A Glimpse at Greek-American Mayors - Spanning Decades and States
A statue in Perry, IA honoring its mayor George Soumas. |
SPANNING DECADES AND STATES,
A GLIMPSE AT GREEK-AMERICAN MAYORS
Published in The National Herald, May 7-13, 2016 Issue
Authored by Steve Frangos, TNH Staff Writer
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CHICAGO- With the recent election
of Chrysostomos (Chris)
Alahouzos as mayor of Tarpon
Springs, FL we are again reminded
of the advances all
Greeks have made in America.
Alahouzos is far from the first
Greek-born person to become
mayor of an American city. As
anyone following the national
press on Alahouzos knows, he
did not just spring out of the
ground but has a long history
of civic service including but not
limited to being, in 2012, the
Vice-Mayor of Tarpon Springs.
And while Alahouzos may be
the first Greek-born mayor of
Tarpon Springs he is most certainly
not the first mayor of
Greek descent elected to that office
in that specific city. Greeks
have a complex and historically
deep involvement with American
politics.
In terms strictly of the office
of mayor, at this moment in
time, no one source or published
account systematically
lists every Greek-American who
holds or has held this office in
the United States. While the
Greek press in North America
has always carried coverage on
any and all Hellenic candidates
for any and all political office,
again I know no listing of these
figures across time. As far as I
have been able to discover, it is
only with the sustained survey
work of the late Professor
Charles C. Moskos that we have
the first attempt at reviewing
Greek political figures in the
United States
In my own efforts to advance
what Dr. Moskos first offered, I
have been surprised by how fundamentally
hard it has been to
even gather a systematic listing
of just mayors. It is to not simply
difficult to determine the ethnicity
or racial background of
individual mayors but many
American communities just do
not have a full listing of their
own local politicians. I stress this point because Moskos has
written that “over a score of second-generation
Greek-Americans
have been chosen mayors
in the mill towns of New England,
a delayed culmination of
the aspirations of the early
Greek immigrants who toiled
there.” I have not found twenty
or more Greek-American mayors
in New England. In point of
fact I have been able to locate
and confirm just forty seven
Greek-American mayors in nineteen
states.
I have made very specific distinctions
in this mayoral survey.
First, I have only included those
individuals who held office, not
those who ran but were not
elected. Second, not every city
in the nation has a mayor; many
have councils, and so the president
of a council can be seen as
the leader and so similar in
terms of the office of a mayor.
But, words do have distinct
meanings and so this survey
deals just with those political office
holders designated as mayors.
With this same general
thought in mind, individuals
who are married to a Greek or
person of Greek descent but
who are themselves not of Greek birth or extraction are not
included.
For our purposes here I have
divided the United States into
nine regions: New England,
Mid-Atlantic States, Midwest,
Appalachian Highlands, Southeast,
Heartland, Mountain,
Southwest, Pacific Coast inclusive
of the noncontiguous states
of Alaska and Hawaii. To simplify
our survey let me quickly
note I found no one of Hellenic
background who is or who has
been a mayor in the Mountain
States: Colorado, Idaho, Utah,
Montana, Wyoming or Nevada.
In New England (e.g. Maine,
Connecticut, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Vermont and
Rhode Island) we find one
Greek-American mayor in
Maine, the honorable Nicholas
Mavodones (Portland) for Connecticut,
George A. Athanson
(Hartford) and George P. Harlamon
(Waterbury). Massachusetts
can claim seven: Monte
Basbas (Newton); Louis J. Diamond
(North Adams); George
C. Eliades (Lowell); George Katsaros
(Haverhill); Byron J.
Mathews (Newburyport); Nick
Mavroules (Peabody); and Tarsy
T. Poulios (Lowell).
Next in New Hampshire, two
Michael E. J. Blastos (Keene)
and Ted Gatsas (Manchester)
while, as far as I have been able
to determine, Vermont has
never had a mayor of Greek descent
and finally Rhode Island
with Dean Lewis in Newport.
In the Mid-Atlantic States
(Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and New
York) we have Lee Alexander
(Syracuse); John Cleo Apostol
(Annapolis); Andrew J. Jakomas
(McKeesport); Alex Jeffers
(Williamsburg PA); Emmanuel
K. Kallas (East Pittsburgh PA)
Michael John Pantelidis (Annapolis
MD) and then Andronic
Pappas (Altoona PA)
For the Heartland states
(Minnesota, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri) Helen
Boosalis (Lincoln, NE); Tom
Jolas (Mason City, IA); George
Soumas (Perry, IA) and then
George J. Vavoulis (St. Paul,
MN).
The Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio)
Nicholas Blasé (Niles, IL);
George Chacharis (Gary, IN); P.
Peter Chacos (Terre Haute, IN);
H. Jonathon Costas (Valparaiso,
IN); Adeline Jay Geo-Karis
(Zion, IL); John B. Nicosia (East
Chicago, IN); Samuel T. Pappas
(Garden City, MI); James Pappas
(Fox Lake, IL); Jim Plakas
(Garden City, MI); Peter Anthony
Sarantos (Elkhart, IN)
and James Tassis (Ecorse, MI).
In all of the Appalachian
Highland states (Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
and West Virginia) we
have only Bill Saffo (Wilmington,
NC).
For the Southeast (South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas,
and Louisiana) we have the
aforementioned Alahouzos, and
also Constantine Apostolou
(Pensacola, FL); George
Cretekos (Clearwater, FL);
James Nichols (Apalachicola,
FL); Anita Protos (Tarpon
Springs, FL); John Rousakis (Savanna,
GA) and George
Tsourakis (Tarpon Springs, FL).
For all of the Southwest (Arizona,
New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Texas) we find only Anton Proto
(Nogales, AZ)
Pacific Coast States (inclusive
of the noncontiguous states)
(Washington, Oregon, California,
Alaska, Hawaii) Arthur
Christ Agnos (San Francisco,
CA); George Christopher (San
Francisco, CA) and Tom Means
(Mountain View, CA).
While many readers would have
preferred a detailed article on
each of these individuals we
must begin by knowing which
Greek-Americans now hold or
have held the office of mayor in
Ameriki. Recently, it has been
advanced that Martin Arguelles
Sr. was not only the first mayor
of San Agustin (St. Augustine)
in the Florida territory of New
Spain but that he was of Greek
descent. Is this true? I don’t
know. But that is how we move
forward in Greek-American
Studies. One suggestion at a time, vetted by the community
at large and then the data is accepted
or rejected as the evidence
is reviewed by the world
at large.
What else can we do? Facts
are facts, no matter who uncovers
them. At a time when more
persons of Greek birth and or
Greek descent are now to be
found in the American educational
system---from literally
pre-school to the most prestigious
universities in this nation—than
at any other time in
the history of this country, we
have no scholars who are systematically
reviewing, studying,
assessing and then writing
about our collective history in
this hemisphere.
The politicians cited above
are worthy of more extensive
study. As a group they represent
the very best and unfortunately,
at times, the very worst of our
community. Consequently as
with all things Greek in North
America, Greek-American mayors
have achieved the highest
honors inclusive of public monuments
that their local community
could provide as well as
being found guilty of high
crimes and sentenced to jail. It
is an extremely odd mix to say
the least. Ultimately we need
to know more about our common
history in the United States
if we are ever to understand our
place not only in this nation’s
history but that of Hellenism itself.
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