Biography of Congressman Tom Lantos
Tom Lantos is serving his thirteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to Congress in November 1980 - the only Democrat to defeat an un-indicted incumbent Republican in the year of the Reagan landslide. He won his seat by the lowest plurality of any Member of Congress elected that year - 46% to his opponent’s 43%. Through excellent constituent service, careful attention to his district’s needs, and hard work in the Bay Area and in Washington, Tom has been reelected repeatedly by large margins.
An American by choice, Tom Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary, on February 1, 1928. He was 16 years of age when Nazi Germany occupied his native country. As a teenager, he was placed in a Hungarian fascist forced labor camp. He succeeded in escaping and was able to survive in a safe house in Budapest set up by Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. His story is one of the individual accounts which forms the basis of Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award winning documentary about the Holocaust in Hungary, The Last Days. An article about Tom’s background in World War II and the Spielberg film was published in the University of Washington alumni magazine. The San Francisco Examiner also published an article focusing on Tom’s background. The San Mateo Daily Journal published an article discussing how Tom’s experiences in the Holocaust during World War II shaped his outlook and his course in life.
In 1947, Tom was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States on the basis of an essay he wrote about U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In August of that year, he arrived in New York City after a week-long boat trip to America on a converted World War II troop ship. His only possession was a precious Hungarian salami, which U.S. customs officials promptly confiscated when he arrived. Just a few weeks after he left Hungary, the communist party seized control of the country.
Tom attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics. He moved to San Francisco in 1950 and began graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he later received his Ph.D. in economics. In the fall of 1950 he started teaching economics at San Francisco State University.
In the summer of 1950, Tom Lantos married his childhood sweetheart, Annette Tillemann. Their first home was a tiny apartment in San Francisco. After a few years, they were able to purchase a modest home in San Bruno, and later they bought a home in Millbrae, where their two daughters attended public schools and where Tom served for several years as a member of the Millbrae School Board.
For three decades (1950-1980) Tom Lantos was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television, and an economic consultant to businesses. He also served in senior advisory roles to members of the United States Senate.
Tom and Annette Lantos are the parents of two daughters - Annette and Katrina. Annette is married to Timber Dick, an independent businessman in Colorado, and they are the parents of ten children. Katrina is married to Richard N. Swett, former New Hampshire Congressman (1991-1995) and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (1998-2001). The Swetts are the parents of seven children.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a biographic article about Tom Lantos in January 2007 at the time he was designated Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs: Lantos the master storyteller, communicator.
