>> Betsy Peterson: From the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. [ Silence ] >> Betsy Peterson: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome you to the Library of Congress here today. I'm Betsy Peterson, and I'm the Director of the American Folklife Center, which is a relative, or I guess you might say, the Veterans History Project. The two organizations or divisions work very closely together. Thank you for coming and for our wonderful Book Talk, featuring Cecilia Garcia-Akers, who will discuss her new book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia." Before we get started though, I would like you to take a moment of silence to honor the memory of another member of the Garcia family, Cecilia's uncle and veteran of our country, Dr. C.P. Garcia, who passed away last month on Sunday, April 24th. He was the last surviving brother to Dr. Hector P. Garcia and, like his brother, he too also served his community in medical practice, Civil Rights activism, and as a member of the American GI Forum. So, if we could just have a moment of silence. [ Silence ] Thank you. Now, the Veterans History Project would like to take a moment to thank the co-sponsors of this event, and we have a couple here today that we're really pleased to recognize, the Library's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Programs and the Library's Hispanic Initiative, which is a two-year initiative headed by the Hispanic Working Group here at the Library with the aim of increasing awareness among the US Hispanic community about the Library's programs, services, collections, and career opportunities, in addition to increasing programming about the US Hispanic experience. And now I'd like to talk a little bit more specifically about our guest of honor. Morning, Corpus Christi Texas, Cecilia Garcia-Akers is the daughter of Dr. Hector P. and Wanda F. Garcia. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from St. Mary's University in San Antonio and a graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, with a degree in Physical Therapy. Currently, she is in private practice in San Antonio, Texas, where she specializes in geriatric orthopedics and neuromuscular rehabilitation. Her first job was as a medical assistant to her father, the man we are here to commemorate today, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, and she worked with him for ten years prior to completing her studies in physical therapy. She has served on the Texas State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners and as Board Chair, appointed by Texas Governors Mark White and Ann Richards. Among many other professional accomplishments, in 2012, Ms. Akers founded the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation and is presently serving as Board President and Chair of the Foundation. In 2015, she delivered a presentation titled, "Dr. Hector P. Garcia as a Father, Physician, and Role Model," at the Texas State Historical Association's Annual Meeting in Corpus Christi. Just last week, on May 12, she received her most recent recognition, which is very relevant I think to today's presentation, and certainly in line with her father's legacy. She received the American GI Forum of South Texas "Standing Up for Veterans" Award. So, congratulations on that. Currently, she resides in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband Jimmy, who is also here with us today and is the proud mother and grandmother to her daughter Melina and to her two grandchildren, Savannah and Noah. The book Ms. Garcia-Akers will discuss is her first book, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia," which is published by History Press. It was released on April 4, 2016, and it's already in its second printing. Very impressive! After the discussion, please stay for a Q and A and to see Ms. Garcia-Akers donate her father's original World War II photographs to the Veterans History Project, which collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American War Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. You may also purchase a copy of the book and get Ms. Garcia-Akers' autograph as you leave. So, please stay around afterwards, but in the meantime, please join me in welcoming our guest, Cecilia Garcia-Akers. Ms. Aker. [ Applause ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Well, thank you all for being here. I'm just overwhelmed to be here at the Library of Congress and discussing my father, my beloved father, and his accomplishments. And first of all, I want to introduce my family that made the trip here to support me. My husband Jim Akers is here, and my sister, Susie Garcia, and her partner Nell Hahn [assumed spelling]. [ Applause ] I want to thank the Library of Congress for hosting me today. I just never expected such a historical day for me and my father's legacy and to have written a book about my father was certainly not planned. After I gave my lecture in Corpus Christi in 2015 at the Historical Commission, I got a call from the History Press, and they asked me, "Have you ever thought about writing a book about your father?" And I said, "Of course not." I mean, I had not even thought about that. So, with a lot of help from the publisher, which they gave me tremendous help because they helped me with the author proposal and how to fill it out and send it in. Well, after I sent it in, two days later I got