Vito
Marcantonio was
born in East Harlem, New
York City on 10th December, 1902. The son
of Italian immigrants, Marcantonio was
a successful student and despite his poor background eventually managed
to enter New York University Law School. While at university Marcantonio
became involved in politics and joined the Republican
Party.
In 1926 Marcantonio was
admitted to the bar and worked as a lawyer in New
York City and served
as assistant United States district attorney (1930-31).
In 1933 Marcantonio played an important role in the successful election
campaign of Fiorello
La Guardia as mayor of New York City. Seen
as La Guardia's heir apparent, Marcantonio was elected to Congress
in 1934 where he represented East Harlem's 20th District.
An outspoken politician with left-wing views, Marcantonio was defeated
in 1936 but won the seat back in 1938 as the American
Labor Party candidate. A strong supporter
of Franklin
D. Roosevelt and
the New
Deal, Marcantonio held the seat for the next
twelve years. In Congress he argued that the "unemployed are
victims of an unjust economic and social system which has failed."
Marcantonio was also an outspoken supporter of African
American Civil Rights.
During the Second World War Marcantonio played
an active role in the American Committee for Russian War Relief. Along
with Fiorello La Guardia, Charlie
Chaplin, Wendell Willkie, Orson
Welles, Rockwell Kent and Pearl
Buck, Marcantonio campaigned during the summer of 1942 for the
opening of a second-front in Europe.
In Congress he was one of the strongest opponents of Joe
McCarthy and the Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) and was legal counsel of civil rights activist,
William
Du Bois.
Denounced
as a secret supporter of the American Communist
Party, Marcantonio lost his seat in Congress in 1950. Vito
Marcantonio,
who practiced law until his death on 9th August, 1954. Probably
the most left-wing person to hold a seat in Congress, over 20,000
people attended Marcantonio's funeral in
