Over the years, several politicians of Slovenian descent have helped to shape the history of the United States, but not many have had the impact of Frank Lausche, the man who left a profound legacy on politics in his native Ohio.

Lausche was born in Cleveland in 1895 to a Slovenian mother and a father who was half ethnically Slovenian and half German, with ancestors from the German-populated Kočevje region is southern Slovenia. As a young man, Lausche was a talented baseball player, but after failing it to make it to the big leagues, he enrolled in law school. He received the second-highest bar exam score in the state, became a prominent attorney and eventually a judge. However, he had his sights on politics and in 1941, he was elected the mayor of Cleveland, a heavily ethnic, working-class city.

Just three years later, Lausche decided to run for Governor. Whereas Ohio was a mostly Republican state at the time, Lausche was a Democrat. He was also a Catholic and only Protestants had previously served as governors. Lausche, however, managed to create something new: He created a coalition of ethnic voters – working-class Slavs, Italians, and others who had been underrepresented in Ohio politics. His strategy paid off and in 1944, Lausche became Ohio’s first Catholic governor.

Lausche’s formidable ethnic collation enabled him to remain a governor – except for a two-year interlude – until 1957. Writing in the late 1940s, the well-known U.S. political observer John Gunther described Lausche’s passion for music, golf, and poetry – a fact he connected to the governor’s Slovenian origins. Gunther added, however, that Lausche’s political decisions were often driven by emotions rather than any long-term strategy.

Unusually for a Democratic politician, Lausche was respected by Republicans. There is some evidence that Eisenhower seriously considered him as potential running made, and Gunther even described him as a possible future president.

In 1956, Lausche was elected to the Senate. In Washington, he frequently earned the ire of his Democratic colleagues by working closely with the Republican counterparts. Many of his bipartisan deals were successful, but his growing conservativism – he advocated lower taxes, among other things -- caused him to grow estranged from the Democratic Party, and many observers were surprised that he ended up endorsing John F. Kennedy for the presidency in 1960s.

By the late 60s, Lausche was more conservative than ever, and in 1968 he lost the Democratic primary to a more liberal candidate. He ended his political career as a Nixon supporter and died in 1990 at the age of 94.

Today, several buildings are named in Lausche’s honor, including the State Office Building in Cleveland. They serve as a reminder of a man who was not only an effective politician but also a strong leader who gave voice to the state’s previously ignored ethnic voters, and created a political landscape that continued to shape Ohio for generations to come.