a contract. So, I think they just thought it was a good thing to do, and then they were so kind that they only gave me six months to write 33,000 words. So, we were struggling. We were sweating bullets the whole time, but it was fun. And then we had, we submitted 75 photographs, and they accepted 70. So, I think it was just a gift from above, a gift, and it's given me an opportunity to give my gift to everyone who wants to know about my father and his struggles and to all the veterans that he took care of for 50 years and how he changed the face of this country by the laws that he made sure were passed in Civil Rights, in education, the schools that he helped desegregate in Texas, and for people not to forget how important his advocacy was for this country, for us to have a better America today. And several people have told me that this book is perfect timing for what is going on in this country, and we can never forget our struggles, and we have to teach our children what the struggles are and how they're kind of coming back. So, I don't want my father's life to ever be forgotten because he deserves better, and I think the book, I wanted to write the book, not his historical analysis of his life because that has been done by two previous authors, but a daughter's perspective on his struggles, his personal struggles, which he had, he had many, and the family struggles and the financial impact on his work, what it did for his family, my mother's struggle. My mother, if you think about my mother, Wanda, she raised four children all on her own, and people are really, if you have a historical figure like Dr. Hector P. Garcia, they don't realize, people don't realize the struggles that go along with his advocacy, and I think that we can all learn from him that he never gave up. He went from one thing to another. He just never stopped. He never stopped. He was never satisfied with his work. And so I'm hoping that the book kind of opens people's eyes and to understand that, you know, he, he made this a better country. And because we are talking about the Veterans History Project, I wanted to share with you a little bit, my own research on my father, life, especially in the military because it was certainly interesting. And I knew nothing because, as my father with his humility, he never talked about his struggles. He never came home and talked about what he had done. He never talked about his struggles when he was growing up, but he had many. He came to this country when he was three years old, settled in Mercedes, Texas, to escape the Mexican Revolution. They had ten children. His father and mother had ten children. Out of the seven surviving children, six of them became medical doctors. Now, if you think about that in the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Hector, Dr. J.A. and Dr. Cleo all went to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The other children went to Medical School in Mexico. But there were six practicing physicians in that one family. Now, you wonder how, how did that happen? Well, he had a very strict father. He went to segregated schools, so his parents, his father would take the children into the basement and teach them things like history, English, things that they needed to know because he wanted his family to succeed. So, that's how they got it done. I mean, this is what we have to teach our children, you know, you're going to have struggles, you have to educate yourself. And growing up in a segregated school system, creating six medical doctors, is really unheard of, especially two of them were women. So, that was something. I think that when he went to UT, Galveston, that was really eye-opening because we heard not too long ago, when we were in Galveston a few weeks ago in April, that my father was the first Mexican American graduating from their school in 1940, the first. So, think about, he got into 1936. They only accepted one Mexican a year, and it was him. Pretty remarkable life, you know, he had to have top grades to do that. But sadly, after that big accomplishment, no school in Texas or hospital in Texas would accept him for his residency, none. So, he ended up in Omaha, Nebraska, St. Joseph's Hospital, Creighton University. And I remember this story, telling me that, oh, they sent some doctors down to Galveston, and we really liked them, so we decided to go with them all the way to Omaha in the freezing weather, and from South Texas this did not go well for him, going into Omaha. But the truth was no one would take him, no one. So, he went there for his two years. He then got called to active military duty. He had, we found out in our research that he had lied about his age to get into the Citizens' Military Training Corps when he was 15 years old. And I'm sure what happened with his good looks and his, you know, tall stature that they asked him, "Okay, how old are you, Hector?" And he said, "Sixteen." Okay, they wrote it down, and "Where were you born?" And he said, "Mercedes," and they wrote it down. That's exactly what's on his separation papers, and we know none of that was true. We knew he was born in Mexico, and he was born in 1914, so he lied about his age by one year just to get in. So, he was trying to escape poverty. He was, you know, trying to prepare for the rest of his life. So, when he got called to active military duty in 1940 after he, 1942, he was already had been