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NATIONAL
AHEPA STORY
THE RIPPLES WILL NOT CEASE
(From AHEPA National)
One hot summer day in 1922, two Greek
American businessmen, George Polos and John Angelopoules, both
traveling salesmen working out of Atlanta, met by chance in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Among other things, they talked about
the growing wave of hostility that targeted their nationality
and religion, It was a time when the Ku Klux Klan, reorganized
in 1917 and thriving on militant patriotism, was enjoying a
renaissance of hatred in the South. Meanwhile, in Washington
DC, Congress and the Federal Government were discussing ways
to stem the tide of ''less desirable" immigrants from
''certain'' countries, which invariably included the Balkan
nations.
Both men agreed there was a real need for a patriotic
organization that would direct and channel the energy of the Greek
community in the United States, a group that would be politically
nonpartisan and religiously non-sectarian.
There was never a shortage of Greek fraternal
organizations whose members came to America from the same region, island
or village. These were the topika sornatia that tended to
departmentalize the Greek American community, keeping it well outside of
the larger, mainstream American community.
These regional associations, along with the local
parish church, brought the struggling immigrant some much-needed comfort
satisfying the basic human need of "belonging," In so many cases the
members of these topika were instrumental in organizing and
building the Greek Orthodox parish church across the land. Fortunate for
future generations, many of these organizations are still around, So are
the communities they helped establish.
However, faced with the tenor of the times, Polos and
Angelopoulos agreed an organization with a much larger, national scope
was needed.
The idea for a Pan-Hellenic organization wasn't new.
There had been the Pan-Hellenic Union, established in 1907, But
victimized by its own fiscal mismanagement and charges that it was
flat-out an agent of the Greek government, it suffered an ignoble end
before the outbreak of World War I.
Both men agreed that a truly Amencan
fraternity of Greeks was the order of the day a national group that
could lead its members to rise above the political fights between
Monarchists and Venizelists that typified Greek American community life,
to its detriment.
Both believed something that so many immigrants
refused to admit: that the Greek settlers were here to stay. This was a
reality the Greek community in the United States was slow to accept.
The remarkable thing is that these two businessmen,
determined to contribute to American society, not be devoured by it,
didn't just talk, They acted.
They presented the idea to a group of twenty-five
members of the Atlanta Greek community. Seventeen men offered their
support, Now this group met in closed session, On July 26, 1922, the
American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association-the Order of AHEPA
was too a reality.
Twenty more meetings were held that year to lay the
groundwork. Constitution and bylaws were adopted. It was decided that
members had to be U.S. citizens or in the process of becoming citizens,
English was adopted as the organization' s official language, Annual
dues were set at $10, Officers were elected. The first president of
AHEPA was Nicholas C. Chotas, an Atlanta businessman,
AHEPA's first decade was characterized by explosive
growth, initially it was a fraternity based in the South and Southwest
of the 32 local chapters established between September 26, 1922 and
October 14, 1923, just three were in cities north of the Mason-Dixon
Line.
Appealing to a rising middle class of Greek Americans
interested in climbing the proverbial ladder of success and committed to
raising their families in America, AHEPA had 49 chapters and over 2,800
members by the end of 1924, By 1928 there were 192 chapters and over
17,000 members nationwide. Now many of the bigger chapters were in
northern cities. Some of the larger cities were host to two or more
AHEPA chapters.
The first of 75 national conventions was held in
Atlanta in 1923. The second conclave gathered in Washington DC in
September of 1924. The delegates agreed that the Order should have its
headquarters in the nation's capital, despite the fact that Washington
had no enormous Greek community. Wrote Seraphim Canoutas in his 1918
Greek American Guide., ''This community of about 600 Greeks is one
of the most peace-loving and progressive in America, showing none of the
absurdities which are usually seen in some of the other communities and
colonies.''
At this convention the 47 delegates laid a wreath at
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and honored Greek American World War I
hero George Dilboy, who was originally from Asia Minor. They also called
at the White House, where they were cordially received by President
Calvin Coolidge,
AHEPA was making its presence known and from the very
start had its critics: people who objected to its Masonic approach, were
suspicious of its secrecy, disdainful of what one dissenting voice
called ''little Napoleons" vying for power
Above all, the most vocal critics condemned AHEPA's
unabashed Americanism and what was perceived as Sending young AHEPANs to
Greece teaches the next AHEPA generation about Hellenic culture, while
the campaign to return the Olympics Games to Olympia promotes Hellenism
in North America. Evzones from the Hellenic Presidential Guard
present the Greek flag during the 1986 Congressional Banquet
unrestrained assimilationism
By 1923 AHEPA had a rival: GAPA, or the Greek
American Progressive Association. Along with publications of the Greek
Press, GAPA charged AHEPANs were ''opportunists" and
"pseudo-patriots''-"anti-Hellenes committed to a program of de-Hellenization.''
