Bill Royer. But Lantos, at the time a consultant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defeated Royer in 1980 and has been easily re-elected ever since in the heavily Democratic district.
Ironically, Lantos faced a possible primary re-election challenge this year, even before his cancer diagnosis. His possible opponent was former California State Sen. Jackie Speier, a former Ryan aide who survived gunshot wounds in Jonestown. Another possible Democratic candidate frequently mentioned is Leland Yee, a California state senator and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Other Democrats may jump into the race as well following Lantos' announcement.