Anton Cermak

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.

Related Topics:
Czech - May 9 - 1873 - March 6 - 1933 - 1931

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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, Mike Bilandic and Daley's son Richard M. Daley). Once elected mayor of Chicago in 1931, in the wake of the Great Depression and the deep resentment many Chicagoans had of Prohibition, Cermak treated the city as if it were a personal business and tried to provide the best service possible. He was so popular that anyone who went up against him was achieving their own political death. 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 fatally wounded when Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate Roosevelt and hit Cermak instead. Some have theorized Cermak, not Roosevelt, had been the intended target as he was intent on driving the Mafia (at least its Capone faction) out of Chicago. Cermak died of his wounds on March 6 and was interred at Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago.

Related Topics:
Kladno - Bohemia - Czech Republic - United States - 1874 - 1902 - Illinois - Richard J. Daley - Richard M. Daley - Great Depression - Prohibition - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Giuseppe Zangara - March 6 - Bohemian National Cemetery

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Cermak is considered the father of Chicago's powerful Democratic political machine. Before Cermak, new immigrants in the early 1900s such as Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, Italians, and blacks were apolitical. Cermak, with help from FDR on the national level, also gradually wooed blacks into the Democratic fold. The taunt of William Hale Thompson in the 1931 mayor's race, representative of the WASPs who had led Chicago for years, only backfired on him.

Related Topics:
1900s - Poles - Ukrainians - Jews - Italians - Blacks - 1931

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Tony, Tony, where's your pushcart at?

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Can you picture a World's Fair mayor

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With a name like that?

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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 something ethnic Chicagoans could relate to. (Making a New Deal, p. 256)

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Cermak's son-in-law, Otto Kerner Jr., was Illinois governor from 1961 to 1968 and later headed the Kerner Commission, which issued a report on race relations in the United States. Kerner was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Appeals, a post he had to resign in 1973 after being convicted for his role in an illegal racetrack financing scheme while serving as governor.

Related Topics:
1961 - 1968 - Kerner Commission - Race relations - United States

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On the Chicago's South Side, 22nd Street was renamed Cermak Road. A segment of the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line "L" is known as the "Cermak Branch."

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