Letters and Endorsements

Click an endorser’s name to see his/her letter of support for Fred Ross, Sr.

Former Recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom

Cesar Chavez, co-founder of UFW*
Dolores Huerta, co-founder, UFW
The Honorable Cruz Reynoso

*Posthumous

Labor

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich
Former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
Elizabeth Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO
Joe Hansen, President, UFCW & Change to Win
Lee Saunders, President, AFSCME
Paul Booth, Special Assistant to the President, AFSCME
Larry Cohen, President, CWA
Allan Clark, President, CSEA
Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers
James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Mike Mowrey, Int’al Vice President, IBEW District 9
Robert McEllrath, President, ILWU
Terry O’Sullivan, President, Laborers
Mary Kay Henry, President, SEIU
John Stocks, Executive Director, National Education Association
Henry Tamarin, President of UNITE-HERE Local 1, Chicago
Rome Aloise, International Vice President at Large, Teamsters
Chuck Mack, Co-Chair Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund
Arturo Rodriguez, President, UFW
Bob King, President United Auto Workers
D. Taylor, President UNITE HERE
John W. Wilhelm, Retired President, UNITE HERE
Sherri Chiesa, Secretary Treasurer UNITE HERE
Tho Do, International VP UNITE HERE
Art Pulaski, Secretary Treasurer, CA Federation of Labor
George Nee, President, Rhode Island, AFL-CIO
Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary, LA County Federation of Labor
Michael Casey, President, Unite Here Local 2
Tom Dalzell, Business Manager, IBEW 1245
Jessie De La Cruz, Founding Member National Farmworkers Association (1962)
Alan D. Ekbald, Executive Secretary, Montana State AFL-CIO
Margo A.Feinberg, Esq. Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP
Hector Figueroa, SEIU Local 32BJ
Eric Gill, Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Unite Here Local 5
Bill Granfield, Unite Here Local 100
John M. Grant, Secretary-Treasurer, UFCW Local 770
Ricardo F. Icaza, President, UFCW Local 770
Bob Johnson, Field Operations Manager, CSEA
Douglas S. Mangione, Business Representative/Political Registrar, IBEW Local 441
Victor Uno, Business Manager, IBEW Local 595
Joshua Pechthalt, President, California Federation of Teachers
Pete Savino
Dean Vogel, President, California Teachers Association
Carolyn Doggett, Executive Director, California Teachers Association
Curt Williams, SEIU 1199 NW
David Bonior, Chair, American Rights at Work
Connie Leyva, President, California Labor Federation
Paul Schrade, Western Director, UAW (1962-1972)
Julie A. Su, CA Labor Commissioner
Tim Paulson, Executive Director, San Francisco Labor Council
Dick Meister, Former Labor Writer for San Francisco Chronicle
Alameda Labor Council
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
San Francisco Labor Council
IBEW 1245 Retirees’ Clubs of Nevada
Robert D. Purcell, Laborers International Union of NA
Hector E. Sanchez, Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Elected Leaders

Civil Rights & Advocacy

Amnesty International
Asian Law Caucus
Center for Community Change
Center for Justice & Accountability
Cecilia Barragon
Cesar Chavez Foundation
Anthony Chavez
Helen Chavez
Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavez Foundation
Community Service Organization (CSO) Voices
Japanese American Community Voices
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL)
Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education
Greg Akili
Jose Artiga, Executive Director, SHARE Foundation
Heather Booth, founder, Midwest Academy
Erin Callahan, Amnesty International
Mike Clements, Justice in Education
Jerry Cohen, JD, former UFW General Counsel
Ernie Cortez, Jr., IAF
Lokelani Devone, Bd, Center for Justice & Accountability
Andrea Dehlendorf, Making Change at Walmart, UFCW
Sister Judy Donovan, IAF
Maria Echaveste, former Deputy Chief of Staff, Clinton White House
Herman Gallegos, NCLR
Margie Garcia, Co-founder, Guadalupe Organization (1964)
Michael Gecan, IAF
Alexis Gonzales
Jim Gonzalez, Latino Policy Coalition
Maria Gonzalez, Latino Policy Coalition
Arnie Graff, IAF
John Heffernan, JFK Center for Human Rights
Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Daniel Hernandez, Author, They Call Me a Hero
Roger Hickey, Campaign for America’s Future
Hayat Imam, President & Chair, Grassroots International
Benjamin Jealous, President, CEO NAACP
Sharon Johnson
Cleve Jones, Founder, AIDS Quilt
Ron Kaye, Retired Editor, Los Angeles Daily News
Kerry Kennedy, Human Rights Activist and Writer
Carlos LeGerrette, Co-Founder, Cesar Chavez Service Clubs
Linda LeGerrette, Co-Founder, Cesar Chavez Service Clubs
Ling Woo Liu, Director, Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education
Ruben Martinez, MaCarthur Fellow
Diane Matsuda, John Burton Foundation
Greg Moore, Executive Director, NAACP National Voter Fund
Shelley Moskowitz, Manager of Public Policy and Mobilization, UUSC
Eva Patterson, President, Equal Justice Society
Gilbert Padilla, Former CSO Organizer and Former Secretary-Treasurer, UFW
Esther Padilla*
Hyeon-Ju Rho, Executive Director, Asian Law Caucus
Gary Smith
Sister Christine Stephens, IAF
Corey Timpson, CA Director, Pico
Ted Wang, Unbound Philanthropy
Consuelo Valdez, Home Boy Industries
Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, NALEO Educational Fund
Henry Weinstein, Former Labor Writer, Los Angeles Times
Michael Yaki, US Commission on Civil Rights
Andrew Zermeno, CSO and UFW

