Mate Meštrović (born 13 September 1930,

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

Sava Banovina The Sava Banovina or Sava Banate ( hr, Savska banovina), was a province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1939. It was named after the Sava River and consisted of much of the present-day Croatia (the areas of historical Croa ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

), also known as Matthew Mestrovic (or Matthew Meštrović), is an American journalist and academic,

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

ian lobbyist,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

. The son of Croatian-American sculptor

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...

, he attended grade school in

before his family moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1942. The family lived in Switzerland from 1943-46 where he finished 'Ecole Internationale de Genève'.Josip Jurčević, Crna knjiga komunizma u Hrvatskoj (Zločini jugoslavenskih komunista u Hrvatskoj 1945. godine)
Počasni bleiburški vod, Zagreb, 2006; , page 77. The family moved to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

the following year where his father continued his work as an artist and where Mate would spend most of his life. He graduated from university in 1951 and the following year received a master's degree in history at the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. From 1954–1956, he served as a lieutenant in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

PsyWar in the Pacific and is also a

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

veteran. He earned a PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in 1957. He worked as a Contributing Editor of ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' and wrote many articles for American and European newspapers and magazines, including '' Commonweal'', '' The New Leader'', "The Intelligence Report" of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econ ...

'', etc. He taught as Modern European history at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

and other United States universities from 1967–1991. In 1986, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Meštrović was active in the Croatian independence movement in

Communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. Meštrović led the Croatian National Congress. He visited

for the first time in 1969. During this visit he made contacts with members of ''

Hrvatski književni list Croatian (; ' ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the official ...

'' and

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illy ...

. From 1982-90 he served as president of the

Croatian National Council The Croatian National Council ( hr, Hrvatsko narodno vijeće, HNV) was a representative body of Croatian emigrant groups which operated from 1974 to the nation's independence in 1991. At the Croatian Parliament held in Chicago from November 23 t ...

, an umbrella group of Croatian emigrant organizations which lobbied for Croatian independence. Meštrović has written several books in English and Croatian, notably ''What you should know about Communism and why'', ''The struggle for Croatia'' and ''In the whirlpool of Croatian Politics''. In the U.S., he published

Franjo Tudjman Franjo is a Croatian masculine given name. In Croatia, the name Franjo was among the top ten most common masculine given names in the decades up to 1949. Notable people with the name include: * Franjo Arapović (born 1965), former Croatian basket ...

's book, ''Nationalism in Contemporary Europe'', and Venko Markovski's ''Goli Otok – The Island of Death''. He also authored several political tracts, notably ''Violations of Human and National Rights of the Croatian People in Yugoslavia'' and ''Croatian Response to the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art''. Meštrović returned to Croatia in the early 1990s. He served as a deputy in the Croatian Parliament (1993–97), member of Croatia's delegation to the Council of Europe and the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other ...

and ambassador in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

(1997–2000).

Honours

* Commander's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident a ...

(2019)

Notes

References

"What you should know about communism and why"

"What Was Fascism?"
*
University of Notre Dame archives

PREDSJEDNIK REPUBLIKE HRVATSKE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mestrovic, Mate 1930 births Living people Politicians from Zagreb Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament 20th-century Croatian historians Ambassadors of Croatia to Bulgaria Yugoslav emigrants to the United States United States Army officers United States Army personnel of the Korean War Yugoslav anti-communists Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Syracuse University alumni