Ximenes, Vicente 1919-

Mexican American civil rights advocate Vicente Ximenes was born in Floresville, Texas in 1919 and graduated from Floresville High School in 1939. After high school, he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and attended the University of Texas. He married Maria Castillo of San Antonio, Texas in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1941-1947 as a decorated veteran of World War II. He retired with the rank of major and thereafter moved his family to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He obtained his bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in economics from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and worked as a research economist for UNM. He established the American G.I. Forum in New Mexico and a number of chapters in the western half of the United States and served as the Forum's national chairman. He served as program officer in Ecuador for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as Director of the Viva Johnson Clubs for the 1964 presidential election. He was hired as an inspector general under Sargent Shriver for Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty and left that position to become Mission Director for the USAID in Panama. In 1967, he was appointed as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Opportunity for the Spanish-Speaking and as Commissioner for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), serving in the EEOC until 1972. He served as vice president for field operations for the National Urban Coalition and as Commissioner of White House Fellows under Jimmy Carter. He was a cofounder and served as chairman of the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps Commission (YCC).

From the description of Oral history interview with Vicente Ximenes, 2004 [videorecording]. (University of Texas at Arlington). WorldCat record id: 464618750