While shaking hands with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida on February 15, 1933, Cermak was shot in the lung and mortally wounded by Giuseppe Zangara, who was attempting to assassinate Roosevelt.
At the critical moment, Lillian Cross, a woman standing near Zangara, hit Zangara's arm with her purse and spoiled his aim.
In addition to Cermak, Zangara hit four other people, one of whom, Mabel Gill, also died of her wounds.
 
Once at the hospital, Cermak reportedly uttered the line that is engraved on his tomb, saying to Roosevelt "I'm glad it was me, not you."
The Chicago Tribune reported the quote without attributing it to a witness, and most scholars doubt that it was ever said.
Zangara was executed in the electric chair months later for the shooting.

Zangara told the police that he hated rich and powerful people but not Roosevelt personally.
Later, rumors circulated that Cermak, not Roosevelt, had been the intended target, as his promise to clean up Chicago's rampant lawlessness posed a threat to Al Capone and the Chicago organized crime syndicate.
One of the first people to suggest the organized crime theory was reporter Walter Winchell, who happened to be in Miami the evening of the shooting.
 According to Roosevelt biographer Jean Edward Smith, there is no proof for this theory.

Long-time Chicago newsman Len O'Connor offers a different view of the events surrounding the mayor's assassination.
He has written that aldermen Paddy Bauler and Charlie Weber informed him that relations between Cermak and Roosevelt were strained because Cermak fought Roosevelt's nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

Author Ronald Humble offers another view as to why Cermak was killed.
In his book Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer, Humble contends that Cermak was as corrupt as Thompson and that the Chicago Outfit hired Zangara to kill Cermak in retaliation for Cermak's attempt to murder Frank Nitti.

Cermak died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on March 6, partly because of his wounds.
On March 30, however, his personal physician, Dr. Karl A. Meyer, said that the primary cause of Cermak's death was ulcerative colitis, commenting, "The mayor would have recovered from the bullet wound had it not been for the complication of colitis.
The autopsy disclosed the wound had healed ... the other complications were not directly due to the bullet wound."

Cermak was interred in a mausoleum at Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago.
The mayor's death was followed by a struggle for succession to his party chairmanship and to the mayor's office.

A plaque honoring Cermak still lies at the site of the assassination in Miami's Bayfront Park.
It is inscribed with Cermak's alleged words to Roosevelt after he was shot, "I'm glad it was me instead of you."
Following Cermak's death, 22nd Street, a major east-west artery that traversed Chicago's West Side and the close-in suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn, areas with a significant Czech population, was renamed Cermak Road.
Zangara was charged with murder after Cermak's death, and electrocuted in Florida's electric chair on March 20, 1933.
In 1943, a Liberty ship, the SS A. J. Cermak was named in Cermak's honor.
It was scrapped in 1964.
While shaking hands with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida on February 15, 1933, Cermak was shot in the lung and mortally wounded by Giuseppe Zangara, who was attempting to assassinate Roosevelt. At the critical moment, Lillian Cross, a woman standing near Zangara, hit Zangara's arm with her purse and spoiled his aim. In addition to Cermak, Zangara hit four other people, one of whom, Mabel Gill, also died of her wounds.  
Once at the hospital, Cermak reportedly uttered the line that is engraved on his tomb, saying to Roosevelt "I'm glad it was me, not you." The Chicago Tribune reported the quote without attributing it to a witness, and most scholars doubt that it was ever said. Zangara was executed in the electric chair months later for the shooting.
Zangara told the police that he hated rich and powerful people but not Roosevelt personally. Later, rumors circulated that Cermak, not Roosevelt, had been the intended target, as his promise to clean up Chicago's rampant lawlessness posed a threat to Al Capone and the Chicago organized crime syndicate. One of the first people to suggest the organized crime theory was reporter Walter Winchell, who happened to be in Miami the evening of the shooting.  According to Roosevelt biographer Jean Edward Smith, there is no proof for this theory. 
Long-time Chicago newsman Len O'Connor offers a different view of the events surrounding the mayor's assassination. He has written that aldermen Paddy Bauler and Charlie Weber informed him that relations between Cermak and Roosevelt were strained because Cermak fought Roosevelt's nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago. 
Author Ronald Humble offers another view as to why Cermak was killed. In his book Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer, Humble contends that Cermak was as corrupt as Thompson and that the Chicago Outfit hired Zangara to kill Cermak in retaliation for Cermak's attempt to murder Frank Nitti.
Cermak died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on March 6, partly because of his wounds. On March 30, however, his personal physician, Dr. Karl A. Meyer, said that the primary cause of Cermak's death was ulcerative colitis, commenting, "The mayor would have recovered from the bullet wound had it not been for the complication of colitis. The autopsy disclosed the wound had healed ... the other complications were not directly due to the bullet wound."
Cermak was interred in a mausoleum at Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago. The mayor's death was followed by a struggle for succession to his party chairmanship and to the mayor's office. 
A plaque honoring Cermak still lies at the site of the assassination in Miami's Bayfront Park. It is inscribed with Cermak's alleged words to Roosevelt after he was shot, "I'm glad it was me instead of you." Following Cermak's death, 22nd Street, a major east-west artery that traversed Chicago's West Side and the close-in suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn, areas with a significant Czech population, was renamed Cermak Road. Zangara was charged with murder after Cermak's death, and electrocuted in Florida's electric chair on March 20, 1933. In 1943, a Liberty ship, the SS A. J. Cermak was named in Cermak's honor. It was scrapped in 1964.
Anton Cermak