a commissioned officer. So, when he got called to active military duty in 1942, he had tried to get several promotions in the army. We had letters that his application had been lost two times and, you know, then they changed their policy that unless he was on active duty he couldn't get promoted. I mean, it was just one thing after another, one thing, one thing. So, did he give up? No, he did not. He did not give up. He never gave up, and so he finally got promoted to Captain in 1942, after being First Lieutenant. And in 1946, he was awarded Major. It was after he separated from the army, first part of 1947 is when he was awarded Major. So, he separated from the army in 1946, but his Major classification didn't come until after he was out of the army. So, I mean, I think that you look at one man and his struggles, and he just kept trying and trying to beat the system and work through it and to get what he felt was due. And I think we can all look at him and think, boy, what kind of person was this? And I, I didn't know anything. I didn't know any of this because he never talked about it. So, I got all his military records and all his papers, and I had so, I gained so much more respect for him because he knew, he knew there was a better life there, and he wanted to move up into the -- he loved being in the army. And then the other thing we found about my father, I know everybody's going to freak out when I tell you this, but you know he went to segregated schools in Mercedes. He went to UT Austin, graduated top 10% of his class. Then he went to medical school in Galveston, and then he went to Omaha, and then he took care of tens of thousands of soldiers all over this world, all over the world, for the United States as a medical doctor, and he was not even a US citizen. It's pretty amazing! He did not become a US citizen until November 7, 1946, after he got out. We always wondered, Jim and I always wondered why he married my mother in 1945 in June. My older sister was born there in Italy, but they stayed there. They stayed there for a year, and now we found out he wasn't even a citizen. So, I think he waited until last minute to do it. You know, we don't really know why, but I think sometimes I think his parents never became citizens. They immigrated here legally, but they never did become a citizen. So, I don't know, if that had some influence on him, but he finally did it, but everybody's kind of shocked that a non-citizen would work their way up and get educated and get in the US Army, and he was so, you know, it was so difficult for him, and he was not even a citizen of this country. And I think this says a lot for immigrants that are coming here and want a better life. I think he's a role model for that. You know, he was just a great physician, and I think that working with him for ten years taught me so many things and how he took care of patients and how he, you know, he never turned anyone away because they didn't have money. He never said no, if you can't pay me, you'll come back later. That never happened, and he was just a great physician, and he cared so much about every single one of his patients that came in and all the children that came in that he was able to take care of, and that is just a part of my life that at the time I did not recognize how important it was going to be for me. Now that I'm in healthcare and think about all the things that he taught me that I could never learn from a book, you know, that was just a great ten years. And then, as I got older, and we would talk on the phone about cases and medical cases and how patients were doing, and he would ask my opinion once in a while, and I was like, "Oh, my God," you know, "he's asking my opinion," on things that he was working on. So, that was very important to me. He was very disappointed I did not finish and become a doctor like he was, and it took a long time for me to realize and get over that, but he was very disappointed that I did not go to Medical School, and I became a physical therapist. He, and I know that, but then he finally accepted it. It took him about eight years, but he finally accepted it and embraced it, and I think he just finally understood what physical therapists do, and it's so important, you know, in rehabilitating a person's life and getting them back on their feet. And I think all he thought anyone could be was a doctor or an attorney, and that was his mindset because he had all these siblings that were physicians, and so it was a struggle for us, you know, when I decided to become a physical therapist. But I am happy that I chose that profession because here I am working, and one of the things he did teach me is to be independent, and so that's, that's what I did. So, I think that we need to look at my father's life as far as not only his accomplishments but his struggle, and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted people to finally realize, and my understanding is not too many books have been written on a historical figure from a daughter's perspective. So, I think this is a new thing. So, I hope that you all enjoy the book and you like it, and the book is comprehensive in that it talks about many of the events and his accomplishments, the things that influenced him, and I talk, there's a chapter there on the death of my brother, and most people didn't even know I had a brother. So, I talk about that and the influence