E. was assassinated in 1965
Senator Dennis Chavez, who represented the state of New Mexico for 27 years in the U.S. Senate, was the first American-born Hispanic senator. As the first native-born Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Senate, Dennis Chavez burned with a desire to provide minorities with equal protection under the law. From his early years in the state legislature, where he introduced legislation providing free textbooks for public school children, Chavez was dedicated to defending the oppressed. As a senator, he introduced many civil rights reform bills such as the Fair Employment Practices Commission Bill, which sought to end racial discrimination in the workplace. He also attracted national attention during his long fight for the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission. The bill was designed to protect workers from discrimination and unequal treatment on the basis of race, religion, or national origin by employers or labor unions doing governmental work. In general, his work was a harbinger of the civil rights movement to come, and led to the eventual passage of employee protection guarantees enacted in the 1960s. On the other hand, he started an investigation into the causes of poor social and economic conditions in Puerto Rico. His support of a bill to improve living conditions and attract industry to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands was important in helping it pass when it was put to a vote in the Senate.
