Notable Americans with Czech Roots - A New SVU Initiative The newly elected SVU Executive Board has launched a new initiative toward preparation of a comprehensive reference work on American personalities of Czech ancestry.The project will be directed and carried out by Past SVU President Mila Rechcigl who has been collecting this type of information for decades. This won't be a traditional Who's Who consisting of a hatch-patch or chancy listing of individuals based on their popularity or whether they contributed financially toward the publication. Instead, this will be a systematic and comprehensive effort to include all significant individuals in specific fields of human endeavor. The resulting publication accordingly will be organized into various sections by professions or disciplines.The intent is to include all significant persons starting from the colonial times to present. Apart from individuals who were born on the territory of the historic Czech Lands, the plan is to also encompass American personages of Czech descent irrespective where they were born.

It will be interesting to see the results. Right now, some of the famous Americans are Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds and Madaleine Albright, former US Secretary of State. Some Czech roots have also been attributed to the former presidential candidate John Kerry. Of note is the former mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak who was assasinated while travelling with FDR in Florida in 1933.