Augustus F. Hawkins

Augustus Freeman " Gus" Hawkins (born 31 August 1907 in Shreveport, Louisiana, † November 10, 2007 in Bethesda, Maryland ) was an American politician. Between 1963 and 1991 he represented the state of California in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1918, Augustus Hawkins moved with his parents to Los Angeles, where he attended the public schools; In 1926 he graduated from Jefferson High School. Then he studied until 1931, first at the University of California at Los Angeles and then to 1932 at the University of Southern California. Since 1941 he worked in the real estate industry. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party. In the years 1940, 1944 and 1960 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions respective on which Franklin D. Roosevelt and were later nominated John F. Kennedy for president. Between 1935 and 1962 Hawkins of the California State Assembly belonged to.

In the congressional elections of 1962, Hawkins was in the 21st electoral district of California in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Edgar W. Hiestand on January 3, 1963. After 13 re- election he was able to complete in Congress until January 3, 1991, a total 14 legislative periods. Since 1975, he represented the 29th district where his state. Hawkins was the first African American to sit for the state of California in the U.S. House of Representatives. He joined, among others, for the civil rights laws and better labor laws. Between 1981 and 1984 he was chairman of the Committee on House Administration; 1984 to 1991 he headed the committee for work and education. He was also temporarily Chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee on the Library. In Hawkins ' time as a congressman fell among other things, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal and the final phase of the civil rights movement. During his long career as a Member of Parliament, including his time in Parliament of California, he brought more than 300 proposed legislation in their respective chambers.

1990 renounced Augustus Hawkins to a new Congress candidacy. After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he withdrew into retirement, he first spent in Los Angeles and then in the federal capital Washington. He died 10 November 2007 in Bethesda at the age of 100 years. Until then, he was the oldest living former congressman.

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