Tom Lantos, the powerful chairman of the House International Relations committee, died today of complications from cancer at Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
Lantos announced on Jan. 2 that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of his current term, after routine medical tests revealed that he had cancer of the esophagus. He has represented the overwhelmingly Democratic 12th district of California, which includes two thirds of Mateo County and a small portion of San Francisco, since 1980.
Known for his advocacy on behalf of human rights, Lantos has championed pro-freedom activists in China, Burma, and elsewhere as chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
He has also been a strong supporter of Israel and is the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to 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,” Lantos said last month when he announced that he would be stepping down from Congress.
Lantos was always known for his sharp tongue and acidic eloquence, and was rarely afraid to take on the high and mighty. He first made waves in Congress in the 1980s when he investigated fraud and abuse at the Department of Health and Urban Development (HUD).
In June 2007, Lantos called former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a “political prostitute,” a reference to Schröder's ties to energy business in Russia. When pressed to confirm his remark, he said that the comparison would offend prostitutes.
I wrote this about Lantos in my 2005 book, "Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran":
“In 1944, Lantos was 16 years old when the Nazis invaded his native Hungary and deported him and hundreds of thousands of Jews to work camps in the countryside. Fooling his guards, he managed to escape and made his way back to Budapest, where he met a Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg who hid him in a three-room safe house with 50 others.
“Wallenberg tapped Lantos as a courier because his blond hair and blue eyes helped him avoid suspicion from Nazi troops.
“By the time the Soviets swarmed into Budapest in January 1945, Wallenberg had saved tens of thousands of Jews from the death camps by handing out Swedish passports. One of them, Annette Tillemann, returned to Budapest after the war and married the young man with the blue eyes and blonde hair who had helped her to escape. Shortly afterwards, Lantos and his new bride came to America.”
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I got to know Tom and Annette Lantos in December 1992, when they came to Strasbourg, France to recruit me to the House Foreign Affairs committee staff to work on proliferation issues.
In April 1993, I authored a strongly-worded statement, which Lantos delivered at a congressional hearing, criticizing the Commerce Department and the State Department for failing to crack down on Communist China for their ongoing missile sales to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
But Lantos dampened his criticism of Communist China soon afterwards under pressure from the Clinton White House, and fired me later that year.
In recent years, Lantos has been a fierce critic of President George W. Bush. Although he initially supported the war in Iraq, he became increasingly critical of the war in 2006 as he drew closer to fellow California Democrat, Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi supported him to become chairman of the House International Relations Committee when the Democrats won the majority of the House in the November 2006 elections.
The two lawmakers made a controversial trip to Damascus, Syria over the Christmas holidays that year, to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, and have called on the Bush administration to open a dialogue with Syria and Iran.
Lantos was one of two lawmakers who helped establish a dialogue with Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi (the other was Rep. Curt Weldon), when it became apparent that Gaddafi was preparing to switch sides in the war on terror and support the United States.
The California lawmaker thought he could win similar success in Tehran, and has tried repeatedly in recent years to travel to Tehran to meet with top Iranian officials, but his requests for a visa have been rebuffed.
On occasion, Lantos has also turned his sharp tongue on fellow Democrats.
Former diplomat Fred Gedrich recalls a Capitol Hill event a few years ago to celebrate the expansion of the European Union that was attended by the French and German ambassadors when Jacques Chirac and Schroder were still in power.
Among the featured speakers was Sen. Joe Biden, Henry Hyde, and Tom Lantos.
“Biden shamelessly got up and belittled the U.S. after recognizing the French and German ambassadors in the audience — much to the delight of an overwhelming number of people in attendance,” Gedrich recalls.
“Recognizing the event was on the verge of becoming an American bashing event, Lantos got up to the lectern and sternly reminded the mostly European audience of their debt to the United States. ‘When one travels through Europe you will find many cemeteries for fallen American soldiers. Don't ever forget what America has done for you.’”
And then Lantos turned and walked out, “leaving the audience stunned,” Gedrich recalled.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking minority member of the House International Relations committee, praised Lantos in a statement released this morning.
“Our great sorrow is tempered by our admiration for Chairman Lantos and his extraordinary contributions to our beloved country. An unfailingly gracious and courageous man, Tom was recognized by friends and colleagues alike as a leader who left an enviable legacy of service to his country. We were fortunate indeed to have known him. Annette and the entire Lantos family have my heartfelt condolences.”
Lantos is survived by his wife, Annette, the cousin of Hollywood actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, their two daughters, and 18 grandchildren.
Daughter Katrina is married to Richard N. Swett, former New Hampshire congressman (1991-1995).
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