Sacco-Vanzetti Trial

The Sacco-Vanzetti Case in the 1920's is considered one of the most controversial cases of that time period, and even today, when two Italian, anarchists were accused of stealing $15,000 from a shoe factory and killing the two people transporting the money boxes from the counting station to the factory.

Sacco is on the right and Vanzetti is on the left

Most believe that the Wall Street bombing, a case which established the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the place it is today, was a act of aggression for the arrests of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti by a unknown person. The case as to who put the bomb in place is unknown and is assumed after years of investigation that it was a small group of Italian Anarchists. But what lead the authorities to blame the incident on radical immigrants? I can assure you not only was it the currently precedding Sacoo-Vanzetti case but the 1919-1920 Red Scare, in which Americans were afraid that another Bolshevik overthrow was inhand from the radical immigrants coming to America and "anyone who wasn't as patriotic as possible--conscientious objectors, draft dodgers, "slackers", German-Americans, immigrants, communists--was suspect to being considered "Huns".

We will start with the Red Scare from 1919-1925 when a nationwide fear gripped the United States from anyone who did not be the "status quo" of being an American, especially after a series of anarchist bombings in 1919. "However many Americans were scared of the communists especially as they had overthrown the royal family in Russia in 1917 and murdered them in the following year.In 1901, an anarchist had shot the American president (McKinley) dead. The fear of communism increased when a series of strikes occured in 1919...A series of bomb explosions in 1919, including a bungled attempt to blow up A. Mitchell Palmer, America's Attorney-General, lead to a campaign against the communists," as stated from the History Learning Site. During this nationwide fear the American Legion

The American Legion emblem

was founded in St. Louis, Missouri on May 8,1919 "[t]o uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred "Americanism" as stated from UMKC professor Douglas Linder. But as soon as industrial leaders, once the early propents of anti-communism were soon against the deportation of immigrants who were supposedly communists because they found that it would result in higher wages and decreased profits.

An anti-communist poster from 1919

We will start with some background story behing the two Italians. Nicola Sacco was born in the Italian town of Torremaggiore on the 22nd of April, 1891. He immigrated to the United States when he was seventeen. Sacco found work at a shoe factory and got married and started a family (Spartacus). Bartolomeo Vanzetti was born in the Italian town of Villaffalletton on the 11th of June, 1888. The son of a farmer, Vanzetti immigrated to the United States when he was twenty. He found a job as a fish peddler (Spartacus). As result of the Red Scare, and their Italian background, the two Italians were arrested, of one innocent man and one guilty one, but that wasn't discovered until 1961, Sacco and Vanzetti and were executed for the murders of Frederick Paramenter and Alessandro Berardelli in South Braintree, Massachusetts on April 15th, 1920. On April 15th 1920, Frederick Paramenter and Alessandro Berardelli were shot just outside their business while carrying two boxes containg the payroll of a shoe factory. After the two robbers took the $15,000 dollars worth of payrolls they got into a car containing several other men and were driven away. "The state's case was based primarily upon two facts: Sacco possessed a pistol of the type used in the murders and the accused, when arrested, were at a garage attempting to claim an automobile that had been seen in connection with the South Braintree crimes," as stated from Ebscohost. With only this as evidence it would seem that the state prosecutors have nothing against Sacco and Vanzetti but with the judge they are about to have things just can't get any worse. "The judge at their trail, Judge Thayer, was known to hate the "Reds" and 61 people claimed that they saw both men at the robbery/murders" (History Learning Site).

Here you see some protestors fighting for Sacco and Vanzetti

Both Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted of murder and robbery and sentenced to death by electric chair. Before the verdict had been passed Nicola Sacco stood up and said this, "I know the sentence will be between two classes, the oppressed class and the rich class, and there will be always collision between one and the other. We fraternize the people with the books, with the literature. You persecute the people, tyrannize them and kill them. We try the education of peoplealways. You try to put a path between us and some other nationality that hates each other. That is why I am here today on this bench, for having been of the oppressed class. Well, you are the oppressor," (Spartacus). As a result of the executions of the two Italians unrest grabs the world as people feel as if the American judicial services had unjustly sentenced the two for something that most people believed that they did not do. There was violent retribution against the judge and executioner as their homes were bombed even though neither one was injured (BBC). "News of the executions sent hundreds of thousands of protestors into the streets of six continents. Tanks tinged the American embassy in Paris to fend off riotous mobs. In Geneva, over 5,000 protestors destroyed all things American; cars, goods, even theaters showing American films. Violent demonstrations in Germany resulted in six deaths," stated by UMKC professor Douglas Linder. In 1925, a member of the gang that committed the South Braintree crimes wrote a formal letter stating that neither Sacco nor Vanzetti were involved in the robbery, the man was already condemed to death for a completely different murder. "In October 1961, ballistics tests were run using Sacco's Colt automatic. The results left little room for doubt that the bullet that killed Berardelli in 1920 came from Sacco's gun," stated from UMKC professor Duglas Linder

