Oscar M. Laurel - Political Career

Political Career

Laurel launched his own political career in 1956, with election to the Texas House of Representatives, where he served two terms from the 80th District. He joined Kika de la Garza of Hidalgo County as the only two Hispanics in the Texas House from 1957 to 1959. In the House, Laurel also opposed a bill that would have made the mind-altering drug peyote an "unlawful dangerous substance".

In 1960, rather than seeking a third term in the legislature, Laurel was elected district attorney of Webb, Zapata, and Dimmit counties. He had already been a special investigator for the DA's office from 1952-1956. He was reelected in 1964 but left the position in 1967, when he accepted an appointment from U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to the National Transportation Safety Board. Laurel remained on the board through 1972, under Johnson's successor, Richard M. Nixon.

In 1973, Laurel was named executive director of the International Good Neighbor Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 to promote goodwill and friendship between the United States and Mexico. The main council office is in Monterrey, Mexico. Laurel headed the organization until 1975; thereafter, he was the president of the council. He was also a former member of the National Advisory Council on Rural Poverty.