Prilozi za političku biografiju dr. Ljudevita Kežmana: od "Memoranduma" za Mirovnu konferenciju u Parizu do odlaska u Sjedinjene Američke Države
Contributions to a Political Biography of Dr. Ljudevit Kežman: from the "Memorandum" to the Peace Conference in Paris to his Departure to the USA

Summary/Abstract: In the annals of Croatian political history during the first half of the 20th century, a significant number of Catholic priests played an important role in life of political parties active in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Dr. Ludjevit Kežman, a priest of the archdiocese of Zagreb, was a prominent member of Radić's Croatian (People's-Republican) Peasant Party (H/P-R/SS). Along with fulfilling the duty of secretary of Main Committee of the Party, Kežman was also a respresentative in all of the parliaments between 1920 and 1929. As one of Radić's closest collaborators he took part in all the activities which the H(P-R)SS undertook in its struggle to win the support of the Croatian peasantry. Radić especially valued Kežman's knowledge of foreign languages (French, English, German and others) and thus on many occasions he sent him abroad as a special emissary of the party who was tasked with carrying out duties of a confidential nature. At the beginning of 1919 he was entrusted with the duty of finding a secure connection for delivering the «Memorandum» of the H(P-R)SS to the Peace Conference in Paris. Even though it is not clear whether the Memorandum ever reached the French capital, Kežman demonstrated that he could be trested with sensitive matters. In Vienna two years later (1921) he made contact with Croatian political emigre circles there and with the representatives of the Hungarian revisionist government. As a result of Kežman's reliable information Radić was able to distance himself from their proclaimed goals and activities. In the spring of 1922 Kežman travelled to France where he presented politicians the «Note» which clarified the positions of the H(P-R)SS concering the status of the Croats within the unified South Slav state. During his extended three year stay in the United States of America Kežman attempted to spread the influence of Radić's party among the Croatian emigrants resident there.

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