Raymond Telles

Infobox Officeholder
name = Raymond L. Telles, Jr.

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ambassador_from = United States
country = Costa Rica
term_start = May 22, 1961
term_end = February 19, 1967
predecessor = Whiting Willauer
successor = Clarence A. Boonstra
president = John F. Kennedy
birth_date = birth date and age|1915|9|15
birth_place = El Paso, Texas
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nationality = American
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Raymond L. Telles, Jr. (born September 5, 1915, in El Paso) was the first Mexican-American Mayor of a major American city, El Paso, Texas. [cite book | url = http://www.utep.edu/twp/ray.htm | first = Mario T. | last = Garcia | year = 1998 | title = The Making of a Mexican American Mayor: Raymond L. Telles of El Paso | isbn = 0-87404-276-3 | location = El Paso, Tex. | publisher = Texas Western Press, University of Texas at El Paso | oclc = 39513667 ] Telles was elected the city's first Mexican-American mayor in 1957.

Educated as an accountant, Telles worked at the United States Department of Justice for eight years. He was drafted into the Army in 1941.Telles then served in the U.S. Army Air Force where he became Chief of the Lend-Lease Program for Central and South America. Telles left the service with the rank of major.

Telles received the Peruvian Flying Cross, the Order of the Southern Cross from Brazil, the Mexican Legion of Merit and Columbian wings in recognition of the Lend-Lease Program. Telles served as aide to several Latin American and Mexican presidents visiting the United States, and as military aide to Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower when visiting Mexico City.

Telles was elected county clerk for El Paso County, Texas in 1948.

In 1951, Telles was recalled for the Korean Conflict. He served as Executive Officer of the 67th Tactical and Reconnaissance Group, U.S. Air Force. Telles was elected in 1957 mayor of El Paso and ran unopposed for a second term (1959-1961). He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as Ambassador to Costa Rica. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Telles chairman of the U.S.-Mexican Border Commission.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed him chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the United States.

References

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succession box
title = Mayor of El Paso
years = 1957–1961
before = unknown
after = unknownsuccession box
title = United States Ambassador to Costa Rica
years = May 22, 1961–February 19, 1967
before = Whiting Willauer
after = Clarence A. Boonstra