on my brother's death on him. And then there's a chapter on my mother, her influence on him, and even though she struggled a lot because my father did not know how to save money, that's for sure, so all his money went to causes, his causes, the American GI Form, anybody who needed money. If they couldn't come in and pay him, you know, he would see them for free. He would give, I heard from a man the other day that said he went in for his physical to go to college, and my father handed him $100 to help him to get to Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, and this is just the way he was, you know. He didn't care if he didn't have any money. He wanted everybody else to do well. So, I think that's a testament to him and how he lived his life. But my husband and I go everywhere, and we hear all kinds of stories about my father, things that we would never know. One thing in particular that we didn't know, but they told us that there was a young man who got drafted to Vietnam, and he asked for a delay in going to training camp, and of course the army told him no, you know, you have to show up. So, he left. He said, "I wanted to, I want to be here a little bit longer because my wife is expecting her first baby." And they told him no. So, his parents went to see my father in his office, and they told him the situation, and this man told me, "In one week I was coming back to Corpus Christi, Texas, to stay with my family." So, one week later the young man was coming back because my father had made the effort to contact whoever needed to be contacted to make sure that young man was back in Corpus Christi with his family. So, this is, this is what he did, and he never, he never said anything to us, and we didn't know what he was doing, but now I'm going all over the places, different places, and I hear all these remarkable stories, unselfish acts, where he took the time to help people and not just as a physician but other areas where he would, they would go to his office and wait to see him, and he would come out with something. If someone told him no the first time, you know, that wasn't going to stick with him. He just kept at it and at it and at it. So, that's certainly a trait of his not to ever give up and to help other people, and I think he knows that, he knew that he was put on this earth to help other people. He knew that. We also heard that when he married my mother in Italy, his parents, her parents wanted him to stay in Naples and practice medicine there, and he would have done very well there. He spoke Italian, and he told my mother, my mother's family that he could not stay because he had a mission, and that mission was in Texas. He had to get back. So, he knew back then in 1945 that he had to get back to Texas for a mission. And then he, shortly after that, he founded the American GI Forum in 1948, and then we know shortly after the founding of the GI Forum was the Felix Longoria Affair in Three Rivers, Texas. Everyone always asks me, "Do you ever go to Three Rivers?" and I say no because that was kind of like his, that was his first national effort, and he got on the map because if you have not heard about the Three Rivers incident and Felix Longoria, there's a documentary on it called, "The Longoria Affair." And this young soldier was killed in World War II, and his remains came back to Three Rivers three years after he was killed. He was a private, Private Felix Longoria, and his poor widow went to Three Rivers and wanted to wake Felix's body in the one funeral home that was there, and the funeral director named Tom Kennedy told her, "No. We do not wake Mexicans in our all-white chapel." So, she was, of course, devastated. She was young, she was alone, she had a young daughter, so she was told, "Go contact Dr. Hector Garcia." So, she did. She went to see him, and he got on the phone and called Tom Kennedy and verified what she had told him, "Yes. Now, we don't, we don't let Mexicans use the chapel because they're rowdy. They get drunk and they get into fights." So, my father said, "But this young man gave his life for this country," and he said that he didn't care. So, then my father had a reporter from the [inaudible] Times call the funeral director, and he said, "No," you know, "they're not going to let him wake Felix's body there." So, my father sent out 17 telegrams. He got one response, and that was from Senator, newly-elected Senator Lyndon Johnson, who told him that he would have Felix's body brought to Arlington National Cemetery and have him buried there. So, that was the beginning of my father's advocacy in 1949, with the Felix Longoria affair, that's how he got started on the national stage. And Felix is buried here. He was the first Mexican American buried in Arlington National Cemetery. So, of course, Three Rivers continues to this day to deny it, deny the event, my father made it up, all this other stuff, you know. We've been kind of a struggle with some of their residents, even today, but you know they even accused my father of causing the death of that funeral home director 14 years after the event. So, I mean, they also said that my father did the Felix Longoria Affair because he was hoping to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984 when this was in 1948, which didn't even, wasn't even created for what my father received it for. So, I mean, we've had, we've had some pretty big