![]() The next night, Dukakis dined on fried squid, uncorked a bottle of Mt. It, too, is owned by a Greek-American supporter. Later, he donned a hard hat to tour Metron Steel, one of the nation’s largest steel refabrication plants. The restaurant is owned by a Greek-American supporter. Campaigning in gritty East Chicago shortly before last month’s Illinois primary, Dukakis ate breakfast with two dozen unemployed factory workers at the Lion’s Den. “I can think of lots of Greek Americans who say: ‘I’m glad he’s running, but I’m voting for George Bush,’ ” said Elias Vlanton, AHEPA spokesman in Washington.īut those sentiments seem rare around Dukakis. Although Dukakis was wildly cheered at the annual convention of AHEPA, the nation’s largest Greek-American civic organization, in New Orleans last August, some Greek-Americans believe the applause may stop in the voting booth. “Blood is thicker than ideology,” he explains. Moskos says Greek-Americans are willing to overlook Dukakis’ more liberal politics. One reason is they tend to be conservative and usually vote Republican, according to Charles Moskos, a Northwestern University sociologist who has studied the Greek-American community and says they are America’s second-wealthiest ethnic group after Jews. ![]() Greek-Americans are quick to point out now that Agnew’s name was Anglicized, that his mother wasn’t even Greek, and that he was an Episcopalian anyway.īut Agnew, a Republican, was popular with Greek-Americans while in office. Nixon’s vice president in October, 1973, hours before pleading no contest to income tax evasion. “It’s one reason he’s held in such high esteem.” Athens, a Chicago industrialist who holds the highest lay position in the church and is one of Dukakis’ most successful fund-raisers. Greeks respect those religious ties, said Andrew A. ![]() seminary, the Brookline-based Holy Cross School of Theology. In addition, Dukakis serves on the board of the church’s only U.S. “He is very close,” says Dukakis, who meets with the archbishop regularly. ![]() Although he attends church only on special holidays now, his early training had an unexpected benefit: His then parish priest is now His Eminence Iakovos, archbishop of North and South America, the Greek Orthodox Church’s most powerful figure outside Greece. When growing up in suburban Brookline, Mass., Dukakis attended Sunday school for eight years at Boston’s Greek Evangelismos Cathedral. “It’s meant people power, phone banks, dollars, staff people, emotion and moral support early on,” said Nick Mitropoulos, a Dukakis senior adviser. It is a new chapter in America’s melting-pot story: The people whose ancestors invented democracy now are a critical base of support for a leading contender for the Democratic nomination. To a remarkable degree, he has mobilized an army of Greek-Americans, one of the wealthiest-and usually one of the most Republican-ethnic groups in the nation, to help organize and finance his presidential bid.Īs he heads toward the New York primary on April 19, Dukakis’ schedule is laden with events intended to tap those roots, especially in the New York City borough of Queens, which has the nation’s largest concentration of Greeks.Īfter decades of quiet assimilation, the nation’s 1 million Greek-Americans are exerting political power this election year as never before. If Dukakis played up his Hellenic heritage at the fund-raiser in this Chicago suburb last month, he had good reason, for the 54-year-old son of Greek immigrants owes special thanks to his Greek connections. And, next March 25, Greek Independence Day, “the East Room will be a very nice place to dance the hasapiko, “ he said with a grin. His only worry, he told the throng, was where “to plant my tomatoes” in the White House garden. ![]()
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