Yzaguirre, Raul Humberto, 1939-

<p>Raul Humberto Yzaguirre (born July 22, 1939) is an American civil rights activist. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza from 1974 to 2004 and as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from November 2010 to May 2013.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre was born to Mexican American parents Ruben Antonio and Eva Linda (Morin) Yzaguirre and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Yzaguirre states that some of his first memories of social injustice involved what his grandmother called a "race war" in Texas. Mexican Americans lived under a curfew at that time and Yzaguirre's grandfather was almost lynched one night when coming home after dark from his second job.</p>

<p>In 1958, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and served for four years.</p>

<p>He has a B.S. George Washington University.</p>

<p>In 1968, the Southwest Council of La Raza was organized with funding from the Ford Foundation. By 1972, the organization had changed its name to the National Council for La Raza and moved its offices to Washington, D.C. In 1997, the Ford Foundation, the NCLR's sole funding source, demanded a change in the organization's focus and direction by threatening to withhold funding and forced its president, Henry Santiestevan, out of office.</p>

<p>In 1974, Yzaguirre was elected the second president of the NCLR. The Ford Foundation was pleased with Yzaguirre and continued to be a top donor of the NCLR throughout his term.</p>

<p>Under Yzaguirre, the organization grew from a regional advocacy group with 17 affiliates to over 300 that serve 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Yzaguirre expanded membership criteria so it was not limited only to ethnic Mexicans, but also included Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Argentines, Cubans, Venezuelans and all other Hispanic subgroups. This paved the way for the National Council for La Raza to open offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Juan. Since then NCLR has added offices in New York and Atlanta.</p>

<p>Through his tenure Yzaguirre built the NCLR into a 35,000 members organization, with revenues exceeding $3 million, from a combination of contributions from American corporations, philanthropic foundations, federal funding, and private member donations.</p>

<p>He was fired as chair of the Hispanic Advisory Commission to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for publicly criticizing President Carter's immigration reform proposals. Yzaguirre also criticized President George H.W. Bush for his affirmative action stance even after he had agreed to be the first sitting president to appear at an NCLR Annual Conference. Yzaguirre criticized President Clinton for appointing very few Hispanics to key positions and for the 1996 welfare reform law which NCLR considered detrimental to the Hispanic community and resigned as chair of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans in protest of political machinations.</p>

<p>On November 30, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Yzaguirre to be U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. His appointment was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 29, 2010. He resigned his service in that post on May 29, 2013, and now resides in Mount Airy, Maryland.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre is a lifetime member and serves on the Member Selection Committee of the David Rockefeller-headed Council on Foreign Relations and was a member of the Independent Task Force on North America.</p>

<p>The Raul Yzaguirre Policy Institute operates out of the University of Texas-Pan American and was named after Yzaguirre. Its stated goal is,"To inform policy, and the civic leaders who frame it, for the benefit of the Hispanic community and the nation as a whole." The institute primarily receives corporate and government funding, continuing Yzaguirre's commitment to bringing corporate interests and government interests together. Its new facilities were partially funded with a 2005 Department of Education earmark of $635,000.</p>

<p>The advisory council of the institute represent a who's who of government and corporate elite, including politicians such as Hillary Clinton, John McCain, former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo whose role at the institute will be to provides expertise to the "global perspectives" area of work for the institute. As well as corporate leaders of UPS, Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay.</p>

<p>As part of Michael Crow's commitment to a "New American University" at Arizona State University, he appointed Yzaguirre to the position of presidential professor of practice in community development and civil rights at ASU. One of the boards that he serves on at ASU is the North American Center of Transborder Studies (NACTS) which has a goal of advancing teaching and research on North American regional integration by providing a space for professionals in the university, policy and business communities to share information about the region and encourage instructors to incorporate North American content into their courses.</p>

<p>The NACTS is a project of the Pan American Partnership for Business Education, the Council of the Americas, and the Kansas City International Affairs and Trade Office, which is part of North America's SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO).</p>