fights with some of them, but I think we prevailed. We haven't heard from them in several years. So, yeah, it was a struggle for him, but I think everybody can learn from my father's life and appreciate it and really apply what he has done to our own lives today. I think that's very, very important, and there's not too much written about Mexican Americans like my father, and I think that this is a good, this is a good start, "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia." And I'm very proud of my book, and I hope all of you read it and enjoy it, and I wanted to read just a little bit from here that I wrote about his military life. "Dr. Hector P. Garcia would achieve a high rank in the military, but he would never forget about the soldiers who fought with him in World War II. He felt an obligation to all the military members he would encounter, to the organization he founded, the American GI Forum. This was clearly evident during the Vietnam War. He was very saddened by all the soldiers who were being returned to Corpus Christi to their families after being killed in this war. He made efforts every day to comfort the families. He would be notified when one of these young men would be returning to his family in a coffin. He would make arrangements with other American GI Forum members to meet the returning soldiers at the Corpus Christi [inaudible] station or the airport, regardless of the time of day. If needed, my father would refer the families to a local funeral home for interment and funeral services at a very low cost. The funeral home was happy to assist these families at my father's request. My father would attend the funerals of these young men and would often speak at their services. I asked him one morning why was he going so early to greet these soldiers. He had been working an 18-hour day, well into the night and morning, taking care of his patients. He replied, "Because I have to go. It is the least that I can do for them." There was always a sadness in his eyes when he was getting ready to leave to greet the soldiers every morning for the services. He would not miss any of them. He felt it was his obligation to make sure the soldiers and their families would be taken care of at this sad time. Reviewing y father's military records was a very tedious process. I am elated that I was able to study and understand this important aspect of his life, though in his determination to succeed, helped me understand how complex an individual he really was. He would never take no for an answer. I saw this time and time again in my life. We can all look at Major Hector P. Garcia, MD, as a role model for the youth and ourselves, someone who can serve to instruct our children about the benefits of a higher education. We can all learn from his determination to succeed. His life in the military is just one example of a person who desired to achieve the American Dream, took responsibility seriously, and never made excuses for himself or what was occurring around him. I have definitely learned in my lifetime how to persevere and try to be an example for others. He had achieved independence in his life but was also able to develop lasting relationships around him. He understood the values of trust and love for his fellow man; yet, he never forgot that he was called to serve all the people around him through his medical practice and by assisting veterans through the organization he founded, the American GI Forum." So, that's what I wrote about him. There's so much about his military career and records, and I want to thank you for today. Sometimes, it's hard for me to stand up and talk about my father because I loved him very much, and I learned so much from him, but thank you so much for being here. Thank you. [ Applause ] And I have some incredible photographs here that I want to donate to the Veterans History Project. They're original photographs from World War II, and I hope that you enjoy them and use them, and thank you so much for this opportunity. >> Betsy Peterson: Oh, thank you, thank you very much. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: You're welcome. >> Betsy Peterson: On behalf of the Veterans History Project, we are very proud to receive this photographic collection from Ms. Garcia-Akers and to receive these photographs from Hector P. Garcia. These photographs will be stored, catalogued, and made available in the Library of Congress and saved for perpetuity. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Thank you. >> Betsy Peterson: So that future generations can come and see and learn from Mr. Garcia's experience. I want to thank you. I also want to say that the Veterans History Project has over 1100 collections from veterans who identify as Hispanic, and of those over 1100 collections, roughly 340 are digitized and now available. When donating a collection to the Veterans History Project, as with all participating veterans and individuals that are a part of the collections here, we encourage those who are Hispanic to identify themselves as Hispanic. By doing so, the historical evidence is your personal experience becomes evident. It won't be lost, and it is more accurately reflected in the historical record, and we need that. It's very important. So, Cecilia, again, on behalf of the Library of Congress and the Veterans History Project, thank you for this incredible collection. