Raul Hector Castro

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This article is about the former Governor of Arizona. For the President of Cuba, see Raúl Castro

Raul Hector Castro (born in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, June 12, 1916) is a Mexican-born United States politician. He has served in both elected and non-elected public offices, including United States Ambassador and Governor of Arizona. He was the first Hispanic to be elected Governor of Arizona.

Castro lived in his native Mexico until 1926, when he moved to the U.S. state of Arizona and later became a United States citizen. Through gruelling physical labor and self-denial, he saved enough to enter Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff, from which he graduated in 1939. He worked for five years for the US State Department as a foreign service clerk at Agua Prieta, a border city in his native Sonora, but he never forgot his dream of becoming a lawyer. Accepted by the University of Arizona Law College, Castro earned his Juris Doctor degree and was admitted to the Arizona Bar in 1949. After practicing law in Tucson for two years, he became deputy Pima County attorney. In 1954 he was elected county attorney and served in that capacity until 1958, when he became a Pima County Superior Court Judge. He earned a reputation as a man of keen mind and deep compassion for people during his six years on the Superior Court bench. His national stature grew over the years, and President Lyndon Johnson appointed Castro as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador in 1964. That four year service was followed by an ambassadorial assignment to Bolivia. Castro's appointment as ambassador when he was Governor was the beginning of an age where governors were unable to complete a full term, a trend that was only recently reversed.

Returning to Tucson, Arizona, in 1969 to specialize in international law, Castro continued to rise to the top in Arizona Democratic politics. Seeking state office for the first time in 1974, he surprised the experts by winning his spirited campaign for the governorship. In 1977, when he had completed two years as governor, President Jimmy Carter selected him to be ambassador to Argentina.

In 2007, Northern Arizona University, his Alma Mater (subsequently renamed since his attendance) formally named the home of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in his honor.

[edit] References

Goff, John S. (1983). Arizona Biographical Dictionary. Cave Creek, Ariz.: Black Mountain Press. OCLC 10740532.
Interview with R.H. Castro for the newspaper Clarín of Buenos Aires, Argentina, 20 December 1998 concerning the Beagle conflict: Clarín.

Political offices
Preceded by Jack Richard Williams	Governor of Arizona 1975–1977	Succeeded by Wesley Bolin
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Murat W. Williams	United States Ambassador to El Salvador 11 December 1964–17 July 1968	Succeeded by William G. Bowdler
Preceded by Douglas Henderson	United States Ambassador to Bolivia 3 September 1968–3 November 1969	Succeeded by Ernest V. Siracusa
Preceded by Robert C. Hill	United States Ambassador to Argentina 16 November 1977–30 July 1980	Succeeded by Harry W. Shlaudeman

v • d • e Governors of Arizona

Territorial	Goodwin • McCormick • Safford • Hoyt • Frémont • Tritle • Zulick • Wolfley • Irwin • Murphy • Hughes • Franklin • McCord • Murphy • Brodie • Kibbey • Sloan

State	Hunt • Campbell • Hunt • Campbell • Hunt • Phillips • Hunt • Moeur • Stanford • Jones • Osborn • Garvey • Pyle • McFarland • Fannin • Goddard • Williams • Castro • Bolin • Babbitt • Mecham • Mofford • Symington • Hull • Napolitano