Charles Albert Vanik (April 7, 1913 – August 30, 2007) was a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1955 to 1981.
Early life
Vanik was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Stella (née Kvasnicka) and Charles Albert Vanik, a butcher. He was of Czech ancestry. His maternal grandmother, Alžběta Seberová (1868–1948), was born in village Hracholusky, southern Bohemia (then part of the Austria-Hungary). Vanik completed undergraduate studies and a law degree at Western Reserve University. After serving on the Cleveland City Council from 1938 to 1939 and the Ohio State Senate from 1940 to 1942, Vanik enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, seeing action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. After the war, Vanik served as a city judge from 1946 to 1954.
United States House of Representatives
In 1954, he ran for Ohio's 21st congressional district. The district, located on Cleveland's East Side, was evenly divided between African Americans, who were then solidly Republican voters, and whites, who were mostly Democrats. In the Democratic primary, Vanik defeated longtime incumbent Congressman Robert Crosser as well as African-American challenger John Holly, founder of the Negro Future Outlook League.
In the general election, Vanik defeated African-American Republican Francis E. Young, who helped organize the Cleveland branch of the NAACP.