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Thank you so much. Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: I didn't know if anyone had any questions they want to ask me about the book or my father's life or anything that I'll do my best to try to answer. Does anyone have any questions? [ Silence ] >> You mentioned that you've gotten his military records. Did you go to other areas, other libraries, or other institutions to get more information on your father? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Well, fortunately, fortunately, in 1990, he donated, my father donated his entire collection to Texas A&M Corpus Christi. So, they are in possession of, you're not going to believe this, 7000 photographs, and over the length of a football field in documents. Now, he never threw away anything, so as you can tell, but he would, what he would do every morning, he would go and buy the Corpus Christi Colored Times. He would buy like three copies, and he would go and mark with a felt pen each article. Like he would say, file under John Kennedy, or Lyndon Johnson, or Civil Rights, whatever that article was he was interested in, and they would make scrapbooks and so on. And you're talking about, yeah, I think at one time he had wanted to take care of this cataloguing it, but it's so massive that he had to donate. He didn't have the resources, not only financial, but you have to have certain people to be able to handle these old -- I mean, these pictures that I've donated are from the 1940s, and my mother, fortunately, saved everything also. So, we have hundreds of photographs at the house, when they were dating and when they got married, just beautiful photographs that, you know, I intend to do something with later. But fortunately, I was able to go to A & M and pull all his military documents and look at them that way, and separation papers were very interesting, and that's where I found his US citizenship papers. And I knew that he had fibbed about that one year, but because the citizenship papers were different form the Army Separation papers, the dates and where he was born. So, thank, you know, thank God, I had those resources to research his life. I didn't do a whole lot. I mean, I did all his military records and also the discrimination case, CCISD, in Corpus Christi because that was a big struggle for him. It took about eight years, so there was lots and lots of information on that. So, that's, and that's how I did it, and that's what he did. He just clipped articles, and he, lots of times he had young children work in his office, young teenagers that were getting through high school, and he would put them to work, and he'd come in with the newspapers, and they would start cutting them out and putting them in scrapbooks. There were no computers back then either, you know. Yes? >> There was no congratulations for producing the manuscript and all that research in six months. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Yeah. >> Printing process. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: It was. It was. I don't know how we did it, but thank goodness my husband was here to help me. >> And I was just wondering if you had any advice for somebody else who might want to write a book about a family member, a memoir, if you have any advice at all about that process? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Well, I, you know, you have to, it has to come from your heart, you know, and what I did was, you know, my business is I'm in the car driving around to patient's homes about ten hours a day, so I had a lot of time to think. Turn the radio off. But on Sundays, I would just start writing, one chapter at a time, write, write, write, you know, whatever I could remember. And then, my dear husband would type it up for me, and so a couple of days later I would go and correct it or add things to it. But in the car, I would write little notes or what I wanted to change or ask myself a question, what about this? You know, memories started coming back to me as I was writing. I think the hardest part of writing a book is the organization, how you want to organize the chapters. And of course, the History Press had their own manuscript guidelines like how many spaces and how many words and, you know, they were very strict about that, and it had to be on a certain file, and we had to, you know, send everything in, and photographs had to be a certain way, and they had to be 6 and 1/2 inches in length, and they, you know, they wouldn't take any small ones. So, a lot of them I wanted to use, a lot of the photographs I wanted to use, they wouldn't accept them because they were too small. Some of them were too grainy. So, I think it's just, you know, if you get more than six months, I think you'd probably do a good job, but they were in a hurry to get this book published, and it was published April 4th. So, I think it just has to come from here, to answer your question, and to organize your thoughts. Yes? >> I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about his relationship with LBJ, and did he know about [inaudible] veterans because I believe they were both involved in the Civil Rights Movement? