Thomas Peter Lantos was born on Tamas Peter Lantos; February 1,1928 – February 11,2008 and was a Holocaust survivor and American politician who served as a US representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008.
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Lantos Foundation, who served as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in his last term, announced in early January 2008 that he would not run for reelection because of cancer of the esophagus.
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Lantos Foundation used his powerful voice to stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike.
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In 2011, the Tom Lantos Foundation Institute was set up in Budapest to promote tolerance and support minority issues in Central Europe and Eastern Europe as well as in the world.
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Lantos Foundation's family was heavily involved in education and included an uncle who was a professor at the University of Budapest and a grandmother who was a high school principal.
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Lantos Foundation escaped, but was caught by the Germans and beaten severely, then returned to the labor camp.
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Lantos Foundation again escaped, this time making his way back to Budapest, 40 miles away.
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In 1981, Lantos sponsored a bill making Wallenberg an Honorary Citizen of the United States and became a member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
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Lantos Foundation then emigrated to the US and studied economics at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned a B A in 1949 and an M A in 1950.
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Lantos Foundation continued his post-graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a Ph.
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Lantos Foundation eventually became a senior advisor to various US Senators and in 1980 was elected to the US Congress, where he remained until his death in February 2008.
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Lantos Foundation's family had managed to escape to Switzerland, using Swedish passports issued by Raoul Wallenberg.
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Agnes Ethel Lantos Foundation became a naturalized United States citizen on May 17,1954, under that name.
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Lantos Foundation earned a reputation as a champion for various human rights causes, such as having Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang testify at a congressional hearing, when the company turned over the email records of two Chinese dissidents to the Chinese government, allowing them to be traced and one sentenced to jail.
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Lantos Foundation was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and repeatedly called for reforms to the nation's health-care system, reduction of the national budget deficit and the national debt, repeal of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
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Lantos Foundation supported same-sex marriage rights and marijuana for medical use, was a strong proponent of gun control and adamantly pro-choice.
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Lantos Foundation was an advocate on behalf of the environment, receiving consistently high ratings from the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental organizations for his legislative record.
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Lantos Foundation served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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Lantos Foundation declared Turkey's mass killings of Armenians during World War I to be genocide.
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Lantos Foundation was against US military aid to Egypt as the Egyptian military had failed to stop the flow of money and weapons across the Egyptian border to Hamas in Gaza, and Egypt had not contributed troops to the peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
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Lantos Foundation was a strong supporter of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
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On October 4,2002, Lantos led a narrow majority of Democrats on the House International Relations Committee to a successful vote in support of the Resolution for the Use of Force, seeking the approval of the United Nations and under the condition that President George W Bush would allow UN weapons inspectors to finish their work and that Bush would need to return to Congress for an actual declaration of war before invading Iraq.
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Lantos Foundation was an immediate and consistent critic of the troop surge advocated by President Bush.
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Lantos Foundation added: "Wherever there was injustice or oppression, he used his expertise and moral authority to put the United States on the side of justice and human rights".
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Lantos Foundation was an activist for the rights of Hungarian minorities; as a member of the US House of Representatives.
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Lantos Foundation supported Morocco's demand to gain sovereignty over Western Sahara, and criticized the Polisario Front, which demands independence for the disputed region.
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On January 2,2008, after having been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Lantos Foundation announced he would not run for a 15th term in the House, but planned to complete his final term, and thanked Congress:.
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Lantos Foundation died of complications from esophageal cancer on February 11,2008, before finishing his term.
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Lantos Foundation was buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.
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On May 3,2000, Lantos Foundation was involved in an automobile accident while driving on Capitol Hill.
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Lantos Foundation drove over a young boy's foot and then failed to stop his vehicle and was later fined over the incident for inattentive driving.
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In June 2007, Lantos Foundation called former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder a "political prostitute" at the dedication ceremony of the Victims of Communism Memorial, which caused a political backlash from the German government.
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Lantos Foundation was referring to Schroder's ties to energy business in Russia, and remarked that this appellation would offend prostitutes.
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