A little bit of history….Czech Americans and Politics (Part VIII)

by Tanja on July 10, 2007

During the 1850’s most Czech immigrants felt the strongest connection with the American Democratic party. Since the majority of political positions were already taken by other immigrant groups (especially the Irish), the Czechs usually had to start their political careers in small towns of Midwest and Texas, which is where most Czech Americans lived. The first famous Czech American politician became Augustin Haidusek, who was elected in 1875 as the mayor of La Grande, Texas. The next Czech star in American politics was Adolf Sabath. Born in Pisek, this Czech fellow became the longest serving U.S. congressman in history (Adolf was re-elected into the US Congress 23 times!! And then he died..). And the list goes on: Otto Kerner became the governor of Illionis in 1960’s who became known for his “Kerner’s report” in which he warned America about the increasing division between the whites and the blacks. In 1931 Chicago’s first foreign-born mayor became Anton Cermak from Kladno who was assassinated 2 years later during the public appearance with Theodor Roosevelt in Miami. During his short term as a mayor he devoted most of his energy in fighting against the Chicago gangsters and that is a possible reason why he was murdered (more on Anton Cermak go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Cermak). The highest ranking Czech American in the US politics was Madeleine Albright who became the US Secretary of State during Clinton’s second presidential term. Many Czechs were also devoted supporters of socialism. Those individuals usually lived in big cities like New York, working in factories or had other subordinate jobs, where they had to face harsh working conditions. They actually brought their socialist ideas from Europe where they had gotten influenced by the Industrial Revolution. Those folks were serious enough about this business that in 1866 they founded the first Czech-American socialist political club.