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Lyndon Johnson, you know, they started, of course, my father was a lifelong Democrat, you know, he just, that's just the way he was, and he supported every Democratic candidate that ran for President. Lyndon was, of course, from Texas, and they became close during the Felix Longoria Affair because he was the only one that would respond to my father's telegram about getting some help. And he told my father that he has, he cannot control what goes on in a private funeral home but that he was going to have Felix buried in Arlington, if his widow would accept it. So, that's how they developed a relationship. He became close to him, of course, after John Kennedy was assassinated. He was going to the White House all the time. He was, as we say today, in Lyndon Johnson's face, you know, about certain things, like Civil Rights, and they became very close, and my father was not shy about telling him, "You're doing a terrible job." I mean, they had terrible fights, but they respected each other, and Johnson finally came around. You've seen that famous speech that he gave on the Congressional floor about his first job was a school teacher in Kutula, Texas. You've seen that, haven't you? And then he says that, he says that he saw the sadness and the hunger in his students' eyes every day as they showed up. And he would spend his own money to help give these children breakfast and take care of them, and he said, "I never thought that I would one day have the chance to help those children as President of the United States." They were from Kutula, Texas. And I think my father had a big influence on him, and they had high respect for each other, but my father never shied from telling him off, you know, he never did. He never did. And Martin Luther King, a lot of people ask me about that, and I just think that they never really crossed paths, and a month before Dr. King was assassinated there was a telegram that he sent my father telling him, "I know that you're, you know, involved in Civil Rights," and he wanted to set up a meeting with him. It was a month before the assassination, so they never did, they never did have that meeting. I think my father followed his career and followed what he was doing, but you know my father was in a different direction as far as the veterans and Mexican Americans and Hispanic Civil Rights. So, I don't think they really crossed paths. [ Silence ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Anybody have any other questions? >> I have one. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Yes. >> In what ways are you most like your father? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: My sister's laughing. >> I can tell you that. >> I'm going to let, I'm going to let my husband answer that question, right. I'm going to let him answer for me. >> Jim Akers: Cecilia always, she'll get so mad at me for using this analogy, but most everyone has heard the saying, "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." Well, Dr. Hector was the tree, and here's the apple. You know, her memory is like Dr. Hector's. He never forgot anything. I mean, he just, you know, he always remembered people's names, all this stuff, and she's the same way. I have to be very careful about what I tell her for the last 40 years because she remembers everything. But you know, I think he had a very big influence on her life, and their work ethics are a lot alike. They don't know when to stop and, you know, she doesn't know what rest is. It's, you know, seven days a week and, you know, I'm going till I can't go any further, and then figure out some way to keep going. But she's a product of her father. There's no doubt about that, and it's a mostly good product, so. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: He said mostly. >> Jim Akers: Mostly, probably more good than, a lot more good than bad, but you know, it's a great, it's great for her to be honored, to be able to do this and write this story about her father. And you know, he was such an influence on her life and a lot of other people's, but she's really taken this and done a great job of promoting his legacy. And this all got started by a promise we made her mother that we would not let his legacy go untold, so we tried to keep it up. Thank you. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Thanks. Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: In the book, I do describe how we got started. I mean, Jim and I were living our life privately and, you know, my mother is at San Antonio because she had some serious health problems, and I felt that I could help her better there than in Corpus Christi, which, you know, it was not an easy time to move her three different times. So, she was very difficult to take care of, so we did our best, you know. But she ended up having six surgeries in two years, so you know it kept us busy. But one day she calls me up, and she's crying on the phone, and I go, "Momma, what's wrong?" And she said that she had received the American GI Forum Newsletter called, "The Forum." They were sending out a quarterly newsletter at the time, and it was in March, the founder's month, and she says, "There's not one picture of papa." She called him papa. "There's not one picture of papa in this book." I said, "Well, let me come over there." So, we went over there, and she just lived about seven minutes from my house. She had a beautiful apartment that we set her up in and was well taken care of till the end of her life. But we went over there, and to see your 84-year-old mother crying like that, and she wouldn't stop. And