March 26, 1948
The American GI Forum was established in Corpus Christi by Dr. Hector P. Garcia to address the concerns of Mexican-American veterans, who were segregated from other veterans groups. Initially formed to request services for World War II veterans of Mexican descent who were denied medical services by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the AGIF soon spread into non-veteran’s issues such as voting rights, jury selection, and educational desegregation, advocating for the civil rights of all Mexican Americans. Its first campaign was on the behalf of Felix Longoria, a Mexican American private who was killed in the Philippines in the line of duty. Upon the return of his body to Texas, he was denied funeral services by a White American-owned funeral home. Dr. Garcia requested the intercession of then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who secured Longoria’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
March 26, 1979
In a ceremony at the White House, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed an historic peace agreement, ending three decades of hostilities between Egypt and Israel and establishing diplomatic and commercial ties. For their achievement, Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace. Sadat’s peace efforts were not so highly acclaimed in the Arab world—Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and on October 6, 1981, extremists assassinated Sadat in Cairo.
