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Anton Cermak

Anton Joseph Cermak (Czech: Antonín Josef Čermák, pronounced [ˈantoɲiːn ˈjozɛf ˈtʃɛrmaːk]; May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was an American politician who served as the 44th[1] mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from April 7, 1931, until his death in 1933. He was killed by an assassin, whose likely target was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but Cermak was shot instead after a bystander hit the perpetrator with a purse.

Anton Cermak

William Hale Thompson

Frank J. Corr

Daniel Ryan Sr.

Emmett Whealan

George E. Brennan

Patrick Nash

Otto Kerner Sr.

???

Joseph Uhlir

Joseph Novak

Antonín Josef Čermák

(1873-05-09)May 9, 1873
Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary

March 6, 1933(1933-03-06) (aged 59)
Miami, Florida, U.S.

Gunshot wound

Bohemian National Cemetery

Democratic

Mary Horejs
​
(m. 1894⁠–⁠1928)​

3

Otto Kerner Jr. (son-in-law)
Richey V. Graham (son-in-law)
Frank J. Jirka Jr. (grandson)

Career[edit]

After saving enough money to buy his own horse and cart, he went into business selling firewood, and he subsequently expanded his venture into a haulage business.[8] As he became more politically active, Cermak served in municipal government jobs, including as a clerk in the city police court, and as a bailiff for the Municipal Court of Chicago.[9][10] As his political fortunes began to rise, Cermak was able to avail himself of other business opportunities, including interests in real estate, insurance, and banking.[8]


He began his political career as a Democratic Party precinct captain, and in 1902, he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. Seven years later, he became alderman of the 12th Ward (serving two terms: one from 1909 through 1912, and another from 1919 through 1922).[11] Cermak was elected President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1922, and chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party in 1928 In 1928, he was the Democratic nominee for a seat in the United States Senate, but was defeated by Republican Otis F. Glenn, 54.46% to 44.94%.

Descendants[edit]

Cermak's son-in-law, Otto Kerner Jr., served as the 33rd Governor of Illinois, and as a federal circuit judge.


His grandson, Frank J. Jirka, Jr., who was with him in Miami when he was assassinated, later became an Underwater Demolition Team officer in the United States Navy. Jirka was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima; the wounds he suffered led to the amputation of both legs below the knee. After World War II, he became a physician, and in 1983, was elected president of the American Medical Association. Cermak's great niece, Kajon Cermak, is a radio broadcaster.[37] His daughter, Lillian, was married to Richey V. Graham, who served in the Illinois General Assembly.[38]

A hastily produced movie about Cermak, The Man Who Dared, was released within months of his death.

There was a , The Gun of Zangara, about Cermak's assassination. It was originally a two-part episode of The Untouchables, where it had the title "The Unhired Assassin." Cermak had a major role in the story as an honest man, and was played by Robert Middleton.

made-for-TV movie

Cermak is mentioned in ’s play Assassins during the song "How I Saved Roosevelt."

Stephen Sondheim

Cermak and his rise to the mayoralty has also been mentioned in ’s novel Kane and Abel.

Jeffrey Archer

Part of the episode "" of the television series Babylon 5 is based on the circumstances of Cermak’s death.[39]

Objects in Motion

Cermak is referenced by ’s fictional Chicago mayor, Tom Kane, in several episodes of the Starz TV series Boss.

Kelsey Grammer

In "Red Team III," the seventh episode in the second season of 's The Newsroom, Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) references Anton Cermak.

HBO

The history-based crime novel True Detective, the first in ' Nathan Heller series, includes a fictionalized account of the Cermak slaying.

Max Allan Collins

In the first episode of the second season of , an adult animated sitcom produced for Netflix, the fictional school of Anton Cermak Tech is mentioned during a broadcast.

F Is for Family

A fictional version of Cermak is a main character in the alternate history short story Next Year in Prague by Barbara Newman. The timeline of the story diverges from reality on February 15, 1933, in which Zangara's bullet misses Cermak as he was trying to shoot Roosevelt, meaning both survive the assassination attempt. Cermak continued serving as the mayor of Chicago, and gets reelected several times, despite more attempted assassinations on him. Cermak fights a war against Chicago's gangsters at the height of the Mafia's power in the city, even personally taking part in police raids, despite the obvious danger in doing so. The evidence found at the raids meant that crime boss Al Capone is found guilty on seven charges of murder, and is subsequently executed in 1938 (in real life, Capone was responsible for several murders, but police were unable to prove it beyond the reasonable doubt required by the law, and instead convicted him with proven tax evasion in 1931; he died of cardiac arrest in 1947). Because of the role Cermak played in the Capone trial, he becomes very popular nationally, and the "Cermak Amendment" is enacted in the 1940s, amending the Constitution to remove the Natural-born-citizen requirement for president and vice president, in order to allow Czech-born Cermak to run for those positions. Thanks to this, President Roosevelt decides to make Cermak his running mate instead of Harry S. Truman, and replaced Henry A. Wallace as vice president for the 1944 election. When Roosevelt dies in office in 1945 (as he did in real life), Cermak becomes president. As the Cold War takes shape in 1948, Cermak personally intervenes in the affairs of his birth country of Czechoslovakia to prevent its Communist takeover. After the Czechoslovak coup d'état by the Communist Party, Cermak writes a threatening letter to Joseph Stalin, which nearly starts World War III, but conflict is narrowly averted by a summit in Prague. Cermak publicly states that Stalin has agreed to withdraw from Czechoslovakia, which will now act as a neutral democracy—not part of any alliance. Secretly, Cermak also agreed to a trade-off, where in return for a democratic Czechoslovakia, the United States would withdraw from South Korea, and allow Communist North Korea to reunify Korea under its Communist government. This part of the deal was only discovered a week after it was signed when it was revealed by Cermak's opponents in Congress. As the agreement came into force, a major issue in the presidential election that year was whether it was ethical or not to pay for the freedom of one country (Czechoslovakia) in exchange for the occupation of another (Korea), with such arguments often leading to violence between supporters and opponents of the deal. Cermak barely gets re-elected, and it is implied that his second term will be much harder for him than his first.

alternate universe

In TV series (1993–1994), Cermak is assassinated by Zangara—a crazy lone gunman targeting FDR—after Ness prevents the assassin they believe was sent by Capone. After the Untouchables return to Chicago, their further investigation reveals a probable third gunman, whose shot actually is responsible for Cermak's death, and was a Capone hitman. The first half of the next episode partly involves Ness' Untouchables identifying the actual gunman (a Capone hitman named Charlie Ross), who goes into hiding after a raid by the Untouchables. As the Untouchables arrange to bring him in for testimony, he is gunned down, thereby forever silencing the truth about the mob killing the mayor.

The Untouchables

List of assassinated American politicians

Beito, David T. Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance During the Great Depression. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.  978-0807818367.

ISBN

Cermak's tomb at Bohemian National Cemetery

at IMDb

Anton J. Cermak