that, I think that really impacted me because she was saying, "No one knows who papa is. No one knows what he did for this country. No one knows about him, and the American GI Forum was not promoting him." So, that day, we made a promise to her that we would do whatever we needed to to have my father at the historical level that he needed to be. And so that's how we got started, that one phone call from her. And to our credit, really, it really needed to be done by the family because we knew it needed to be done correctly. But you know, he really needs to be at a different level than he is and recognized because of everything that he did. And there's a bio in the back about all his accomplishments to date, and so one thing we didn't put in there, but it should be, by the end of the year, he's going to be on the Points of Light Monument, probably by the end of this year. So, that's something else that we're going to be working on, Points of Light Monument. But that's how we got started, and it's a promise to momma, and I think we've done a pretty good job. Yes? >> Are there any other questions? [ Inaudible ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Yes. >> We had a meeting on at a very interesting moment now with policies, alias. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Yes. >> What would be your father's point of view or [inaudible] like you said, he [inaudible]. So, what would be your father's if you see him now if you brought up any of these candidates? What would be their [inaudible] to like he was [inaudible]? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: I think, you know, if you ask, if you ever have a chance to look at the documentary, "Justice for my People," they did a really good job about my father's life, and they had some clips of him attacking the Superintendent of Corpus Christi's School District and saying that he had to go. I mean, he was not shy about what he thought, but I think as far as this, all this, this fear about immigration and the immigrants are taking jobs away, and I think, I think he, I mean, he is an immigrant, and so was my mother. And I always point that out, they were both immigrants to this country, and look how they lived their lives. I mean, it's like the fear that people are getting away with, putting it to the residents, the citizens of this country, is just so unfounded. He would, I can assure you he would be on national news every single day attacking whoever he needed to and clearing up what was right and what was wrong. He would be doing that every single day. He wouldn't, he would be, he had great, from back then, he had great media coverage, and that's what he would be doing. He would be meeting individually with Donald Trump, he would, and Hilary Clinton. He would be there, and I'm sure by now he would have had multiple meetings with President Obama, I'm sure. I am sure of that. So, I think that he knew the right path for this country, and I think he would be right now very disappointed in the way it's going. Yes? >> I'd like to talk about the GI Forum. I appreciate it has more to do with veterans groups like GI Forum. Younger veterans today tend to stay away from traditional organizations [inaudible] American Legion. Do you see a role for those [inaudible] organizations today, or do you think they sort of outlived their usefulness in terms of advancing the veterans' interests? Not only Mexican Americans, but overall? >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: I think you made a good point. I don't think that they've outlived their usefulness. I think they're direction is not like the same as, especially the American GI Forum, they don't really recruit new members from more recent wars. They kind of stick with the old guard. I don't see a whole lot of new members signing up, which is a shame because they have different needs. You know, I have had many, many patients coming back from the war. They're just, I mean, they're injuries are just so profound that, you know, I'd never seen them before on older patients, and I think they're not addressing that. I don't think they're addressing their educational needs. I think since my father died, American GI Forum, they've just, they have not really developed any strong leadership on a national level, and they're broke. They don't have any money. And you need money to really promote an organization to do well. But I, you know, I just think that [sigh] it's more like a social organization, you know, where they have hamburgers, sell them, or whatever, that kind of thing. But you don't really see them advocating for veterans on a national level, and I think that's a shame. And I think, I think, no, they're not done, but I think their problem lies in not having strong leadership, educated leaders, to take up the cause, and I think that's been their problem. [ Silence ] >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Sure. And this is strictly my opinion, but I've seen it, so. >> He had a mind. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: And his, and we've lived it, so. Yes? >> Well, I was just going to ask everyone if you wanted to have some refreshments and thank Ms. Garcia-Akers, and to get a coffee at the desk and talk some more with her and get her autograph. >> Cecilia Garcia-Akers: Oh, no, thank you. Thank you very much. [ Applause ] >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.