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New Book Recognizes Unsung Mexican-American Politician

Tim Dougherty

Thursday, May 7, 1998 - 17:00

Santa Barbara, CA

Widely considered a recent phenomenon, the growing political clout of Mexican Americans can in fact be traced back more than four decades to El Paso, Texas, the setting of one of the century's most dramatic---and surprisingly little-known---election upsets, according to a UC Santa Barbara historian.

"No Mexican-American community had done what the Chicanos of El Paso managed to do in 1957, that is, mount a massive grass-roots campaign and elect one of their own as mayor of a major Southwestern city. The political influence that Mexican Americans enjoy today is in large measure the legacy of this milestone," said Mario T. Garcia, a professor of history and Chicano studies at UCSB.

El Paso's mayoralelection of 1957 is the centerpiece of Garcia's newest book, "The Making of a Mexican American Mayor: Raymond L. Telles of El Paso" (Texas Western Press, 1998). Garcia opted to make Telles the subject of a biography because of his political trailblazing and, more importantly, because of his continued neglect at the hands of historians and other cultural observers.

"When Henry Cisneros was elected mayor of San Antonio in 1981, the national media trumped it up as this momentous breakthrough, the first time that a Mexican American had been elected mayor of a major Southwestern community. Well, that kind of treatment doesn't hold up in light of Telles' victory in 1957. Furthermore, in Telles' time there were still tremendous obstacles to Mexican Americans becoming elected. Telles was truly a