Religious

Right Reverend Marc Andrus, Episcopal Bishop of CA
Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, General Minister & President, United Church of Christ
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Diocese of Stockton
Kim Bobo, National Interfaith Worker Justice
Monsignor Eugene Boyle , Diocese of San Jose
Father Greg Boyle, sj, Home Boy Ministries
Monsignor John Brenkle, Diocese of Santa Rosa
California Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCCB)
Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, NETWORK Ministries
Sister Pam Chiesa, pbvm
Bishop John Cummins, (ret’d) Catholic Diocese of Oakland
Suzanne Carhart Darweesh, Co-Chair, Orange County Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm Workers
Rev. Raymond G. Decker, Archdiocese of San Francisco
Ned Dolejsi, Executive Director, CCCB
Sister Diane Donoghue, SSS, Sisters of Social Service
Bill Droel, National Center for the Laity
Joe Fahey, President, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice
Bishop Richard Garcia, Catholic Diocese of Monterey
Sister Katherine Gray, sjo, Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange
Bishop Thomas G. Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit
Rev. Chris Hartmire, founder, National Farm Worker Ministry
Sister Kathleen Healy, pbvm
Reverend Jesse Jackson
Rabbi Stephen Jacobs
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries
Father Clete Kiley, Nat’al Catholic Labor Network
Sister Maribeth Larkin, SSS, Sisters of Social Service
Sister Lucia Lodolo, PBVM
Father Anthony E. McGuire, Archdiocese of San Francisco
Rev. Robert Moran, Parochial Vicar, St. Joseph Parish – Mountain View
Sister Michele Anne Murphy, PBVM Principal, St. John Vianney School
Father Pat Murphy, Diocese of Kansas City
Virginia Nesmith, Executive Director, National Farm Worker Ministry
Sister Claude Power, PBVM Presentation Center
Edie Rasell, UCC Justice & Witness Ministries
Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz, President, CEO Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Rita Semel, Interfaith Council of San Francisco
Sister Carmen Serrate, csj
Sister Felicia Serrate, csj
The Very Reverend Dr. Jane Shaw, Grace Cathedral, SF
Bishop Daniel Walsh, (ret’d) Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa
Mary Joe Wise, Administrative Asst., St. Brigid School – San Francisco

Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, CA Conf. of Bishop

Opinion-Makers

Frank Bardacke, Author, Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers
Benjamin Bratt, Consulting Producer, Dolores Huerta Film Project
Peter Bratt, Producer-Director, Dolores Huerta Film Project
Robert Creamer
Lloyd Dean, CEO, Dignity Health
Elaine Ellinson, Writer/Editor
Rob Everts, Executive Director, Equal Exchange
Mike Farrell, Actor & Activist
Frank Fernandez, Attorney
Rick Tejada Flores, Film Maker “Fight in the Fields”
Quetzal Flores, 2013 Grammy winner
Louis Freedberg, Executive Director, EdSource
Lou Giraudo, Mediator & Philanthropist
Jim Gonzalez
Frank Greer, Partner, gmmb
Larry Grisolano, CEO of AKPD Message and Media
Reverend Jesse Jackson
Mike Lux, Progressive Strategies
Frank Mankiewicz, Hill & Knowlton
Bernita McTernan, Dignity Health
Jadine Nielson, President, CA Asian-American Small Business PAC
Christine Pelosi, Campaign Boot Camp 2.0 author
John Podesta, Chair of the Center for American Progress, Former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton
Clinton Reilly, Philanthropist & Political Advisor
Howard Rifkin, Former COS for the State Treasurer, Connecticut
Julia Ross, Author, The Diet Cure and The Mood Cure
Margine Sako, Executive Director, St. Mary’s Medical
Danny Santillan
Martin Sheen, Actor & Activist
Randy Shaw, Executive Director, Tenderloin Housing Clinic
Dr. Mimi Silbert, President & CEO, Delancey St. Foundation
Ace Smith
Edward M. Smith, President & CEO, Ullico Inc.
Rick Telles, Film Maker, “Fight in the Fields”
Gabriel Thompson
Larry Tramutola, UFW Alumnus
Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council
Rosalind Wyman, LA City Council (1953-65), California State Arts Commissioner, Democratic National Committeewoman

We are grateful to all who have participated in this effort. If you do not find your name on this list, please email us. Also, thanks to all of you for writing to President Obama. If you do not find your letter on our site, please resend it to us.

Former Recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom

Labor

Elected Leaders

Civil Rights & Advocacy

Environmental

Academic

Immigrant Rights Leaders

Religious

Opinion-Makers