As the American presidential campaign heats up, it’s helpful to reflect on Ukrainian American political involvement and non-involvement in past years. Who did we vote for back in the day? Here are some highlights.
Svoboda was urging Rusyns (as Ukrainians then called themselves) to become active in American political life early on, writing: “Having few opportunities to organize in the old country, we were poor politicians. But here we have no excuse.” The UNA newspaper urged its readers to establish political clubs that could someday organize themselves into a national federation.
The federation ideal was not realized for many years, and most of the political clubs that were established were not “worthy of respect” according to an article in Svoboda. “We have, praise be to God, Rusyn political clubs, but unfortunately some of them bring no benefit but actually bring harm and shame to Rusyns because their chairmen or other executives take money for their votes. Small wonder that Americans call such clubs ‘boodle clubs’ (sell-out, piggish clubs) and their members ‘voting cattle.’ ”
An exception was the Ukrainian American Citizen’s Club of Philadelphia, organized in 1909 with the help of Bishop Soter Ortynsky. Promoting the importance of gaining U.S. citizenship and becoming active in American political affairs, the club began with 35 members. Within a year there were 109 members.
Despite the fact that in some areas Rusyns had enough votes to elect fellow Rusyns to local office, they failed to do so. Their focus was on Ukraine, not the United States. Ukrainian historian Julian Bachynskyj observed that “most immigrants remain foreigners until they die.”
By 1900 the political party that had the most appeal to the editors of Svoboda was Socialists. In an editorial titled “Who should Rusyns vote for,” Svoboda wrote that there was little difference between the two major parties “because the Republican Party is the party of very rich men while the Democratic Party is the party of fairly rich men who are not permitted to become richer… The Socialist Party wants everyone to be treated fairly, regardless of race, creed or sex… it wants all national resources such as land, forests, mines as well as factories, trains, telegraphs… to be the property of all the people in order that the benefits of all these riches could go to all the people rather than just a few…”
A number of local Ukrainian Socialist clubs were established. Responding to the urging of American Socialists, they united in 1915, creating the Ukrainian Federation of Socialist Parties of America (UFSPA).
A split occurred within the organization between the nationalists who supported national reform and the internationalists (Bolsheviks) who promoted the overthrow of all capitalist societies. By 1917 the UFSPA had 1,000 members and the Bolsheviks were in firm control. When the Communist Party of America was established in Chicago in 1919, the UFSPA joined and became the UFCPA. The Moscow party line was followed from then on.
Ukrainian patriots, meanwhile, were not idle. A Ukrainian National Alliance was established in 1916. Headed by the legendary Father Peter Poniatyshyn, Alliance executives approached President Woodrow Wilson and convinced him to declare a nationwide “Ukrainian Day” to solicit donations from Americans for Ukrainian war relief. On April 21, 1917, Alliance members collected $53,189.12 – worth over a million in 2016 dollars. Patriotic commitment to Ukraine’s freedom crusade remained strong through the 1920s, with Ukrainians supporting the anti-Communist policies of Republican Presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.
The Great Depression convinced most Ukrainians to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. This changed by 1936. President Roosevelt had recognized the criminal regime of Joseph Stalin in 1933, resulting in an explosion of Soviet influence in American domestic and foreign affairs. During the so-called “Red Decade” Ukrainian patriots were often labeled “fascists” and investigated by both the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee.
The post-war years brought a resurgence of Ukrainian political fortunes, with both the Republicans and Democrats recapturing their self-confidence. Joseph Lesawyer, newly elected president of the Ukrainian National Association, led Ukrainian Democrats. Dr. Lev Dobriansky was the accepted spokesman for Ukrainian Republicans.
A monumental break came for Ukrainian Republicans with the election of Richard M. Nixon in 1968. He directed the establishment of the Republican Heritage Groups Council within the Republican National Committee. Under the leadership of Hungarian American Laszlo Pastor, the RHGC blossomed. These were halcyon years for Ukrainian Republicans. The Ukrainian National Republican Federation of 20 state organizations was recognized by the RNC. During the Ford administration Ukrainians could be found working in the White House and the Senate offices of Bob Taft and James Buckley. President Reagan appointed a Ukrainian to be our ambassador to the Bahamas.
George H.W. Bush also had a heritage group campaign committee. As ethnic influence in the GOP and the White House increased, the Sovietophile left responded with vilification. The most egregious charge appeared in a publication titled “Old Nazis, the New Right and the Reagan Administration” by Russ Ballant. The author charged that the Cold War was being prolonged by the presence of anti-Soviet ethnic Americans in the GOP. The RNC responded by quietly dissolving the RHGC. President Bush later flew to Kyiv and urged Ukrainians to spurn “suicidal nationalism” and remain part of the USSR. Remember his infamous “Chicken Kiev” speech? Ukrainians ignored it and declared their independence.
So what about the future? This year looks good for Ukrainian Democrats. Marta Farion, Ulana Mazurkevich and Andrew Fedynsky are gearing up to lead the charge for Hillary Clinton. That’s good. I know of no Ukrainian Republicans prepared to do the same for Donald J. Trump. That’s not good. Our community needs visible representation in both presidential campaigns.
Myron Kuropas’s e-mail address is [email protected].