On March 6, 1933, Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, died from wounds sustained in an assassination attempt. He had been in Miami, visiting President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt when an assassin opened fire. Cermak and four others were wounded. Roosevelt escaped unharmed.
Cermak was born in 1873 in Austria-Hungary, in what is now the Czech Republic. His family immigrated to the United States in 1874 and settled in Braidwood, Illinois. He left school at a young age to work in a coal mine. As a teenager, he moved to Chicago, where he worked odd jobs and attended night school. At 29, he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives.
Cermak later held several elected positions in Chicago and ran a unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1928. In 1931, he became the city's first foreign-born mayor after campaigning to end corruption and confront criminals such as Al Capone, who had profited off a decade of Prohibition. He drew strong support from immigrant communities, that had long felt overlooked by Chicago’s political leadership.
On Feb. 15, 1933, Cermak joined Roosevelt at a public appearance in Miami, Florida. Shortly after Cermak shook Roosevelt's hand, Italian immigrant Giuseppe Zangara opened fire. Zangara, who was five feet tall, stood on a chair to see over the crowd. A bystander struck his arm, causing his aim to falter as he fired additional shots.
Cermak was hit in the chest, and the bullet pierced his lung. Roosevelt, who was unharmed, held Cermak as they were rushed to the hospital. Cermak allegedly said, "I'm glad it was me, not you." The statement is engraved on his tomb. He died from his injuries March 6.
Chicago later honored Cermak by renaming a major east-west arteries Cermak Road. The road was chosen because it connected neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
