Edward Moskal

Edward Moskal (May 21, 1924 - March 22, 2005) was the outspoken President of the Polish National Alliance and Polish American Congress.

Background

Moskal, a former insurance broker and alumnus of Chicago's St. John Cantius School, was born to a Polish immigrant couple who were proprietors in the restaurant and catering businesses.

After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army, Moskal joined the PNA in 1942, jump-starting a 60-plus-year career that would lead him to a private meeting with Pope John Paul II, several humanitarian-related trips to Poland, a misguided campaign that almost derailed Poland's ability to join NATO and an appointment by United States President Bill Clinton to accompany Vice President Al Gore at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw.

Polish National Alliance before the era of Edward Moskal

A helicopter with president Ronald Reagan landed on the lawn behind the Polish National Alliance's (PNA) "White House" in Chicago. The distinguished guest was greeted with bread and salt by the president of PNA and Polish American Congress (PAC) Alojzy Mazewski. The president joined the huge Polish-American crowd. Everyone got up and greeted the President with warm applause. Ronald Reagan responded to questions; initial distance and uneasiness turned into genuine familial warmth. The president of the United States was a guest of Polonia. American mass media could not avoid that event. President Mazewski was the first and the only American of Polish descent to have been nominated as a member of the US UN delegation.

Two years earlier Mazewski was elected as president of PAC. After becoming president he announced it is time to "raise the image of nine million Polish Americans". Following this promise he worked relentlessly to promote Polish Americans for federal and state posts (he also looked for elected candidates). Leonard Walentynowicz from Buffalo became assistant secretary of State; Mitchell Kafarski from Detroit was a member of the Commission to rebuild Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington; General Edward Rowny became the chief US negotiator with the USSR in re strategic arms limitations talks; and Mitchell Kobelinski from Chicago became the director of the Import-Export Bank, and later the head of Small Business Administration.

Polish-American congressmen helped Mazewski achieve his goal. From the mid-fifties on, the Chicago metropolitan area was represented by four congressmen of Polish background (today there is only one). One of the federal buildings in Chicago was named after John C. Kluczynski.Congressman Dan Rostenkowski for many years was the most influential individual (after the speaker) in the House of Representatives. Edward Derwinski was a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and was highly respected in Republican circles, and his personal friendship with the Bush family, began when the later president was a congressman, gained him entry to the White House, Department of State and many federal offices. When after twenty-four years in Congress the democratic-controlled state legislature listed him in the same district with his Republican friend, he did not campaign and lost his seat. This loss turned to his benefit because he was appointed ambassador for special missions by president Reagan, and when Bush Sr. became president Derwinski gained a cabinet post as secretary of Veterans Affairs. Congressman Pucinski, after losing his campaign for the Senate, became a Chicago alderman and was very influential in the city administration. Congressman Clement John Zablocki, a Democrat from Milwaukee, headed the Foreign Relations committee in the House. Thaddeus Machrowicz, a Michigan congressman, was also influential in the House before being appointed to the bench.

Cordial contacts and meetings with leaders of Jewish organizations led to a toning down of anti-Polish rhetoric, especially of Polish jokes. The list of achievements of president of PAC and PNA Mazewski could stretch for far longer. He continued in the footsteps of his predecessor, the lawyer, Karol Rozmarek. The PAC helped shape US policy with regard to Poland, and Mazewski himself was often present and welcomed in the White House.

Under Moskal's predecessors, the Polish American Congress had much greater political influence in Washington, than Polonia perhaps deserved, because it did not contribute money to politicians. Under Moskal it became irrelevent with no political cloutFact|date=October 2008.

Moskal implements changes

PAC was established in May 1944 after a large Congress of Polonia in which nearly 2,300 delegates participated representing various Polish and Polish-American organizations. The main goal of the PAC, whose first president was Karol Rozmarek elected by the Congress, was to help Poland in its struggle for independence by lobbying US government. PAC was the Polish lobby, a tradition continued by Mazewski.

The treasurer of Polish National Alliance from 1967, Moskal always opposed Mazewski. The main reason for the disagreement was PAC. Moskal believed that PAC and PNA should go their separate ways because the "marriage" cost PNA too much. Another important gripe were the elaborate wining and dinning by treasurer Moskal of the last Polish communist counsel general in Chicago Czerwinski, who was rumored to have been a secret police [SB] agent. That is why many members of the PAC were annoyed with Mazewski for saying that Moskal, elected by All-Polonia Congress as treasurer had a mandate to dine with whom he pleases.

After Mazewski's death, Moskal did not take the "divorce" with PAC but took over the function of the president of this political arm of Polonia. Two PAC leaders (now deceased) - Bonawęture Migała and Kazimierz Lukomski, did not think Moskal was a good candidate for a leader of Polonia because of what they felt was his lack of education, political acumen, and vulgar language, expressed openly towards women.

