Mickey Leland

George Thomas "Mickey" Leland (born November 27, 1944 in Lubbock , Texas , †  August 7, 1989 in Gambela , Ethiopia ) was an American politician . Between 1979 and 1989 he represented the state of Texas in the US House of Representatives .

Mickey Leland

Life

Mickey Leland attended public schools in Harris County and then through 1963 the Phillis Wheatly Senior High School in Houston . This was followed by studies at the local Texas Southern University . In 1977 he became senior vice president of King State Bank . In the same year he was also director of development projects at Hermann Hospital . At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1972 and 1979 he was an MP in the Texas House of Representatives . In July 1972 he took part in the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach , on which George McGovern was nominated as a presidential candidate; In 1974 he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the Texas constitution. In 1976 he was elected to the Democratic National Committee .

In the 1978 congressional election , Leland was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the 18th  constituency of Texas , where he succeeded Barbara Jordan on January 3, 1979 . After five re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his death . Since 1983 he was chairman of the special committee dealing with the global hunger problem ( Select Committee on Hunger ). Mickey Leland was very committed to helping the hungry people, especially in Africa . He also traveled to these regions more often. During one of these trips he was killed on August 7, 1989 in a plane crash near Gambela.

Web links

• Mickey Leland in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Mickey Leland in the database of Find a Grave (English)