User:Socialmacro/Francisco Baza Leon Guerrero

Francisco Baza Leon Guerrero was a Guamanian politician. He served several terms as a member in the pre-World War II Guam Congress and was a Senator in the First and Third Guam Legislature, elected among his peers to serve as Speaker of the Third Guam Legislature.

Early Life
Francisco Baza Leon Guerrero was the son of Zoilo Tello Leon Guerrero and Justa Martinez Baza, on March 6, 1898. Francisco Leon Guerrero completed school on Guam and, through correspondence courses, eventually became a lawyer.

Leon Guerrero taught young students on Guam as a teacher and eventually worked as the principal of Agat School from 1914 to 1917. After teaching, Francisco Leon Guerrero worked at the Department of Agriculture from 1918 to 1932.

Political Career
Francisco Leon Guerrero entered politics in 1932 and served as an Assemblyman representing Agana in the 2nd Guam Congress.

Pre-War U.S. Citizenship Petition
On July 11, 1936, the 2nd Guam Congress passed a unanimous resolution to petition for U.S. citizenship for the people of Guam. The Executive Congressional Committee requested from Naval Governor Benjamin V. McCandlish $5,000 to send Baltazar J. Bordallo and Francisco B. Leon Guerrero as delegates to Washington, D.C., to present the resolution to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress. The Governor denied the request, so the local people raised funds, themselves, to send their delegates to Washington. The funding drive came up short, so Agana Assemblyman Francisco B. Leon Guerrero sold a property he owned to pay for the trip and Councilman Bordallo used his own money to finance the trip. The two departed from Guam on the U.S.S. Gold Star on November 17, 1936, bound for Tokyo. From Tokyo, they boarded a steamship to San Francisco. After their arrival in Washington, Bordallo and Leon Guerrero met President Roosevelt and presented him with an ifit wood carving. The pair also met members of the U.S. Congress, urging them to support the petition for citizenship. Senators Millard Tydings and Ernest W. Gibson introduced a bill to confer citizenship to Guamanians and the bill passed the U.S. Senate but failed passage in the House of Representatives.

Post-War Citizenship Drive
After the conclusion of the Second World War, Francisco Leon Guerrero formed the Friends of Guam organization and the Welfare Party. In 1949, the Guam Congress passed a resolution petitioning the U.S. Congress for citizenship. In March, after a dispute with Governor Pownall, the Guam Congress House of Assembly walked out, with the lone exception of Toto Assemblyman Juan Aguon. Governor Pownall dissolved the House of Assembly. Both the walkout and the dismissal were widely publicized in the United States. On May 21, 1949, the Guam Congress funded two-man mission of Francisco Leon Guerrero and Antonio Won Pat to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the extension of citizenship to Guamanians. President [[Harry Truman issued Executive Orer 10077 on September 7, 1949, transferring administration of the government of Guam from the Navy to the Department of the Interior, effective July 1, 1950. President Truman appointed Carlton S. Skinner to be Governor of Guam and Carlton Skinner was sworn in on September 27, 1949.

"Mr. Organic Act"
On October 3, 1949, the U.S. House of Representatives approved House Resolution No. 4499, providing for an Organic Act of Guam. In November 1949, the Public Lands Committee had public hearings on Guam where the public could have input on the proposed Organic Act. After receiving public input, the Committee withdrew the resolution and introduced substitute bill House Resolution No. 7273. At the hearing on H.R. 7273, Councilman Leon Guerrero said that he and Antonio Won Pat had come to Washington "for the sole purpose of seeking the realization of a long-expected action on the part of the Congress of the United States ... hopeful that congress shall, at long last, provide our people with a government under law, American citizenship, and a government in harmony with that to which Guam belongs..." President Truman signed the Organic Act into law on August 1, 1950.