The lunch rush was just beginning as a man and his buggy stopped in front of the United States Assay Office across from the J.P. Morgan building in the heart of Wall Street. All of a sudden an explosion rocked the block killing 38, injuring 400, and causing almost two million dollars in damage.

The aftermath of the explosion in Wall Street

This was the most devastating attack on America, of that time. J. Edgar Hoover said soon after the attack that the United States government was too weak to handle the "radical situation" and was also too weak to actually protect the United States. He believed that the United States needs a new weapon to fight the communists and anarchists, a weapon of secret intelligence and counter subversion to disrupt any threats against the United States. "The best evidence and analysis since that fateful day of Spetember 16, 1920, suggests that the Bureau's intial thought was correct - that a small group of Italian Anarchists were to blame. But the mystery remains to this day where who actually placed the bomb," (FBI). Some of the damage that was caused by the bombing is still evident today.

This is an example of the damage

If I had millions of dollars to give away, and I was still receiving a paycheck, then I would donate a quarter of my money to the U.S. government; another quarter to the DoN, Department of the Navy; and finally donate the rest to the USO, Wounded Warriors; the USDoVA, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs; Got Your Six; and finally Hiring Our Heroes.

George Armstrong Custer and His Final Stand

George Armstrong Custer and his men, most commonly known for their heroic last stand at Little Bighorn, fought scores of Indians until everyone, except a lone scout, were killed and ceremoniously mutilated by the Indians. Custer, supposedly being the last to fall, was found shot in the chest, near the heart, and in the head with his men and their horses strewn across the ground surrounding him. He was later turned into an honorable figurehead because of this legend that made it seem that Custer and his men fought to the last bullet and the last man until they were completely overrun. But the truth behind this is that Custer and his men didn't give the heroic last stand everyone thought it to be but instead it was more of an “every man for themselves” situation with men firing wildly as they ran from the oncoming horde of Indians chasing them. Since then, many researches begin to find more evidence that leads to the fact that there was no heroic stand, but a large body of five companies of bodies and horses fleeing for their lives.


General Custer

What many people believed how Custer and his men met their demise was by a heroic last stand was actually a complete myth, one created by the beer company, Budweiser, which designed a poster soon after the battle depicting what was believed to happen. Theories to why Custer decided to attack, even though his other two commanders had fled to a hilltop because they were being overrun, was that he was a glory hound and his brashness towards his men. One example of his brashness towards his men was while he was on the Hancock Campaign, “During one miserable March, when Custer’s men were along the Republican River, desertion had become so bad that a group of men left in broad daylight. Custer became so enraged that that he sent Major Joel Elliot to track down and kill those who deserted, without trial." I have a theory which leads to the downfall of Custer. The theory starts when Major Elliot went in search of retreating Indians, when night was approaching Custer decided not to search for Major Elliot and his men. Custer left behind Major Elliot and his men, even though he sent out a search party, because Custer had help victory at the Battle of Washita and didn't want the Indians turn it into something else. Major Elliot and his men were found a week later, bodies having been mutilated by the Indians. Custer was probably a little disturbed or saddened by the death of Major Elliot because they both seemed; by Sandy Barnard author, of A Hoosier Quaker Goes to War; as though they were great friends after serving together in Texas. The senior captain at the time, Captain Benteen, would later serve with Custer as one of the two commanders who retreated to fight another day at Little Bighorn, never forgave Custer for the incident believing that Custer abandoned Major Elliot and his men. The theory continues with how Captain Benteen and Major Reno, after they retreated, wondered about the whereabouts of Custer, they simply believed he was off seeking glory for himself by chasing Indians and never gave a second thought to how he might have been pinned down or probably killed at this point.