The NATO campaign

In 1989/1990 the main task was accomplished. Poland gained its independence. In the new situation, it was worth reconsidering whether the Polish American Congress had a reason to exist. If it had a right, then what should be its new aims. There was little discussion because a new large task emerged, NATO enlargement to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. President George Bush Sr., the father of the current president, supported enlargement.The democrat who followed, Bill Clinton, following his campaign slogan "It's the economy, Stupid!" did not focus on foreign policy during his first term, and not wishing to enrage Russia that opposed enlargement, was ambivalent about the cause. At the meeting with the representatives of ethnic groups Moskal strongly called on the US to support NATO enlargement. That same position was taken by the representatives of the Czechs and the Hungarians. The elections were close and the votes of these ethnic groups could decide if Clinton would be elected to a second term. This was a persuasive argument, and Clinton expressed his support for NATO enlargement, which in itself did not make NATO enlargement a reality. The act had to be ratified in the Senate with 2/3 of the vote (67).

But even before, in addition to Edward Moskal supporting NATO enlargement, there emerged another Edward Moskal who ideologically worried PAC activists. One of those concerned was Kazimierz Lukomski, vice president and head of the Commission for Polish Affairs, for years the "soul" of all major initiatives involving Poland. Moskal began to push Lukomski aside and undertake decisions without consulting the Commission for Polish Affairs, even neglecting to notify it of his decisions.

In a letter to Jan Krawiec dated May 28, 1991, Lukomski rationalizing his decision to resign as Vice president of PAC and the Commission for Polish Affairs wrote: "Moskal treats the PAC just as he does the Polish National Alliance as his private fiefdom. I refuse to accept that and at the same time I do not have any means of opposing his misdeeds. Apart from few very narrow instances; I am shoved aside here in Chicago. Moskal is able to pull to his side everyone, along with our independents, who no longer care that he supports diplomats of the communist regime like Czerwinski, or sings songs of praise to General Wojciech Jaruzelski."

Moskal raises eyebrows

Years passed. In the political circles the debate whether the Senate should support NATO enlargement was discussed. At the beginning of 1996 Moskal wrote a letter to then Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Moskal advocated a hard line against JewsFact|date=October 2008, criticizing Poland's alleged vassalage with regard to Jews, he supported his argument by referring to the act of the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) whose goal was to return Jewish property swiftly. Similar acts became law in Romania, Hungary, and Austria, and were considered by the Czech Republic. In order to be clear about the underlying motives for his letter Moskal added that "the murder by Israel of innocent women and children (sic!) who were sheltered in UN camps in Lebanon."

Single-handedly Moskal transformed the PAC from the Polish lobby in Washington into a pro-Poland but (perceptibly) anti-Jewish lobby in Warsaw. The Jewish reaction could not have come as a surprise. The oldest and most influential organization, the AJC, dubbed Moskal an anti-Semite and severed its ties with PAC.

Edward Moskal probably did not expect the consequences of the AJC declaration. He discovered quickly as he became "persona non grata" in official Washington and his ability to affect US policy with regard to Poland became zero.

The distinguished German philosopher Karl Jaspers said that "before the war, before the Holocaust, anti-Semitism was a false political doctrine, after the Holocaust, it became a crime." Fact|date=February 2007A real fear at the time was that the anti-Jewish declarations by president Moskal as well as the anti-Semitic campaign of the two out of three dailies that appeared in Chicago in Polish and in other publications, would anger Jews enough to block Poland's NATO membership. Fact|date=February 2007

NATO enlargement almost derailed

American politician's were surprised by the diametrically opposed views of Myra Lenard in Washington with those expressed in the pronouncements of president Moskal. Many claimed that NATO enlargement was a "fait accompli" thanks to the political scientists, whom Moskal dismissed as "egg heads", who persuaded the politicians that it was in the interest of the United States. An important role was played by Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who in his books and articles explained the benefits for America from NATO enlargement. With the help of Brzezinski, former director of Polish Radio Free Europe, Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, with his own political ties, made contacts in the academic community. Even if the Polish American Congress came out against NATO enlargement, the US Senate would have voted for it - claimed Congressman Derwinski at the meeting of Illinois PAC.

Myra Lenard, with much enthusiasm, tried to sway senators to vote for the enlargement of NATO. Thanks to the thousands of letters and telegrams from Polish-Americans, and thanks to the constructive Polish Embassy effort, the undecided votes were swayed and shaped American public opinion, affecting the House that decides on financial issues. The Russians were well aware that enlargement was a fait accompli. The only hope they had to block it was in changing the position of the Jewish groups that strongly supported NATO enlargement. The campaign by Moskal came out just before the vote in the Senate.

There were moments when Jewish leaders thought of withdrawing their support. Common sense and American national interest won out in the end. Eighty votes supported NATO enlargement, far more than the two-thirds needed.

