and is considered by some military scholars to be "revolutionary" in its potential to put infantry on a more equal footing against armor in conventional land warfare. Foreign policy AuCoin's opposition to U.S. support of authoritarian governments in El Salvador and Guatemala and the Nicaraguan Contras—irregular forces armed by the Reagan administration to topple the Sandinista government—led him to travel frequently to Central America to document right wing human rights abuses. In 1987, a constituent of AuCoin's named Ben Linder was killed by Contra forces while helping build a small hydroelectric electricity generator for Nicaraguan villagers. Pressed by AuCoin to investigate, the U.S. State Department noted discrepant accounts of Linder's death: the Contras asserted that Linder died in a firefight, but village witnesses claimed the Contras gave no opportunity to surrender and assassinated Linder at point-blank range. In his second congressional term, AuCoin's 1978 amendment to grant partial most favored nation trade status to the People's Republic of China was the first China trade bill to reach the House floor. Though narrowly defeated, it presaged the United States' formal normalization of political and trade relations with China less than a year later. In February 1979, AuCoin led a trade mission of Oregon business leaders to China, the first such delegation from any U.S. state. Oregon economy AuCoin used his seat on the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to address a number of economic priorities throughout Oregon, including construction of the Oregon Trail Center in economically distressed Baker City, renovation of Crater Lake Lodge, restoration of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde and Confederated Tribes of Siletz, and construction of the Seafood Consumer Research Center in Astoria and the Fort Clatsop Memorial Visitors Center. Working together, AuCoin and Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield secured federal funding for the construction of Portland's acclaimed east- and west-side light rail projects, the largest public works project in Oregon history. Since its unveiling, the rail system has guided urban growth and spawned an estimated $3.5 billion in new construction in the Portland metropolitan area. For his work on the project, a plaza at one of the stations is dedicated to him. AuCoin had a hand in the rescue of Northwest lumber and plywood mills during the recession of the early 1980s. The mills faced financial ruin when federal timber sales contracts they had purchased at a face value of hundreds of millions of dollars were rendered