Raúl Héctor Castro

Raúl Héctor Castro (; June 12, 1916 – April 10, 2015) was a Mexican American politician, diplomat and judge. In 1964, Castro was selected to be U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, a position he held until 1968 when he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Bolivia. In 1974, Castro was elected to serve as the 14th governor of Arizona, and resigned two years into his term to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina. Prior to his entry into public service, Castro was a lawyer and a judge for Pima County, Arizona. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

A native of Cananea, Sonora, Castro lived in Mexico until 1926 when he emigrated with his family to the U.S. state of Arizona, settling near Douglas. He enrolled in Arizona State Teachers College in Flagstaff, (Northern Arizona University), and upon graduation returned to his native Sonora to work for the U.S. Department of State as a foreign service clerk. Subsequently, he returned to Arizona to pursue a career as a lawyer and was graduated from the University of Arizona College of Law. Castro served as deputy county attorney for Pima County, Arizona until he was elected county attorney in 1954, and in 1958 he became a Pima County Superior Court Judge.

In 1964, Castro was selected by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become U.S. ambassador to El Salvador at the recommendation of Senator Carl Hayden, despite controversy over Castro's surname being associated with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Fidel Castro. Following a four-year term, he was then appointed to be U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, and resigned in 1969 to return to Arizona to begin a career in politics. Castro ran for and won the Democratic nomination for governor of Arizona in the 1970 election, but narrowly lost to incumbent governor Jack Williams. Castro would decide to run again in the 1974 election and defeated his Republican opponent Russell Williams, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, by a thin margin. Only two years into his term, Castro was approached by President Jimmy Carter to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina, and resigned as governor of Arizona. Castro left his post as ambassador in 1980, ending his career in public service, and returned to Arizona once again to practice law. He died at the age of 98 under hospice care in San Diego, California. Raul Hector Castro's papers are held at the University of Arizona Special Collections Library.

Early life and education

Raúl Castro was born in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico on June 12, 1916. Castro was one of fourteen children born to his father Francisco Dominguez Castro, a deep sea diver in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California and later a miner in Cananea, and mother Rosario Acosta, who had a third grade education but taught her husband to read and write. In high school, Castro played football as the team's quarterback, and also competed in track and field. At the time of his high school graduation, embarrassed that he did not have a middle name, Castro adopted the middle name Héctor, as it was the name of a basketball player at the school that he admired. At the time he attended, the school had approximately 475 students. Castro had developed a relationship with the university's president, who contacted the dean of the law school and subsequently convinced the dean to admit Castro.

Law career, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia

After earning his law degree from the University of Arizona, Castro practiced law for two years in Tucson and subsequently served as a deputy county attorney for Pima County, Arizona. At the time, Mo Udall was the county attorney, and upon his retirement gathered all of the deputy county attorneys to inform them that he had handpicked his successor, Ed Larkin. Castro held the announcement in Tucson, but around 50 people showed up, believing that he had no chance of becoming the Democratic nominee. Castro announced his decision to pursue the Democratic nomination once again in the 1974 election, and faced very little opposition in the Democratic primary, receiving more than double the number of votes over his two competitors. Along with his election as governor, the Arizona State Senate also leaned Democratic, with 18 Democratic members to 12 Republican members. The then 96-year-old Castro was not allowed to wait in his vehicle and was instead forced to wait outside the car in the near 100-degree heat and without water. The traffic stop was apparently triggered when the agents detected a small amount of radiation coming from the car, radiation which was apparently caused by a medical procedure performed on Castro the previous day at Tucson Heart Hospital.

Death

On April 10, 2015, Castro died in his sleep while under hospice care in San Diego, aged 98.

References

External links

The Raul Castro Collection at the University of Arizona UAiR Collection