Harrington, Donald Szantho

Clergyman, political activist.

Donald Szantho Harrington (1914- ), clergyman, author and political activist, was the minister at various Unitarian churches in Chicago and New York City, notably the Community Church of New York. His activities included serving as president of the United World Federalists and as chairman of the Liberal Party of New York.

Donald S. Harrington, 1914-2005, was the Minister of the Community Church of New York, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, from 1944-1982. He was born July 11, 1914 in Newton, Massachusetts and graduated from the University of Chicago. He was ordained in 1939, serving his first church, the People's Liberal Church on Chicago's South Side.

In 1939 he married fellow seminary student, Vilma Szantho. It was said that Vilma was the first woman ordained in Central Europe. The couple had two children; David, of Santa Fe, NM and Loni Hancock. Vilma died in 1982. Harrington remarried in 1984 to Aniko Szantho, Vilma's niece. Aniko was also an ordained Unitarian minister.

Harrington was among the founders of the American Committee for Africa, and was an early opponent of the Vietnam War. But he is also known for his ties to the Liberal Party of New York.

Through his involvement with the Liberal Party, he came in contact with many prominent politicians, including: John V. Lindsay, Charles E. Goodell, Jacob K. Javits, Hugh L. Carey and Mario M. Cuomo. In 1966 he was Frankin D. Roosevelt Jr.'s running mate for governor. In 1970 he briefly ran for Governor on the Liberal Party ticket, but deferred to the Democrat canidate, Arthur J. Goldberg. He was the Chairman of the Liberal Party, 1966-1982.

He was also the President of the United World Federalists. The movement brings together organizations and individuals which support the establishment of a global federal system. Many global institutions with plenary constitutional power would then be accountable to the citizens of the world. With international authority divided among these separate global agencies.

Harrington died September 16, 2005 in Romania, where he had been living.