Major Elliott

The New York Times had posted several articles about this event that is so controversially to what the American population thought of how Custer died. As stated in one of the articles from the time period, “It is the opinion of Army officers in Chicago, Washington, and Philadelphia, including Generals Sherman and Sheridan, that General Custer was rashly imprudent to attack such a large number of Indians.” The article would later go on to explain, roughly, how big the size of the Indian encampment was, with it also saying that the exact number of the casualties is unknown, “The exact loss is not known as both Adjutants and the Sergeant-major were killed. The Indian camp was from three to four miles long, and was twenty miles up the Little Horn from its mouth. Now, even though the original plan called for a three pronged attack against the Native Americans, that still is a lot of ground to cover and in that much ground were a lot of people living their traditional ways. In my opinion, the 7th Cavalry, the unit that General Armstrong led at the time, would surely have to retreat due to the massive amount of Native Americans anyway.


Captain Benteen

As time went by though more and more evidence arose to the trained eye saying that, there was no final stand but uncontrolled chaos among the troopers under the command of Armstrong. U.S. News interviewed Richard Fox, a professor at the University of South Dakota, who had performed a field study after a wildfire in 1989 had swept the battlefield, unearthing evidence that lead to his theory that there was no heroic last stand but complete panic. Professor Fox would later dismiss Indian descriptions of the soldiers’ bravery recorded just after the battle, noting that tribal leaders were likely trying to salve white pride during sensitive treaty negotiations. “Later on, when fate of the Indians was sealed, they opened up more,” he says. Subsequent accounts describe Custer’s men running like “a stampede of buffalo,” and “[shooting] like drunken men, firing into the ground, into the air, wildly in every way.” Now, even though fear is a common factor in war, the Native Americans accounts would later go to show that it was more than just fear but instead, complete chaos with no chain of command viable to leading several companies. Had Benteen and Reno not retreated, we probably would've never heard of Sitting Bull or Little Bighorn. On the other end of the spectrum, we would have probably not known Custer for leading only five companies of the 7th Calvary to their demise but the entire 7th Calvary, which would then ruin Custer's reputation more so than now.

What I believe what ultimately led to the downfall of Custer was his brashness towards his troops and his search for glory, including making rivalries between his officers and himself leading them to believe that he was just seeking glory.



http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20810FA345B127B93C4A9178CD85F428784F9

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/custer.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/custer/

http://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=FC855C85-155D-451F-67947259B4504300 --- (JOEL AND BENTEEN PICTURE)

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_custer_1_e.html --- (CUSTER PICTURE)

http://www.custerslaststand.org/history/extra-extra

http://www.historynet.com/wounds-from-the-washita-the-major-elliott-affair.htm

Hollywood Cowboy vs. Realistic Cowboy

The differences between our modern-day understanding of a cowboy and the reality of the cowboy as of the 1870's is vast and romanticised incredible. As seen in all of the movies from the 1900's to the 1950's are all romanticized pictures that were created by the Hollywood producers so that they could rake in the money from unknowing audiences of those time periods. But the truth behind these romanticized figures of history is the fact that they were "the lowest on the food chain". The 1870's version of the cowboy was some hired hand who was barely educated, if at all, and would flee at the sight of the Indians leaving the herd he was corraling unprotected. Now compared to the modern-day cowboy, there's a huge difference. Our modern-day cowboy gets into explosive shootouts, battling Indians that are surrounding the hero, and ALWAYS getting revenge, giving jusitice, and getting the girl. The realities of the cowboy compared to what is distorted and obscured by the power of the Hollywood is that they were basically the bottom of the boot compared to most others in that current society. And sometimes there wasn't just a bad guy, a good guy, and just a random group of towns people, in fact it was usually just towns people trying to survive. Where as Hollywood constantly made the bad guy fight the good guy and have a special lover involved that in the end rides off into the sunset on a horse after the bad guy is finally defeated. While your realistic cowboy would flee off into the sunset at the first sight of trouble, or just stayed out of trouble all together. What really contributed to the idealization of the American Cowboys were the tall tales told by people who had seen or had imaginated what the

Chapter 15 Reflection

What I knew already about this event in the history of the United States was that it took nearly three presidents for the Reconstruction period to finally end. I also knew that around this time the KKK, or the Ku Klux Klan as formerly know, was founded around this time period to "terrorize" the Blacks. But I did learn something unusual that lead to the end of the Reconstruction Era. It was the fact that Democratic Southerners had made a compromise with the Northern Republicans that they would pull out the federal troops from the South for them to not care who ends up being the president. It is important that people across the U.S. should learn about this important date in history is how it later leads to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's and that even though the African Americans were freed from the oppression of slavery, they still had to deal with segregation, lynchings, and the inability to vote.

My View of America Project

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