Anton Cermak: Difference between revisions
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The many new ethnic groups such as [[Poles]], [[Czechs]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Jewish American|Jews]], [[Italian American|Italians]], and [[African Americans|blacks]] that began to settle in Chicago in the early [[1900s]] were mostly detached from the political system, due in part to lack of organization which in turn led to underrepresentation in the City Council and to entrenched powers by the ethnic groups which had settled Chicago during the city's early years. As an immigrant himself, Cermak recognized Chicago's relatively-new immigrants as a significant population of disenfranchised voters and a large power base for Cermak and his local Democratic organization. |
The many new ethnic groups such as [[Poles]], [[Czechs]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Jewish American|Jews]], [[Italian American|Italians]], and [[African Americans|blacks]] that began to settle in Chicago in the early [[1900s]] were mostly detached from the political system, due in part to lack of organization which in turn led to underrepresentation in the City Council and to entrenched powers by the ethnic groups which had settled Chicago during the city's early years. As an immigrant himself, Cermak recognized Chicago's relatively-new immigrants as a significant population of disenfranchised voters and a large power base for Cermak and his local Democratic organization. |
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Before Cermak, the Democratic party in Cook County was run by the "Lace Curtain" Irish, who generally despised everyone who wasn't "Lace Curtain", including the Irish from the [[New City, Chicago|Back of the Yards]] and Bridgeport neighborhoods, who were commonly referred to as "Pig Shit" Irish. As Cermak climbed the local political ladder, the resentment of the Lace Curtain group grew. When the bosses rejected his bid to become the mayoral candidate, Cermak swore revenge. That is when he formed his non-Irish political army and eventually wooed [[William Levi Dawson (politician)|William Dawson]], US Congressman from the [[United States House of Representatives, Illinois District 2|2nd District]] and the most powerful black politician in the country, to switch from the Republican to the Democratic party. |
Before Cermak, the Democratic party in Cook County was run by the "Lace Curtain" [[Irish]], who generally despised everyone who wasn't "Lace Curtain", including the Irish from the [[New City, Chicago|Back of the Yards]] and Bridgeport neighborhoods, who were commonly referred to as "Pig Shit" Irish. As Cermak climbed the local political ladder, the resentment of the Lace Curtain group grew. When the bosses rejected his bid to become the mayoral candidate, Cermak swore revenge. That is when he formed his non-Irish political army and eventually wooed [[William Levi Dawson (politician)|William Dawson]], US Congressman from the [[United States House of Representatives, Illinois District 2|2nd District]] and the most powerful black politician in the country, to switch from the Republican to the Democratic party. |
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Cermak's political and organizational skills helped create one of the most powerful political organizations of his day, and Cermak is considered the father of Chicago's Democratic machine. With support from [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] on the national level, Cermak gradually wooed members of Chicago's growing black community into the Democratic fold. |
Cermak's political and organizational skills helped create one of the most powerful political organizations of his day, and Cermak is considered the father of Chicago's Democratic machine. With support from [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] on the national level, Cermak gradually wooed members of Chicago's growing black community into the Democratic fold. |
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Revision as of 12:05, 13 May 2006
Anton Cermak, in Czech Antonín Čermák, (May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was the mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1931 until his death in 1933.
Born in Kladno, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), Cermak emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1874. He began his political career as a precinct captain and in 1902 was elected to the Illinois state legislature. Seven years later, he would take his place as alderman of the 12th Ward (Bridgeport, the home base of future mayors Richard J. Daley, Michael Bilandic and Daley's son Richard M. Daley). Cermak was elected president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1922, chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party in 1928, and mayor of Chicago in 1931.[1] His mayoral victory came in the wake of the Great Depression and the deep resentment many Chicagoans had of Prohibition and the increasing violence resulting from organized crime's control of Chicago, typified by the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
The many new ethnic groups such as Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Jews, Italians, and blacks that began to settle in Chicago in the early 1900s were mostly detached from the political system, due in part to lack of organization which in turn led to underrepresentation in the City Council and to entrenched powers by the ethnic groups which had settled Chicago during the city's early years. As an immigrant himself, Cermak recognized Chicago's relatively-new immigrants as a significant population of disenfranchised voters and a large power base for Cermak and his local Democratic organization.
