American people of Mexican descent

Mike Castaneda Pena (November 6, 1924 – September 5, 1950) was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Tabu-dong.

Victor Hugo Espinoza (July 15, 1929 – April 17, 1986) was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Old Baldy.

Adam Perez Diaz (September 2, 1909 – March 5, 2010) was the first Hispanic elected to the Phoenix City Council and also the first Hispanic to serve as Phoenix's Vice-Mayor. Diaz was appointed to the National Council on Aging by President Bill Clinton. Díaz was among the first seven recipients of the Profiles of Success Hispanic Leadership Award's in the Hall of Fame category.

Ernesto Arturo Miranda (March 9, 1941 – January 31, 1976) was an American laborer whose criminal conviction on kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery charges based on his confession under police interrogation was set aside in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona, which ruled that criminal suspects must be informed of their right against self-incrimination and their right to consult with an attorney before being questioned by police. This warning is known as a Miranda warning.
After the Supreme Court decision invalidated Miranda's initial conviction, the state of Arizona tried him again. At the second trial, with his confession excluded from evidence, he was convicted. He was sentenced to 20–30 years in prison.
On January 31, 1976, Miranda was stabbed to death in Phoenix, Arizona. A Mexican man, Eseziquiel Moreno Perez, was charged with the murder of Miranda, but fled to Mexico and has never been located.

Alicia Escalante is a Chicana activist who was active during the Chicano Movement. She was the founder and chair of the East Los Angeles Chicana Welfare Rights Organization from 1967 to 1978.

Rueben Martinez (born April 26, 1940 in Miami, Arizona) is an American activist and businessman. He is active in Democratic party politics and runs a barbershop and a Latino-focused bookstore in Santa Ana, California.

Corporal Benito Martinez (April 21, 1932 – September 6, 1952) was a United States Army soldier who posthumously received the Medal of Honor — the United States' highest military decoration — for his actions on the near Satae-ri in Korea during the Korean War. Martinez was mortally wounded while solely defending his outpost. His actions enabled his company to take back the terrain which they had lost.

Emma Beatrice Tenayuca (December 21, 1916 – July 23, 1999) was an American labor leader, union organizer, civil rights activist, and educator. She is best known for her work organizing Mexican workers in Texas during the 1930s, particularly for leading the 1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike. She was also known for her involvement with the U.S. Communist Party to advocate for Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Richard Edward Cavazos (January 31, 1929 – October 29, 2017) was a United States Army 4-star general. He was a Korean War recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross as a first lieutenant and advanced in rank to become the United States Army's first Hispanic four-star general. During the Vietnam War, as a lieutenant colonel, Cavazos was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross. In 1976, Cavazos became the first Mexican-American to reach the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. Cavazos served for 33 years, with his final command as head of the United States Army Forces Command. On May 25, 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that Fort Hood be renamed to Fort Cavazos, in recognition of Gen. Cavazos' military service. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the renaming on October 6, 2022. The re-designation as Fort Cavazos occurred on May 9, 2023.

Ignacio Eugenio Lozano Jr. (January 15, 1927 – December 27, 2023) was an American diplomat who was United States Ambassador to El Salvador. He was appointed to the ambassadorship by President Gerald Ford in 1976. He resigned the post following the assumption of the presidency by Jimmy Carter. Lozano was born in San Antonio, Texas to Mexican immigrants Ignacio E. Lozano Sr. and Alicia Elizondo Lozano. He studied journalism at University of Notre Dame.From 1953, he was the publisher and editor of La Opinión, a Spanish language newspaper based in Los Angeles that his father founded in 1926. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Lozano as a consultant to the United States Department of State. He also served on the California advisory committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.Lozano held directorships at Bank of America, The Walt Disney Company, Pacific Life, and Sempra Energy, and was a member of the Council of American Ambassadors.