[1] A liberal Democrat, he built his reputation in foreign policy by taking strong anti-communist positions and supporting the Vietnam War.

After graduating, he continued his work as a musician, and supplemented his income by teaching English and citizenship test preparation courses for Polish immigrants.

[4][3] According to Milwaukee legend, Zablocki often emphasized with his Polish immigrant students the importance of participating in American politics.

Zimny had run afoul of local Democrats and the Polish community by accepting a number of personal benefits from the Wisconsin Progressive Party in exchange for his support in organizing the legislature.

Zimni won renomination, but Zablocki posted a surprisingly strong second-place finish in the primary, falling only 411 votes short.

[7] In the state Senate, Zablocki championed common Democratic issues of the time, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies, labor unions, and veterans benefits, but was deep in the minority and held little influence in the crafting of legislation.

Zablocki and other prominent Milwaukee Democrats sought to head off this problem by denouncing Bobrowicz over past communist affiliations.

[9][10] The incumbent, Brophy, had only served on the Milwaukee City Council before his election to Congress and was regarded by the Wisconsin press as a weak campaigner relative to the gregarious Zablocki.

[14] During his first term, he also hailed the establishment of the state of Israel on the first anniversary of its founding, praising it as a haven for refugees and displaced persons after the devastation of World War II.

[15] Zablocki's continued support for rapprochement with Francoist Spain also led him into a public dispute with then-U.S. President Harry S. Truman in 1952.

[16] Zablocki also supported the Republican plan to invite General Douglas MacArthur to testify before Congress after his dismissal by President Truman.

[19] Their combined efforts led to Proxmire winning a surprise upset in the election, and was then emulated by future Democratic statewide campaigns.

[20] Later that year, Kennedy attended a series of events in Wisconsin culminating in a Pulaski Day dinner which included a celebration of Zablocki's decade of service in Congress.

After segregationist candidate George Wallace was warmly received by his constituents in 1964, Zablocki began to waver on civil rights issues, opposing a fair housing law and taking other symbolic steps—distancing himself from activist Catholic priest James Groppi and maintaining his membership in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which then excluded African Americans.

[3] Zablocki was assigned to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Far East and Pacific, and began taking a particular interest in checking Communist expansion in southeast Asia in the early 1950s.

Zablocki traveled to South Vietnam to assess the government of president Ngo Dinh Diem just weeks before his assassination in 1963.

[27] With the retirement of House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Thomas E. Morgan in 1977, Zablocki—with 28 years of seniority in the House—was a strong candidate to succeed him in the 95th Congress.

Among Rosenthal's policy charges, he faulted Zablocki for frequently siding with nationalist parties, such as the South Korean military dictatorship and the Kuomintang of Taiwan.

He further responded to some of Rosenthal's specific points, saying that cutting off aid to allies would not improve human rights, and that withdrawing from Vietnam harmed the United States reputation in Asia.

[29] After taking the chair, Zablocki indicated strong support for the policies of the incoming Jimmy Carter administration, including reopening negotiations over the status of the Panama Canal Zone and holding the Soviet Union to their commitments on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the Helsinki Accords.

Zablocki also sought to mend fences with Rosenthal, saying the first bill he would issue from his committee would be an amendment to the Export Control Act which would prohibit U.S. traders from joining boycotts against Israel.

[13] Zablocki was wrapping up his seventh year as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and was at the height of his power and influence when he suffered a heart attack in his office on November 30, 1983, just before a planned meeting with Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir.

[13] Zablocki's funeral mass was held at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Milwaukee, and was attended by roughly 1,000 people.