The low point

Edward Moskal received the most mileage, and media attention, through his attacks on Jews. He claimed to be the authority on the Auschwitz death campFact|date=October 2008. With the doors of Washington being closed to him, he decided to opine on what was happening in Poland. In a letter to Prime Minister Buzek written in what was taken as a low insulting tone, he criticized the nomination of Wladyslaw Bartoszewski as a member of the Auschwitz committee (Bartoszewski was an inmate in Auschwitz). The letter ended on a religious note: "It brings me comfort to think that, with God's help, you shall be prime minister only until the spring."

Moskal continued with his attacks, such as that on professor Leon Kieres, who was nominated by the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) as head of the Institute of National Remembrance. Under the headline: "Another Trojan horse of Jewish organizations", Moskal reflected: "Who employs Kieres. Aren't these the lackeys who, feeling strange guilt, yield to Jewish demands.." In the same statement he advises Jews: "It would be better if they treated Palestinians properly without killing their children. Terrible is the image of a young Palestinian protected by his own father against Israeli gunfire, moments later dead from the bullets of these 'heroes'."

His public perception reached the lowest point after he verbally attacked "the courier from Warsaw", Jan Nowak-Jezioranski who had served Poland from the very beginning of WWII. Nowak served Poland well, contributing greatly to the fall of communism, and therefore received the highest Polish honor: the Order of the White Eagle. He also contributed, without any comparison, immeasurably more than Moskal to the NATO enlargement effortFact|date=October 2008.

Polish National Alliance

Moskal was named national treasurer in 1967. He left the position when he was elected PNA's president in 1988. He was re-elected in 2003. He was also elected as President of the Polish American Congress, an umbrella organization of 1,200 Polish-American fraternal, veteran and cultural groups, in 1988 and served in that office until his death.

His term as President was marked by a few innovations and advancements on the part of the PNA. Among other things, he instituted a complete computerization of the Home Office in Chicago, making it a state-of-the-art operation. It was also a period in which other smaller Polish American fraternal groups merged with the PNA, which had become the largest ethnic fraternal organization in the United States. He completed the initiation of broadcasting by radio station WPNA (1490 AM) in the Chicago area. Determined to secure the financial independence and growth of the PNA, he expanded the interests to the organization to include banking institutions under the name of Alliance FSB with branches in Niles and Chicago, Illinois. Constantly interested in keeping current with modern trends, he led the PNA into the new world of Internet communications with the creation of a website and widespread e-mail correspondence.

Under his nearly two-decade leadership, the 250,000-member PNA implemented its own banking institution, radio station and technology-friendly infrastructure that helped make it the largest ethnic fraternal organization in the United States.

Poland's President Lech Wałęsa awarded him the second highest civilian honor of the Republic of Poland, the Commander's Cross with Star. He was also made an honorary citizen of the city of Kraków, Poland. The title of Honorary Doctor was bestowed upon him by the University of Poznań Medical School in 1997.

Controversy

He took former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar by surprise at a Pulaski (Kazimierz Pułaski) Day event in 1996 by demanding the ouster of then state Education Superintendent Joseph A. Spagnolo for failing to order Illinois schools to teach about Pulaski, a Revolutionary War hero who was born in Poland.

When the late syndicated columnist Ann Landers used a racially derogatory term to describe Pope John Paul II in "The New Yorker", Moskal quipped, "She should have shut up after she made the nice remark about the pope."

Charges of anti-Semitism

At times, Moskal's impassioned declarations of ethnic pride were made at the expense of the Jewish community, drawing charges of anti-Semitism.

The American Jewish Committee severed its longtime ties with the PAC in 1996 after Moskal wrote a letter to Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, criticizing him and other Polish leaders for being too conciliatory toward Jews. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050323/ai_n13465475]

He made headlines a few years later when he speculated that Polish war hero Jan Nowak-Jeziorański was a Nazi collaborator.

In 2002, Moskal again angered Jewish groups when he made inflammatory remarks against then United States Representative candidate Rahm Emanuel in an effort to bolster support for Nancy Kaszak, Emanuel's opponent in the 5th Congressional District Democratic primary. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050323/ai_n13465475]

Moskal falsely claimed that Emanuel, a former Clinton aide, was a citizen of Israel and served in the country's army.

"As many in our community perhaps don't know, he is a citizen of another country and served in their armed forces for two years", Moskal said in the speech. "It is a reasonable guess that he . . . didn't throw spitballs at the Palestinians, but the country from which Poles came struggled for democracy was the country certain elements to which he gave his allegiance defiles the Polish homeland and continues to hurl insults at the Polish people. Sadly, there are those among us who will accept 30 pieces of silver to betray Polonia."

Moskal never apologized for his statements and refused to be labeled an anti-Semite. However, Kaszak distanced herself from Moskal. Emanuel won the nomination 51%-39% due to outrage from Moskal's comment, and went on to win the general election.

Death

Edward Moskal died on March 22, 2005, aged 80, in Chicago following a long illness. He was survived by his wife Wanda, daughter Pamela (Mrs. Dennis Komorowski), granddaughters Joyce (Mrs. Joseph Selby), Mary (Mrs. Dariusz Wieczorkiewicz), and Lisa Moskal, and their families.