Ted Cruz's Book Reveals Family History



Ted Cruz's Book Reveals Family History  Find more genealogy blogs at FamilyTree.comThere are a whole lot of people who have announced that they are running for President in 2016 on the Republican ticket. Some of them, including Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, and Ted Cruz, have released a brand new book about themselves not long after their campaign started. The Ted Cruz book reveals some of his family history, which may be of interest to genealogists and family historians.

Ted Cruz’ book is titled “A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America”. It appears to be a mix of autobiography, family history, and politics. The Texas Tribune pointed out seven of the things they learned from the book about Ted Cruz and his family.

Ted Cruz’s father is Raphael Bienvenido Cruz. The book states that Rafael Cruz led an insurgency against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. That event landed Rafael in jail, where he was tortured.

The New York Times reports that Rafael Cruz was 17 when he led the group of insurgents against Fulgencio Batista. After Rafael was released from jail, he wanted to join Fidel Castro’s guerrilla army.

Instead, he ended up, according to the New York Times, “bribing his way to a Cuban exit visa and headed to the University of Texas”. The New York Times also notes that the Cuban government has not commented on Rafael Cruz, which makes it difficult to confirm these anecdotes. Raphael Bienvenido Cruz, who was born in 1939 in Matanzas, Cuba, became a naturalized United States Citizen in 2005.

The book also talks about Ted Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She and Ted Cruz’s father were working in Canada in the oil business. Eleanor was an American citizen, and Rafael was a Cuban émigré at that time.

Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on December 22, 1970. The Dallas Morning News reported that Ted Cruz has said that his mother told him that she would have had to make an affirmative act to claim Canadian citizenship for him. She did not do that, so it was assumed that Ted Cruz did not have Canadian citizenship.

This assumption turned out to be incorrect. Canada automatically grants citizenship for (almost) everyone who is born on Canadian soil. This is done whether or not the person requests it, and whether or not the person wants it. Therefore, Ted Cruz had dual citizenship for most of his life. He officially renounced his Canadian citizenship May 14, 2014, about 9 months after learning he had Canadian citizenship.

The book tells a story about Eleanor’s first child, a son named Michael. He was born during her first marriage, and died of crib death. The book details how her heartbreaking experience.

Image by iprimages on Flickr.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* President Obama is a Cousin to Senator Ted Cruz

* Cruz Family Name

* Castro Family Name

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