Italian-Americans Quotes
The Congressman was a major opponent of Wilson's post World War I peace negotiations. In particular he, and most Italian-Americans, felt that Italian / Austrian border adjustments were unfair to Italy. Never one to miss a partisan opportunity, he addressed his constituency in Italian:
In a House debate in 1923 on the Nordic or Latin discovery of America, Congressman Summers of Washington asked Italian-American Congressman La Guardia to yield to ask whether or not Christopher Columbus had come from "your country."
See his other quotation on Jews and Italians
The Congressman represented a heavily Italian district that was very ambivalent about fighting for America in World War I. He addressed his constituents.
The Tammany Hall leader was very close. In 1934 Fiorello La Guardia, half Italian and half Jewish, was sworn in for the first of his three mayoralty terms.
An insight to the culture and norms of the times may be gleaned from the fact that Hoover would have dared write material of this kind to an Italian-American member of Congress.
