Ivan Dubovický – Czechs In America of sociologist Professor Herbert A. Miller (1875–1952) who formulated several important resolutions, organized some meetings and wrote a number of articles in the American press in favor of the Czechs. Adolph Joachim Sabath (1866–1952) of Záboří near Písek was one of the most prominent Czechs in the American political life. He moved to the United States in 1881, settling in Chicago where he graduated from law school. In 1907, he was elected to the United States Congress on the Democratic Party ticket, which office he succeeded in successively winning an unbelievable twenty-three times! He played a prominent role in asserting Czech interests in the United States: in 1912, he arranged for Count Francis Lützow to address the Congress with his lectures on the Czech nation and the Czech lands. In May 1917, it was thanks to Sabath that a resolution was enacted in Congress acknowledging the right of the Czech lands to freedom and independence. Sabath was the man who prepared for Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk a triumphant reception in Washington, D.C. in May 9, 1918, when twenty-seven members of the United States Congress turned out to welcome him. Sabath would use his political influence in the interests of Czechoslovakia once again, during World War II. Sabath fought for the liberalization of America’s immigration legislation and against anti-Semitism and prohibition. He had urged United States membership in the League of Nations and was one of the first American politicians to warn against the threat of Nazism. He was a personal friend of a number of prominent personalities and several U.S. Presidents, among them Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jane Addams, Samuel Gompers and Harry Truman. In Congress, he was known as “Judge Sabath”. He financed the building of an orphanage in his native village of Záboří, in his former homeland. A very important role was also played by another American of Czech-Jewish origin, Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856–1941), Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Due to his influential position, he had a profound impact on the US political climate in favor of Czechoslovak independence. Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Both his parents had come to the United States from Prague shortly after 1848. Even much later, in the course of his political career, Louis Brandeis did not conceal his Czech and Jewish origins. Following his law studies at Harvard University, he became a successful lawyer. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. His influence helped Tomáš G. Masaryk to obtain the necessary American support for the establishment — 97 —
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Ivan Dubovický – Češi v Americe žovalo jako o prvním prezidentovi Eretz – Izraele. Zasazoval se o práva jednotlivců, žen, malých národů, odborů a drobných podnikatelů proti velkým korporacím a tím vším si vysloužil přídomek „obhájce lidu“. Jeho jméno dnes nese Brandeis Law School v Louisville (Kentucky). Do podpory našeho zahraničního odboje se výrazně zapojil Čechoameričan Tomáš (Thomas) Čapek (1861–1950), rodák z jihočeských Chrašťovic. Rakouská tajná policie jej vedla na seznamu nebezpečných „nepřátel státu“. Byl bankéř a mj. též úspěšný historik české Ameriky. Jeho díla dodnes patří k nejlepším pramenům poznání života Čechů v Americe. Do USA přijel v roce 1880, v Ann Arbor (Michigan), vystudoval právo, kterému se pak v praxi věnoval. V roce 1906 napsal dílo „The Slovaks of Hungary“, pravděpodobně první dílo v USA v anglickém jazyce o Slovácích (vedle malé brožury Petra V. Rovnianka). V roce 1915 zase vydal ostře protirakouské dílo „Bohemia Under the Hapsburg Misrule“, které rozeslal všem členům vlády, senátorům a kongresmanům, guvernérům, univerzitám a zahraničním diplomatům. V roce 1912 se stal se předsedou Bank of Europe, založené 1910, se základním kapitálem 11 milionů dolarů, která částečně zprostředkovávala převody finančních prostředků Masarykovi a Benešovi. Bohužel ho silně postihla světová hospodářská krize v roce 1929. Američtí Češi a Slováci podporovali zahraniční odboj mnoha způsoby. Například Vojtěch Preissig (1873–1944) za války zhotovil sérii dvanácti plakátů, jejichž účelem bylo povzbudit americké Čechy a Slováky v boji za samostatnost Československa a podnítit jejich vstup do legií. Preissig vystudoval Uměleckoprůmyslovou školu v Praze a poté od roku 1903 pracoval v ateliéru Alfonse Muchy v Paříži. Od roku 1910 vyučoval v USA grafiku, nejdříve v New York Art Students League a na učitelské koleji při Columbia University, od roku 1916 do roku 1924 pak působil jako ředitel na Wentworth Institute v Bostonu. Vojtěch Preissig, jeden z jeho válečných plakátů. Vojtěch Preissig, one of his war posters. Do Čech se vrátil v roce 1931. Do USA Archiv autora / Archives of the author zanesl řadu nových grafických technik. — 98 —
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Ivan Dubovický – Czechs In America of an independent Czechoslovak state. Brandeis held high posts in the American Zionist movement as well and being active in connection with the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. In 1919, he personally visited Palestine and at that time was even considered for the post of the first president of Eretz Israel (The Land of Israel). He fought for the rights of individuals, women, small nations, trade unions and small entrepreneurs against the large corporations. For all his merits he was nicknamed “The People´s Attorney”. Today, Brandeis Law School in Louisville, Kentucky bears his name. Another outstanding individual who joined the resistance movement was Tomáš (Thomas) Čapek (1861–1950), born in Chrašťovice in South Bohemia. He was on the black list of dangerous “enemies of the state” elaborated by the Austrian secret police. He was a banker and successful historian of Czech America. His works are a valuable source of knowledge about the life of Czechs in the United States. Čapek came to the USA in 1880, he studied law at Ann Arbor and dedicated himself to legal practice. In 1906 he wrote a book “The Slovaks of Hungary”, supposedly the first book on Slovaks in the United States in the English language (aside from the small brochure of Peter V. Rovnianek). In 1915, he published a strongly anti-Austrian book “Bohemia Under the Hapsburg Misrule” that was distributed amongst all members of the government, senators and congressmen, governors, universities and foreign diplomats. In 1912, he became the President of the Bank of Europe, founded in 1910 with capital of 11 million dollars, which arranged financial transactions for Masaryk and Beneš. Unfortunately, he was drastically affected by the economic recession of 1929. American Czechs and Slovaks used a variety of ways to support the resistance movement. For example, during World War I, Vojtěch Preissig (1873–1944) designed a series of twelve posters whose purpose was to encourage Czech and Slovak Americans to participate in the struggle for an independent Czechoslovak state and to incite them to join the Czechoslovak Foreign Legion. Preissig graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Prague. In 1903, he began working in the studio of Alphonse Mucha in Paris. From 1910, he taught graphic art in the United States, initially at the Art Students League and the Teachers’ College attached to Columbia University in New York City. In 1916–1924, he held the post of Director of the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1931. Preissig had introduced a number of new graphic-art techniques into the United States. — 99 —
Ukázka elektronické knihy, UID: KOS257495