Anton Joseph Cermak was born May 9th, 1873 in Kladno, Bohemia (a village near Prague), and emigrated to the United States as a child in 1874. His father was a coal miner, and soon young Anton was working long hours in the coal mines near Joliet, earning $1.50 a day. After coming to Chicago, Cermak worked as a railroad brakeman and in 1892 started a hauling business (wood, coal, etc.), working as a teamster, which would later earn him the nickname Pushcart Tony.

Cermak became a Democratic precinct worker, organized the United Societies for Local Self Government, and in 1902 became a state legislator. He held the position of Chief Bailiff in 1915. Cermak was a founder and president of the Czech Assistance Committee, which was created in response to the capsizing of the Eastland. The Committee collected donations for the family survivors of the victims, immediately helping those most in need. He later used his knowledge of government land purchase plans to make a fortune speculating in real estate, earning over seven million dollars. In 1928, Cermak ran an unsuccessful campaign as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

On February 24, 1931, he won the Democratic primary election, defeating John B. De Voney. Then on April 7, 1931, Cermak won the general election as the 35th mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican incumbent William 'Big Bill' Hale Thompson by nearly 200,000 votes to become the first and only foreign-born mayor of Chicago. He assumed office on April 9th, the formal inauguration ceremonies following April 27th at 7:30 p.m., where he gave his inaugural address.

Cermak gained the enmity of the Chicago mob by protecting his ally, labor organizer Roger Touhy. On December 19, 1932 he sent two police sergeants to 221 N. LaSalle to arrest Frank Nitti. A gun fight erupted, severely wounding Nitti. To claim self-defense, Sergeant Lang shot himself in the hand and claimed Nitti had fired first. Nitti recovered from the shooting, and was put on trial for shooting Sergeant Lang. During the trial, Cermak and his aides travelled to Florida to escape Nitti's wrath.

In Miami on February 15, 1933, Cermak made a public appearance in a parade with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. The parade car moved slowly down the street as President-elect Roosevelt and Mayor Cermak smiled and waved. The car stopped and Roosevelt gave a speech while sitting on the back of the car. Five shots rang out, and a nearby photographer joked "Just like Chicago, eh mayor?" The bullets hit four bystanders (including a mother of 5 children) and Mayor Cermak. Cermak had been mortally wounded, shot by Italian immigrant Giuseppe Zangara. The mayor fell out of the car and called out "The President, get him away!". But Roosevelt ordered his car to stop and had the Mayor put in with him. President-elect Roosevelt held Cermak all the way to the hospital. On March 6, 1933, Cermak succummed to his wound. Before he died, he is reported to have said to the President, "I am glad it was me instead of you, Mr. President." Never displaying any remorse for his actions, Giuseppe Zangara was executed in the electric chair on March 21, 1933.

It has never been determined who was Zangara's target. Most assumed at first that he had been shooting at the President. Another theory, however, holds that Cermak had been the intended victim all along, in retribution for the shooting of Frank Nitti, and that his death may have been ordered by the imprisoned Al Capone. The Nitti trial ended in a hung jury and Nitti walked.

The Chicago Czech-Americans had lost their hero and their voice. In his honor, 22nd Street was renamed Cermak Road. Cermak was the second mayor of Chicago to be assassinated. He is buried in Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago, IL.