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Today in Labor History February 15, 1933: Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami. He failed, mostly because he was too short to see over the crowd. However, Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who was shot in the attack, later died, in part from his wounds and in part from medical malpractice. Zangara confessed to the crime in jail, stating “I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists.” He was executed in Old Sparky, Florida’s electric chair in March, 1933. Philip K. Dick’s novel, “The Man in the High Castle,” is based in part on the premise that Zangara succeeded in killing FDR.
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Worth recalling that the main road going through Berwyn and Cicero outside Chicago is named after Anton Cermak. Cermak was a Czech immigrant who built a coalition of immigrants and Chicago's Black community. When the prior mayor Big Bill Thompson made fun of his immigrant name he responded '"He doesn’t like my name… it’s true I didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but I came over as soon as I could."