On the language question AHEPA stood by English as
the language of the country in which they'd chosen to live. AHEPA's
publications were in English
GAPA's publications were in Greek, Greek was heard
more or less exclusively at GAPA meetings,
GAPA chose to openly ally itself with the Greek
Orthodox Church in America-an institution that in the '20s admittedly
needed all the help it could get, AHEPA maintained its distance from
religious affairs, GAPA made its headquarters in Pittsburgh, where it
was founded, amid a large Greek community. AHEPA had quickly opted for
Washington,
The Royalist-Venizelist controversies more or less a
thing of the past, the rivalry between AHEPA and GAPA now kept community
affairs lively and sometimes hostile,
Though by 1928 GAPA had organized fifty chapters,
primarily in cities with large Greek populations, it never achieved the
success AHEPA enjoyed,
AHEPA would be inherently bettered suited for the
transition from a strictly Greek-born membership to one that
accommodated Greeks born in the old country and the New World. It would
prove more in tune with what it recognized early on was the
inevitability of assimilation resulting from undeniably permanent
residence in a multi-national country like the United States.
Nor was AHEPA as radical as its detractors charged.
Once its super-patriotism cooled off somewhat, AHEPA adopted a blend of
what its members considered the most positive aspects of both the
Hellenic and American cultures.
In 1924 AHEPA President VJ. Chebithes appealed to
chapters to sponsor Greek orphans left homeless following the Asia Minor
disaster of two years earlier. $5 a month was required to sponsor a
child, and some AHEPA chapters sponsored as many as thirty.
At its 1925 Chicago convention AHEPA urged the U.S.
government to extend a $50 million loan to Greece-and the aid came
through, $12,000 was appropriated for a scholarship fund. And, in an
effort to keep peace in the volatile Greek American community, AHEPA
took pain to emphasize it did not oppose the existence of the
foreign-language press in the United States.
At the 1926 convention in Philadelphia a junior
order, the Sons of Pericles, was organized for the 12-21 age group. The
first Sons chapter was established a short time later in Manchester, New
Hampshire. In time AHEPA would add auxiliaries for women and
young women, too, The Daughters of Penelope and the Maids of Athena
would round out a complete 'AHEPA Family,"
In 1927 AHEPA raised more than $53,000 for charitable
and philanthropic activities, The following year, in a matter of a few
critical months, the members pooled over $40,000 to aid the city of
Corinth, which had been devastated by an earthquake. AHEPA was making a
difference, insisted its members, and on both sides of the
Atlantic.
In 1929 a corps of AHEPANs marched in President
Herbert Hoover's inaugural parade-a ''first'' for any Hellenic-American
group, It was a proud and genteel occasion that also included a visit to
the White House.
In the coming years AHEPA built a stronger, more
visible profile in Washington. Seventy-five Senators and Congressmen
attended the Order's first Congressional Banquet, organized by George C.
Vournas. Today that biennial event is an AHEPA tradition. In
recent years honorees have included President Lyndon Johnson, Vice
Presidents Spiro Agnew (whose father, Theodore, helped found Baltimore's
AHEPA Chapter No. 30 in 1922) and Hubert Humphrey, Greek Prime Minister
(now President) Constantine Karamanlis, Patriarch Athenagoras and
comedian-humanitarian Bob Hope,
In 1932 AHEPA fought tooth-and-nail the speculations
of the Wickersham Congressional Committee on Crime in the U.S. Its
damning allegations infuriated the Greek American community, one of its
victims. AHEPA, relying on as grass roots strength across the land,
organized fact-finding forces in every state and succeeded in proving
that the Wickersham Report was nothing more than a shameful and
inaccurate sham.
In this kind of activity AHEPA was an anti-defamation
group that the Greek American community never really had.
AHEPA's friendly, indeed brotherly relations with
President Franklin D. Roosevelt also enhanced the organization's
stature. FDR had been initiated as a member of AHEPA back when he was
Governor of New York, Now AHEPA's regular visits to the Oval Office took
on an added significance. They weren't the stiff, formal occasions they
had been with Herbert Hoover and Silent Cal.