Before Cermak, the Democratic party in Cook County was run by the "Lace Curtain" Irish, who generally despised everyone who wasn't "Lace Curtain", including the Irish from the Back of the Yards and Bridgeport neighborhoods, who were commonly referred to as "Pig Shit" Irish. As Cermak climbed the local political ladder, the resentment of the Lace Curtain group grew. When the bosses rejected his bid to become the mayoral candidate, Cermak swore revenge. That is when he formed his non-Irish political army and eventually wooed William Dawson, US Congressman from the 2nd District and the most powerful black politician in the country, to switch from the Republican to the Democratic party.
Cermak's political and organizational skills helped create one of the most powerful political organizations of his day, and Cermak is considered the father of Chicago's Democratic machine. With support from Franklin D. Roosevelt on the national level, Cermak gradually wooed members of Chicago's growing black community into the Democratic fold.
When Cermak challenged incumbent mayor William Hale ("Big Bill") Thompson in the 1931 mayor's race, Thompson, representative of Chicago's existing power structure, responded with ethnic slurs:
- I won't take a back seat to that Bohunk, Chairmock, Chermack or whatever his name is.
- Tony, Tony, where's your pushcart at?
- Can you picture a World's Fair mayor
- With a name like that?
Cermak's reply, "He doesn't like my name....It's true I didn't come over on the Mayflower, but I came over as soon as I could," was a sentiment to which ethnic Chicagoans could relate, and Thompson's slur largely backfired.[2]
The flamboyant Thompson's reputation as a buffoon and the voters' disgust with the corruption of his machine and his inability or unwillingness to clean up organized crime in Chicago were cited as major factors in Cermak capturing 58% of the vote in the mayoral election on April 6, 1931. Cermak's victory finished Thompson as a political power and largely ended the Republican Party's power in Chicago — no Republican has held the office of mayor of Chicago since Thompson's exit in 1931.
While riding in an open car next to President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 15, 1933, Cermak was shot and seriously wounded when Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate Roosevelt and hit Cermak instead. Later, rumors circulated that Cermak, not Roosevelt, had been the intended target, as his promise to clean up Chicago's rampant lawlessness posed a threat to Al Capone and the Chicago organized crime syndicate. Cermak was quoted as saying "I'm glad it was me instead of you" to Roosevelt while headed to the hospital.
Long-time Chicago newsman Len O'Connor offers a diferent view of the events surrounding Cermak's death.[3] He has written that aldermen "Paddy" Bauler and Charlie Weber informed him that relations between Cermak and FDR were strained because Cermak fought FDR's nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago for over 20 ballots. It was only a personal telephone call from William Randolph Hearst, who promised to use his newspaper network to defeat Cermak's candidate, that broke the log jam. After the election, Cermak vacationed with Bauler and Weber in North Carolina, where the two aldermen eventually convinced the mayor that he had to kiss and make up with FDR because the city was unable to pay city workers and teachers and needed money (the city was issuing script that was accepted by merchants). It was arranged for Cermak to meet with the President-elect in Miami, where he was vacationing. With his tail between his legs, Cermak approached FDR and kissed the ring.
For appearances, FDR invited the three Chicagoans to ride with him in an open car in a parade held in his honor. All accepted and the two aldermen were witnesses to the shooting. The legend that his last words were "I'm glad it was me instead of you" was, according to Len O'Connor, totally fabricated by Weber and Bauler. Years later, Bauler told O'Connor that they couldn't tell the press what he really said: Apparently he instantly knew that his death was imminent, and that all he worked so hard for over his entire life was being swept away and his rage at being cheated erupted. At a moment when most men call out to God, or their wives or their mothers, Cermak used his last breath to call the President-elect a "motherfucker" to his face. Given Cermak's rough and tumble street origins, this is entirely plausible.
Cermak died of his wounds on March 6 and was interred at Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago. The mayor's death was followed by a struggle for succession to his party chairmanship and to the mayor's office.
Following Cermak's death, 22nd Street, a major east-west artery that traversed Chicago's West Side and the close-in suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn, areas with a significant Czech population, was renamed Cermak Road.
In 1943, a Liberty ship, the SS A. J. Cermak was named after Cermak. It was scrapped in 1964.
Cermak's son-in-law, Otto Kerner, Jr., was governor of Illinois and a federal circuit judge.
References
- ^ Hirsch, Arnold R. "Democratic Party." Encyclopedia of Chicago.
- ^ Wendt, Lloyd (1979). Chicago Tribune. Chicago: Rand McNally. ISBN 0-528-81826-0.
- ^ O'Connor, Len (1975). Clout: Mayor Daley and His City. Chicago: H. Regnery Co. ISBN 0-809-28291-7.