Background
De la Garza grew up in Mission in Hidalgo County.
De la Garza grew up in Mission in Hidalgo County.
De la Garza chose to continue his education at Edinburg Junior College and the United States Army Artillery School at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. After returning home, he completed his law degree at Saint Mary"s University School of Law in San Antonio.
At the age of seventeen, he entered the United States Navy and served for two years. Foreign two years beginning in 1952, he was a lieutenant in the Army while deployed in the Korean War. After having practiced law for several years in the Rio Grande Valley, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives.
While in the state House, de la Garza was famous for sponsoring much legislation in the fields of education and the environment.
He authored bills to protect wetlands, create state-sponsored preschools, and more international bridges to Mexico. He was joined in 1957 by a second Mexican American member, Oscar M. Laurel of Laredo, the seat of Webb County.
In 1965, de la Garza, a strong supporter of United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed his seat in Congress. From 1981 to 1994, he was the chairman of the Agricultural Committee, leading the way in passing bills that reorganized the agricultural lending system, the farm insurance system, the United States Department of Agriculture, and pesticide laws.
De la le Garza was also a civil rights supporter and called for smoother relations between the United States. and Mexico.
He worked to improve trade between the two nations and was critical in passing the legislation that enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement (North American Free Trade Agreement). De la Garza"s nickname was made famous by Andy Rooney in the early days of his television show as he referred to “Kiki de la Garza” as one of the names that stuck with him most.
From 1955 to 1957, he was the only Hispanic member of the Texas House.