Edward R. Roybal

American politician

• Born: February 10, 1916
• Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Died: October 24, 2005
• Place of death: Pasadena, California

Roybal was one of the most successful Latino politicians of his generation, serving both as a member of the Los Angeles City Council and for thirty years in the U.S. House of Representatives. His career symbolizes the gains made by Latino Americans in the second half of the twentieth century.

Early Life

Edward Ross Roybal (ROY-bahl) was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 10, 1916.The Roybal family traced its roots back many generations in New Mexico. In 1922, a rail strike caused his unemployed father to move the family to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, where Roybal attended public school, receiving his high school diploma in 1934. Following a stint in the Civilian Conservation Corps, he pursued studies in business administration at the University of California at Los Angeles and law at Southwestern University. In the early 1940’s, he gained employment with the California Tuberculosis Association. Following military service in World War II, from 1944 through 1945, he returned to his former job, eventually becoming the director of health education at the Los Angeles County Tuberculosis and Health Association.

As a child Roybal learned at first hand the effects of racial discrimination. One example from his early years occurred when Latinos were banned from using a local swimming pool, except for a brief period of time before it was cleaned and disinfected. In 1947, his feelings regarding discrimination, as well as a growing interest in politics, led him to run for the Los Angeles City Council. Running in a district whose population was 34 percent Latino, he was unable to gain broader support and lost to longtime incumbent Parley P. Christensen. Following the election, Roybal helped organize the Community Service Organization, a group that sought to bring together activists from a variety of religious, ethnic, and labor backgrounds. The group’s achievements, especially its work in registering minority voters, contributed to the success of Roybal’s second city council campaign in 1949. This victory served to bring about a new direction in city politics, with Roybal becoming the first Latino member of the Los Angeles City Council since the nineteenth century and, in the process, providing a voice for a host of newly enfranchised voters. He would retain the seat for the next twelve years until his successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962.

Life’s Work

As a member of the city council, Roybal waged a frequently uphill battle for the rights of his constituents. Many of his proposals, including his support of fair employment practices, rent control, and public housing, were defeated. He was also unsuccessful in his opposition to the city’s decision to designate Chavez Ravine, a Latino neighborhood, as the site for a new Dodger baseball stadium in the 1950’s. During the same period, he also gained attention for his stand against the politics of the Joseph McCarthy era, casting the only vote opposing a new city subversive registration ordinance. Despite the failure of many of his legislative efforts, Roybal retained the support of his constituents, gaining reelection in 1951, 1953, 1957, and 1961.

During his years on the city council, Roybal made two attempts to gain higher office, running for lieutenant governor as a Democrat in 1954 and for a nonpartisan seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1958. In both instances he lost, meeting behind-the-scenes resistance from the California Democratic Party organization. In 1962, however, he defeated the Anglo Democratic candidate, William Fitzgerald, to gain the party’s nomination to run for U.S. Congress representing California’s 30th district, a part of which included the city council district he had represented for the previous twelve years. In the November general election he easily defeated his Republican opponent to move onto the national political scene.

As a member of Congress from 1963 until his retirement in 1993, Roybal fought hard for legislation to improve the conditions of Latino Americans. In the 1960’s, he sponsored a bill to provide bilingual instruction in schools, and in the decade that followed he introduced similar legislation to bring bilingualism into court proceedings. He also voiced strong opposition to the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration and Control Act during the course of its early debate in the 1980’s. Extending his political focus to a broader base, Roybal was a dedicated supporter of programs for Vietnam War veterans and the rights of the elderly. In the latter regard, as a member of the House Select Committee on Aging, he contributed to the passage of legislation to fund low-cost public housing for seniors, to assure the continuance of the Meals on Wheels program, and to reverse a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting age-based discrimination in the allocation of employment benefits. He was also a strong supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, the establishment of the U.S. Department of Education, and funding for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) research.

In 1974, Roybal shifted from the 30th congressional district to the 25th as a result of redistricting. Four years later, in 1978, controversy briefly entered his career when he and two other California representatives received reprimands for their involvement in the “Koreagate” voting scandal, but he was able to put the misstep behind him and was reelected by a strong majority later that year.

After thirty years in Congress, Roybal retired in 1993. He spent his last years engaged in the work of the Edward R. Roybal Foundation, which is dedicated to providing college scholarships to individuals pursing public health careers, and the Edward R. Roybal Institute of Applied Gerontology. In January, 2001, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton. He died on October 25, 2005, survived by his wife of sixty-five years, Lucille Beserra-Roybal, and three children, one of whom, Lucille Roybal-Allard, succeeded him as a member of Congress, first elected from California’s 33rd congressional district in 1993.

Significance

The career of Edward R. Roybal serves to demonstrate the gains made by Latino people in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. His election to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949, becoming the first Latino to serve on that body since the nineteenth century, was a landmark event, as was his election to the U.S. House of Representatives thirteen years later. In both positions he served with distinction, helping to give Latinos a new voice in the political process. He is also remembered as an individual who supported legislation not only to improve conditions for his Latino constituents but also for the greater good of the nation.

Bibliography

Burt, Kenneth C. “The Power of a Mobilized Citizenry and Coalition Politics: The 1949 Election of Edward R. Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council.” Southern California Quarterly 85, no. 4 (December 2003): 413-438. Focuses on the organizational techniques used by Roybal and his supporters to bring about his election to the city council in 1949.

Ramos, George. “Edward R. Roybal, 1916-2005; Pioneer in Latino Politics in Los Angeles.” Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2005, p. A.1. An obituary rich in details regarding Roybal’s career and accomplishments both on the Los Angeles City Council and in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sanchez, George. “Edward R. Roybal and the Politics of Multiracialism.” Southern California Quarterly 92, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 51-73. Examines Roybal’s 1949 election to the Los Angeles City Council and his years of service that followed, with a special emphasis on racial and ethnic issues. Includes discussion of the changing ethnic character of his district following his departure and his own views on these changes.

Underwood, Katherine. “Pioneering Minority Representation: Edward Roybal and the Los Angeles City Council, 1949-1962.” Pacific Historical Review 66, no. 3 (August 1997): 399-425. Looks at Roybal’s election to and twelve years of service on the city council, focusing on the difficulties he faced with racial prejudice and in seeking to implement his political agenda.