United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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LANTOS, Thomas Peter

LANTOS, Thomas Peter
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object
LANTOS, Thomas Peter
1928–2008

Office

Representative

State/Territory

California

Party

Democrat

Congress(es)

97th (1981–1983), 98th (1983–1985), 99th (1985–1987), 100th (1987–1989), 101st (1989–1991), 102nd (1991–1993), 103rd (1993–1995), 104th (1995–1997), 105th (1997–1999), 106th (1999–2001), 107th (2001–2003), 108th (2003–2005), 109th (2005–2007), 110th (2007–2009)

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Biography

LANTOS, Thomas Peter, A Representative from California; born in Budapest, Hungary, February 1, 1928; came to the United States on an academic scholarship in 1947; B.A., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., 1949; M.A., University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., 1950; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Calif., 1953; professor of economics; television journalist; administrative assistant, economic and foreign policy adviser, United States Senate; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1976; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-seventh and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1981-February 11, 2008); chair, Committee on Foreign Affairs (One Hundred Tenth Congress); died on February 11, 2008, in Bethesda, Md.; interment at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

University of California, Berkeley
Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA
Papers: ca. 1944-2008, 199.35 linear feet. The Tom Lantos papers document the career of a Hungarian-born American politician who was the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the United States Congress. He served 14 terms, from 1981-2008, in the United States House of Representatives as Congressman for the California district encompassing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. A significant portion of materials pertain to his service on the Government Operations and Foreign Affairs Committees, as well as the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; also prominent in the collection are Lantos' office and press files, personal correspondence, and a limited amount of campaign and political files. The collection encompasses a range of materials-including correspondence, legislative addresses and hearings, campaign literature, press releases, schedules, and ephemera-most notably documenting such legislation and issues as: Anti-Semitism, Israel and the Holocaust, including Raoul Wallenberg; Human Rights issues, especially in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, China and Tibet, and the Middle East; the Department of Housing and Urban Development scandals; Animal Rights; Bay Area Rapid Transit and the San Francisco Airport; and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Tom Lantos papers are subdivided into six series: Personal Files, Campaign and Political Files, Office Files, Press Files, Constituent Service Files, and Legislative Files. A finding aid is available in the repository and online.

University of Oklahoma
The Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Archive, Department of Communication

Norman, OK
Videocassette: 1986, 1 commercial on 1 videocassette. The commercial was used during Tom Lantos's campaign for the 1986 U.S. congressional election in District 11 of California, Democratic Party.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Lantos, Thomas Peter. "The Economic Development of New Zealand, 1928-1953." Ph. D. Diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1953.

___. Western Foreign Policy Toward Eastern Europe. N.p., 1995.

Lantos, Tom, Elizabeth Skoglund, and Annette Lantos. A Quiet Courage: Per Anger, Wallenberg's Co-Liberator of Hungarian Jews. N.p.: Baker Book House, 1997.

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov