Anton Joseph Cermak was an American politician who served as the 34th mayor of Chicago, Illinois from April 7, 1931 until his death on March 6, 1933 from complications of an assassination attempt nearly a month earlier.
Background
Anton Joseph Cermak was born on May 9, 1873 in Kladno, a Bohemian village about fifty miles from Prague, Czech Republic. His parents, Anton and Catherine (Frank) Cermak, were Hussite Protestants. When young Anton, the first-born of their five children, was but a few months old, they brought him to America where he spent his first birthday on Ellis Island. From there the family proceeded to Chicago, then to Braidwood, where the father took up his former occupation of coal-mining.
Education
In Braidwood Anton attended the public school in which for six years he was under the tutelage of George E. Brennan, later to be his political mentor.
Career
When sixteen he went to Chicago, but during the winter of 1889-90 he earned only two dollars a week, and he returned to Braidwood. At seventeen he again sought Chicago, settling near other Bohemians in the Lawndale district about Twenty-sixth Street. Here he lived, first as tow boy for a traction company and then as his own employer, peddling waste wood bought from the International Harvester Company. Amidst these surroundings he built up strong friendships with his countrymen and their families. His business in waste wood prospered, and he became the employer of others, eventually broadening his business experience to become the president of the Lawndale Building & Loan Association, a director of the Lawndale National Bank, and partner in the real-estate firm of Cermak & Serhant. It was in politics that he won the kind of success that put him among the well-known figures of his day. From a clerkship in the office of V. E. Cerveny, collector of West Town, and as clerk of the Warren Avenue police court, Cermak advanced to precinct captain, secretary, and then chairman of the ward organization of the Democratic party. He renewed his friendship with his former teacher, George E. Brennan, now a resident of Chicago and a leader of the Irish and an associate of Roger Sullivan, head of the local Sullivan wing of the party. Cermak joined forces with Brennan and Sullivan and in 1902 was elected to the state legislature on the Democratic ticket as representative from the 9th district. Three times he was reelected. In 1909 he became a member of the city council to fill a vacancy. In the state legislature his political sagacity and party regularity won him floor leadership. In 1909 he joined other Democrats who voted for William Lorimer, Republican, for the United States Senate, subsequently expelled on the ground that his election was fraudulent. While in the legislature and from 1909 to 1912 in the city council, Cermak was the spokesman for the liquor interests. In 1907 he became secretary of the United Societies for Local Self-Government, an association of saloon keepers, brewers, and distillers, and an active pressure group. In 1912, as alderman, he exerted his influence to prevent the passage of a police reorganization ordinance and one providing for police supervision of public dance halls to insure more rigid enforcement of the liquor laws. In 1912 he became bailiff of the municipal court. In 1918 he was unsuccessful as Democratic nominee for Cook County sheriff and had to content himself with the aldermanship from the twelfth ward in the city council the following spring. With his election to the chairmanship of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1922, Cermak's star rose rapidly. His policy of retrenchment, his adroit use of patronage (1922 - 31), and his promotion of humanitarian activities built up for him a considerable following. On the other hand, charges of irregularities in connection with the purchase of forest preserve lands and in contracts for hard roads in the county marred the record of the board of which he was chairman. Still, Cermak's influence in the Democratic party grew each year, until in 1928, at the death of George Brennan, he became the undisputed leader. As chairman of the Democratic county committee as well as of the Board of Commissioners, Cermak built up a poitical machine which ultimately made him mayor in 1931, defeating William Hale Thompson in a colorful campaign. He swung the Illinois delegation's votes which helped nominate Franklin D. Roosevelt as president. His amazing rise, from lowly beginnings, was dramatically cut short in Miami, Florida when an assassin's bullet aimed at President-elect Roosevelt on February 15, 1933, hit Cermak instead, causing his death March 6.
Achievements
Connections
On December 15, 1894, he married Mary Horejs, and to them were born three daughters: Lillian, Ella, and Helen.