2081-3309 The Imagined Exiles: Slovak‑Americans and the Slovak Question during the First Czechoslovak Republic Cude Michael author Fort Lewis College 00aad7q36 Correspondence to: Michael Cude MRCUDE@FORTLEWIS.EDU 24 07 2014 Tom 5 (2014) 2014 287 305 Copyright © 2014 2014 <p style="text-align: left;">Michael Cude’s article examines how Slovak immigrants in the United States related to their homeland, particularly on questions of national sovereignty (the ‘Slovak Question’). Free from the grip of denationalization efforts in pre-First World War Hungary, Slovak leaders in America established organizations geared toward Slovak national development and political activism, eventually leading to an effort to pressure Hungary from abroad to open up to cultural and political autonomy for the Slovaks. When the Czechoslovak independence movement was organized in exile after the outbreak of the First World War, its leaders attempted to utilize these existing Slovak-American organizations for financial, military, and diplomatic support. This campaign pushed many Slovak‑Americans to absorb a sense of direct influence on the affairs of their homeland, and, consequently, it caused them ample frustration when this influence later dissipated in the First Czechoslovak Republic. In response to this frustration, Slovak-American political activists replanted their fight over the Slovak Question against the newly formed government in Prague. Although the Slovak-Americans were not a true exile group, they embraced the mentality and approach of exiles, fighting from abroad to advance Slovak national aspirations. In addition, they regularly served as proxies in support of true political exiles. 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