Pittsburgh Agreement

The Pittsburgh Agreement was a memorandum of understanding completed on 31 May 1918, between members of Czech and Slovak expatriate communities in the United States. It replaced the Cleveland Agreement of 22 October 1915. It is named for the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the agreement was made.

The agreement prescribed the intent of the cosignatories to create an independent Czechoslovakia. This was achieved on 18 October 1918, when the primary author of the agreement, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, declared the independence of Czechoslovakia. Masaryk was elected the first president of Czechoslovakia in November 1918.

The historical setting of the Pittsburgh Agreement was the impending dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the months before the end of World War I. By September 1918, it was evident that the forces of the Habsburg monarchy, the rulers of Austria-Hungary, would be defeated by the Allies: Britain, France, and Russia. Between 1860 and 1918, close to one million people of Slovak and Czech ethnicity migrated to the United States and other nations. At the time, these immigrants were officially recorded as Austrians or Hungarians (Magyars), which did not reflect their actual ethnic origin. However, the United States allowed Czech and Slovak nationalist groups to form and operate. On 22 October 1915, at the Bohemian National Hall on Broadway, Cleveland, Ohio the Slovak League of America and the Bohemian (Czech) National Alliance signed the Cleveland Agreement. With this, the two groups agreed to work together towards a united and independent state for Czechs and Slovaks. Joining the Czech and the Slovak population groups helped the Slovaks break away from the Hungarian state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and created a state with a clear Slavic majority to overcome the large German-speaking population of Bohemia.

On Friday, 31 May 1918, a meeting of the Czecho-Slovak National Council under the presidency of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was called into order at the Loyal Order of Moose Building, 628-634 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Present were representatives of fraternal organizations including the Slovak League of America; the Czech National Federation; the First Slovak Evangelical League and the Association of Czech Catholics. These associations represented immigrants to America from Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Czech Silesia. (Thursday, 30 May 1918, the Memorial Day public holiday saw many Czech and Slovak residents of Pittsburgh come downtown to fete Masaryk's arrival).

The signed document bring data 30 May 1918.^{[clarification needed]}

An agreement was drafted which read:

Bielek, born in Slovakia, was vice president and director of the Czecho Slovak Commercial Corp. of America, an import company founded in 1918.