The dark days of World War 11 changed many a life,
galvanizing the AHEPA membership and demonstrating just how much such an
organization could achieve. The poignant turning point for Greek
Americans came more than a year before Pearl Harbor. On October 28, 1940
Mussolini's troops invaded Greece from the north. That day is still
remembered and revered as " Ohi Day."
An AHEPA visit to President Roosevelt a short time
after brought about what the White House termed "an unusual procedure, "
as FDR announced a promise of U.S. aid to Greece in her hour of peril.
The Greeks fought the Italians for five months and
dealt Mussolini utter defeat. They managed to hold off Hitler's massive
war machine for another three weeks before being overwhelmed, That
heroism captured the world's admiration.
The Greek War Relief Association (GWRA), spearheaded
by the Skouras brothers and other AHEPANs in the movie theater business
raised $4 million in food and supplies by May 1941. AHEPANs in various
businesses donated a day's or a week's profits to the cause, and many
contributions came from non-Greeks. AHEPANs provided about 90% of the
labor force in GWRA efforts speculate historian Theodore Saloutos,
thanks again to its grassroots strength.
AHEPA's 1942 convention, celebrating the Order's 20th
anniversary, was held in Atlanta. George Vournas of Washington DC was
elected President and would lead the organization through the war years.
At the Atlanta convention it was announced that the
Treasury Department had named AHEPA an official Issuing Agent for U.S.
War Bonds, an honor achieved by no other civic organization. Quotas were
assigned to each chapter to reach a goal of $50 million in only four
months.
Steve Vasilakos, dubbed 'AHEPA's No. I War Bond
Salesman" had long been a familiar face in front of the White House,
selling peanuts from his pushcart He offered a free bag of goobers to
each person who bought a bond. His first customer was Sam Rayburn,
Speaker of the House of Representatives. The exchange was seen at the
movies on the newsreel. There were many more customers, and the
successful drive was extended.
Michael Loris, a Brooklyn AHEPAN, sold 24,142
individual, small denomination bonds in twelve months. A Zanesville,
Ohio AHEPAN sold $44,566 worth of War bonds in one day, Ultimately the
project brought in revenues of $500 million.
The success of the War Bond drive launched a new era
for the AHEPA, an era of increased visibility, influence and involvement
in Washington that continues to this day.
In its so-called first phase, from 1922 to 1945, the
emphasis was on "Americanization" and citizenship programs. Following
the War AHEPA broadened its scope and horizons. Now over half of the
membership was American-born. Many of AHEPA's Post-War projects would be
related to rebuilding a war-torn Greece and, in contrast to its original
goal, keeping Hellenism alive among the American born generations of
Greeks.
Following World War Il AHEPANs continued raising
money for hospitals in Greece and other Greek war relief programs,
However, civil war was raging in the motherland, AHEPANs were concerned,
So was the Truman Administration, On March 12, 1947 President Truman
appealed to Congress for immediate military aid. Congress came through
and the Truman Doctrine, as it came to be known, was vital in saving
Greece from Communism.
AHEPA maintained the warmest of relations with
Truman, who was initiated into the Order on Greek Independence Day-March
25th-1946, When the President addressed AHEPA's Congressional Banquet,
he said, "I've never had a more enthusiastic reception anywhere!"
That year AHEPA's first Health Center opened in
Chrysoupolis, in northern Greece. Construction began on an AHEPA Wing at
Athens' Evangelismos Hospital. Other health centers were rising, though
construction was often slowed and sometimes halted by guerilla attacks.
AHEPA had come of age; there was no question about
the loyalty of Greek Americans to the United States or about
citizenship. The reason for establishing such an organization was now a
proud memory and AHEPA's enduring foundation.
AHEPA continued its educational and humanitarian
efforts and civic-minded programs, focusing much of its energy on a
homeland in desperate need of help.
In the vanguard, AHEPA passed a resolution urging
self-determination for Cyprus as early as 1946, setting up a Cyprus
Affairs Committee two years later. In 1950 AHEPA called the world's
attention to the estimated 28,000 children abducted by Communist forces
in the Greek Civil War. In 1964 AHEPA sent its first delegation to
Cyprus. And today there is AHEPA-PAC, AHEPA's political action
committee.
In the last fifteen years, demonstrating an
increasing sense of unity not always characteristic of the inner
workings of AHEPA in previous years, the organization has worked to
become a bridge between the Greek and American people and their
governments, making, maintaining and developing key contacts on Capitol
Hill and in Constitution Square,
In an effort to inform the Greek American community,
as well as the larger American community and the Washington community in
particular, AHEPA sponsors conferences on foreign affairs that bring
together government officials, political scientists, leading journalists
and, of course, AHEPANs, Last year's forum focused on Cyprus; this
year's examines Greek-U.S. relations.
