Henry B. González

Life and career

González was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Mexican-born parents Genoveva (née Barbosa) and Leonides Gonzalez (from Mapimi, Durango), who had immigrated during the Mexican Revolution. After he received an associate's degree from San Antonio College, he earned his undergraduate credentials from the University of Texas at Austin. Later, he received a Juris Doctorate from St. Mary's University School of Law, also in San Antonio. Upon graduation, he became a probation officer, and was quickly promoted to the chief office of Bexar County, Texas. In 1950, he was scoutmaster of Troop 90 in San Antonio, of which his son was a member.

González served on the San Antonio City Council from 1953 to 1956, when he was elected to the Texas Senate, having defeated the Republican candidate, Jesse Oppenheimer. In 1960, he defeated another Republican, Ika "Ike" Simpson Kampmann, Jr. (1918-2006), to hold his state Senate seat. He remained in the Senate until 1961 and set the filibuster record in the chamber at the time by speaking for thirty-six straight hours against a set of bills on segregation. Most of the bills were abandoned (eight out of ten). He ran for governor in 1958 and finished second in the Democratic primary (the real contest for governor in what was then a solidly Democratic state) to Price Daniel. In May 1961, González ran in the special election for the Senate seat that Lyndon B. Johnson vacated to become U.S. Vice President. he finished in sixth place in part because he split the liberal and Hispanic vote with Maury Maverick, Jr., of San Antonio.

In September 1961, however, President John F. Kennedy appointed Rep. Paul J. Kilday of Texas's 20th congressional district to the Court of Military Appeals. González entered the special election for the San Antonio-based district in November 1961 and defeated a strong Republican candidate, attorney John W. Goode (1923-1994), whom former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower flew to San Antonio to endorse. González would never face another contest nearly that close; he was unopposed for a full term in 1962 and was reelected seventeen times thereafter. He never faced truly serious or well-funded opposition, having been unopposed in 1970, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, and 1984. In fact, the 20th was (and remains) so heavily Democratic that González faced Republican opposition only five times and handily prevailed whenever challenged.

González became known for his staunchly liberal views. In 1963, Republican U.S. Representative Ed Foreman called González a "communist" and a "pinko" and González confronted him. González was again referred to as a "communist" in 1986 by a man at Earl Abel's restaurant, a popular San Antonio eatery. The 70-year-old representative responded by punching him in the face. González was acquitted of assault for this incident when the restaurant patron dropped the charge.

González was in President Kennedy's motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963. He recalled rolling down the window as his car neared the Texas School Book Depository, then hearing three distinct shots during the assassination. González's car proceeded to Parkland Memorial Hospital where upon seeing a blood-caked bouquet of roses in the rear of presidential limousine he initially believed Jackie Kennedy had been shot. There, he saw Lyndon Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and President Kennedy's sheet covered body. González helped place Kennedy's casket in the hearse that transported Kennedy to Air Force One.

Reported to be unsettled by the effect that the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. had on the nation, González pushed in 1975 for a House committee study. In 1976, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was created to investigate the deaths of President Kennedy and King, and González succeeded Thomas N. Downing as its chairman in January 1977. After a power struggle with the HSCA's counsel, he resigned as the committee's chairman that same year. Shortly before González chaired the HSCA, Robert P. Gemberling, head of the FBI's investigation of the Kennedy assassination for thirteen years after the release of the Warren Commission's report, said González, as well as Downing, had "preconceived conspiracy theories". According to a 1992 report, González did not rule out the possibility of shots other than the three he heard were fired from a silencer.

González introduced legislation calling for the impeachment of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. González also blocked hearings into Whitewater until finally agreeing to hold hearings in 1994. In 1997, González fell ill and was unable to return to the House for over a year. Finally, he decided not to run for a 19th full term in 1998. He had long groomed his son, Charlie, to succeed him. Charlie Gonzalez won easily in 1998 and served through January 2013; between them, father and son served 52 consecutive years in Congress.

He was an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve System and in 1993 proposed an audit of the central bank.

Legacy