<p>Yzaguirre is a member of the boards of the Volunteers of America; United Way of America; and National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. Yzaguirre was a member of Sears, Roebuck's & Co. and AARP Services Inc. In 1973, he was originally elected to Common Cause's National Governing Board. He was re-elected to the Common Cause Board in 1991. He resigned from his board position at the Salvation Army in protest of their homophobic positions.</p>

<p>In 1979, Yzaguirre was the first Hispanic to receive a Rockefeller Public Service Award for Outstanding Public Service, endowed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. from the trustees of Princeton University.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre received the Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1993, the highest honor awarded by Mexico to citizens of another nation.</p>

<p>The NCLR headquarters building in Washington, D.C., was named after him in 2005.</p>

<p>President Barack Obama can only hope Raul Humberto Yzaguirre, Sr., nominated to serve as ambassador to the Dominican Republic, does not do to him what the outspoken civil rights advocate has done to other presidents, namely blast them in public for political decisions with which he disagreed. Obama announced his nomination of Yzaguirre on November 30, 2009, and he appeared at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 11, 2010. However, he remains unconfirmed.</p>

<p>Born on July 22, 1939, in San Juan, Texas, Yzaguirre was raised by his Mexican-American parents, Ruben Antonio and Eva Linda (Morin) Yzaguirre. He grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas during a time when Hispanics were subject to a curfew. His grandfather reportedly was almost lynched one night while coming home after dark from work. Yzaguirre ran away from home at the age of thirteen and worked on a ship, but soon returned to his family.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre’s interest in civil rights began early when, at the age of fifteen, he organized the American G.I. Forum Juniors, an auxiliary of the American GI Forum, dedicated to addressing problems of discrimination and inequities endured by Hispanic veterans following World War II. Graduating from Pharr San Juan-Alamo High School in 1958, he served four years in the U.S. Air Force’s Medical Corps.</p>

<p>In 1963, Yzaguirre enrolled at the University of Maryland on the G.I. Bill and planned to study medicine. After one year, he decided to transfer to George Washington University (GWU), where he became involved in student and community activism in the capitol region. In 1964, he founded the National Organization for Mexican American Services.</p>

<p>He married Audrey H. Bristow during his sophomore year at GWU, and in 1968, received his Bachelor of Science. After joining the Lyndon Johnson administration’s Office of Equal Opportunity’s Migrant Division as a program analyst, Yzaguirre founded Interstate Research Associates, a firm specializing in Mexican-American and education-based studies. He stepped down as the organization’s executive director in 1973 and returned to Texas.</p>

<p>In 1974, Yzaguirre took over the leadership of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) which seeks to address issues involving poverty and discrimination. Under Yzaguirre’s 30-year leadership, NCLR expanded from a regional advocacy group with 17 affiliates to more than 300 serving 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Yzaguirre worked to expand membership criteria to include not only Mexicans but also Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Argentines, Cubans and all other Hispanic subgroups.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre’s biographies state that the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Leonel Castillo, fired Yzaguirre as chair of the INS’s Hispanic Advisory Commission for publicly criticizing President Jimmy Carter’s immigration reform proposals.</p>

<p>Yzaguirre also was not afraid to speak out against decisions by Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He criticized Bush for his affirmative action stance even after Bush agreed to be the first sitting president to appear at an NCLR Annual Conference. He chastised Clinton for not appointing more Hispanics to key positions and for the 1996 welfare reform, which led to his resignation as chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.</p>

<p>Following his retirement in 2004 as CEO and president of the NCLR, Yzaguirre joined Arizona State University (ASU) in January 2005 as a presidential professor of practice in community development and civil rights. At ASU he served on the board for the North American Center for Transborder Studies, which works to advance teaching and research on North American regional integration.</p>

<p>During the 2008 presidential race, Yzaguirre served as a co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to win the Democratic nomination, which included chairing her Hispanic outreach efforts.</p>

<p>His other affiliations and activities include serving on the boards of the United Way of America, the AARP, Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility, Enterprise Foundation, the National Democratic Institute, the Trustees of Dowling College, the Salvation Army and the 4-H Club. Yzaguirre also is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.</p>

<p>From 1989 to 1990, he served as one of the first Hispanic Fellows of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.</p>