Louis Adamic and the Second World War in American and Slovenian Historiography

The authors present Adamic's role during the Second World War. Adamic was active in various American organizations such as the Common Council for American Unity and the US government’s National Defense Commission. He took the position that the ethnic diversity of the American population must be taken into account when activating it for the US military effort. He was also a leading member of organizations of American South Slavic immigrants, such as the United Committee of South-Slavic Americans and the Slovenian American National Council. More recent American literature on Yugoslav Americans during World War II deals with them predominantly as a problem of national security for the US, on the basis of which we discover new horizons of Adamic’s activities during the Second World War.
KEY WORDS: Louis Adamic, UCSSA, FBI, communism, Yugoslavia

In the article, the authors present a new perspective on Louis Adamic’s role during the Second World War, especially in the light of contemporary historiography. Adamic’s political and publicist activity in the United States undoubtedly increased the likelihood of the official recognition of Tito’s Yugoslavia by the US. It also helped raise sympathy for the Partisans instead of the Chetniks, who were presented in his writings as occupying collaborators. To date, historiographies in the US and Slovenia have not been particularly concerned with the views of the US security services on Adamic’s political activity Recent US literature has devoted much more attention to this issue. Newly accessible documents also provide researchers with a better overview and a wealth of new research material. The interpretation of Adamic’s role during the Second World War in Slovenia must be understood through the distinction between two periods: before and after 1991. After 1991, researchers began to deal with Adamic’s legacy more critically. Adamic was an extremely complex personality. Although he was sympathetic to liberal and leftist views, he believed in the American ideals of freedom and democracy. He also epitomizes the story of a successful and outgoing critically-minded immigrant who paved his way to success through hard work and effort, with the help of a free press. However, for Adamic, part of the “American dream” meant that he could be critical of capitalist society, consumerism and American foreign policy in general, as well as the US’s “melting pot” policy. Through his criticism, he wanted to encourage important processes that could have improved the situation of immigrants, workers, and other marginalized groups in American society. Because of this, he was closely monitored by the US security services (FBI) during the Second World War. In the article, the authors also discuss how the FBI followed Adamic during the war and assessed his actions, thoughts and tactics. Most of them were mistaken in their assessments, especially of Adamic’s complex personality. Adamic was regarded as a “communist fellow traveler”, although he was never a member of the Communist Party, nor did he share their beliefs. He supported the efforts of the Yugoslav partisans and Yugoslav communists for pragmatic reasons – because he believed that they were the only political force capable of realizing the idea of the creation of federal Yugoslavia, which Adamic also advocated. The authors conclude their article with the issue of Adamic’s untimely death.