Nor is it uncommon to find AHEPA leaders testifying
on Capitol Hill before the House Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle
East or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
AHEPA's official voice is its magazine, edited by
Elias Vlanton and Executive Director Timothy Maniatis, who holds the
fort at National Headquarters in Washington. The first issue of the
AHEPAN, edited by Achilles Catsonis, came out 58 years ago.
In addition to press releases, salvos fired off to
government officials and letters to the editors of the Wall Street
journal, the New York Times and other publications large and small,
AHEPA publishes its own materials, The most recent offering was Cyprus:
From Independence to Partition by University of Indiana-Purdue
University Professor Van Coufoudakis.
''These publications aim to educate arid inform,''
says Thomas L. Chase former chairman of the AHEPA Cyprus and Hellenic
Affairs Committee. ''They form an important part of AHEPA's overall
program.''
Indeed, education, in a variety of forms, has been a
pillar of AHEPA since the very beginning.
AHEPA started out educating the immigrant, and acclimating him, as AHEPA
chronicler George J. Leber phrased it, "making him a gentleman,
In the early years AHEPA's education program
emphasized citizenship and Greek as well as American history. Today it's
a different story. With the third and fourth generations of Greek
Americans coming of age, AHEPA is doing precisely what GAPA accused it
of not doing and actually working against: that is, promoting and
preserving Hellenism's and Prime Ministers, ambassadors and spirit and
values.
Scholarships have been part of AHEPA's civic service
since the Chicago convention of 1925. Paralleling that, AHEPA began
building the bridge back to the motherland in 1928, when over 500
AHEPANs set sail aboard the S.S. Sinaia. Those days, before the Concord
and Super-Savers, it was quite an event, a pilgrimage,
Today AHEPA gives scholarships on the local
and national levels to promising Greek American students. Its "Journey
to Greece'' program, for high school students, emphasizes Hellenic
culture, history and language.
AHEPA and individual AHEPANs have been a force in
establishing Greek and Byzantine studies programs at colleges and
universities around the country.
AHEPA has been re-focusing too, placing renewed
emphasis on Hellenic culture, past and present. The AHEPA Cultural
Foundation has sponsored an evening of Greek poetry and music at
Wolftrap and lectures on archaeological finds in Cyprus lately,
As a civic-minded group AHEPA has always recognized
Americans, Greek and non-Greek, who make valuable contributions to the
community and society at large. These have included Presidents
humanitarians, recipients of AHEPA award made in the name -of Socrates
and Pericles.
The athlete has a very special place in Greek history
and culture and, with AHEPA, so it remains. The Order has always taken
enormous pride in the achievements of the Greek American athlete, going
back to the heyday of world class wrestler Jim Londos. AHEPA's Harry
Agganis Award was established in 1955, in memory of the great
all-American who died in his prime. Agganis honorees have included: in
football, Detroit Lion Alex Karras; in basketball, Boston Celtic Lou
Tsiropoulos; and in baseball, Baltimore Oriole Milt Pappas, Among recent
recipients are Olympic diver Greg Louganis and University of Georgia
football coach and All-American Mike Castronis,
The William G, Chirgotis Award, made to outstanding
collegiate athletes, was established in 1972, AHEPA also recognizes
outstanding professional and amateur women in athletics.
On the local, district and national levels, AHEPA and
its junior orders sponsor a wide variety of athletic events and
tournaments, believing, like the ancient Greeks, that sports and
competition are an important part of daily and civic life.
Nor has AHEPA forgotten the elderly, Soon the fourth
Senior Citizen's Center organized under AHEPA's auspices will open,
President Zambetis was recently in Mobile, Alabama to break ground for
this newest one, These facilities are being sponsored on the local level
in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), requiring seed monies of at least $10,000. St. Michael's Home for
the Aged, operated by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South
America, has also prospered thanks, in part to AHEPA funding,
Devoted to ideals of American and Hellenic culture,
education and progress, AHEPA, despite its critics, has achieved
singular success, Since 1922 it has been vital force in the life of the
Greek American community.
Summing up the Order of AHEPA, Theodore Saloutos
wrote: ''More than anything else, through the years it accomplished more
in identifying Greek Americans with the greater American community than
did all the other organizations combined."
AHEPA's tradition is a proud one. Its legacy is a
real one. Its mission goes on, setting sight on new horizons. AHEPA's
active role in the Greek American community's development and
achievements is a portrait of unselfish public service,
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