"I wish to tell you I am innocent and never connected with any crime....I wish to forgive some people for what they are now doing to me." —Bartolomeo Vanzetti, his final words
The Accused
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were electrocuted at midnight on August 22*, 1927. Sacco was a 36-year-old husband and father of two living in Stoughton. Vanzetti was was a 39-year-old single man living in Plymouth. Both were Italian immigrants who identified as anarchists.
They were executed by the State of Massachusetts after being convicted of murdering two men. Numerous books, movies, and songs, opens a new window exist summarizing and mourning the trial and deaths of these two unsuspecting heroes and victims of the American justice system.
The tormented legacy of Sacco & Vanzetti is a clear-eyed example of the scapegoating of American immigrants due to xenophobia. In Sacco & Vanzetti's time, much like today, American immigrants faced intense prejudice due to their origin of birth, religion, political affiliations, and any other attribute seen as un-American.
In Sacco & Vanzetti's case, they had the misfortune of arriving in America at a time when Italian immigrants were a most popular target of disdain. On top of that, they were anarchists, which has a long history of fierce rejection by Americans.
These two criteria made Sacco & Vanzetti the perfect candidates for the American justice system to use to set the example that foreignness will not be tolerated in the Land of the Free. At the time, it was widely suspected that the two men were not receiving a fair trial and were innocent. Today, this notion is generally affirmed.
"Most historians agree that the handling of the [trial] by presiding Judge Webster Thayer was blatantly prejudicial. This intensely anti-radical and anti-immigrant judge refused to allow evidence to be presented by Italian witnesses that placed the defendants elsewhere at the time of the [murders]. After the guilty verdicts were rendered, Thayer boasted to an acquaintance, "Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards!" (Marchione, 125)
Conviction & Death
, opens a new windowThe two doomed men were officially charged with murder in May 1920. During the seven years while they sat in jail cells awaiting an inevitable execution, they became a global phenomenon. Sacco & Vanzetti had supporters around the world protesting, loudly, for their freedom. Shoddy evidence, a confession by known criminals, and a presiding judge known to dislike foreigners, caused millions of people to stand passionately on Sacco & Vanzetti's side. But worldwide support was not enough to change the judge or jury's minds.
The evening before their execution, Sacco & Vanzetti jointly wrote a letter to their friends and comrades, realizing that their final pleas for clemency fell on deaf ears:
"That we lost and have to die does not diminish our appreciation and gratitude for your great solidarity with us and our families.
Friends and Comrades, now that the tragedy of this trial is at an end, be all as of one heart. Only two of us will die. Our ideal, you our comrades, will live by millions; we have won, but not vanquished. Just treasure our suffering, our sorrow, our mistakes, our defeats, our passion for future battles and for the great emancipation." (Sacco, 231)
Protestors fought vehemently for both men up until their final moments, and even after they died. Following their executions, a fury of violent protests broke out around the world. In Boston, at least 100,000 people came to view the bodies over the course of three days at a small funeral home in the North End (Marchione, 125). The final funeral march proved to be a visual showdown between law enforcement and the people.
The Funeral March
, opens a new windowSacco & Vanzetti's trial and executions stuck a chord with people around the world. Noted reasons include their bravery and dignity in the face of brazen and deadly prejudice. For seven years, their story gripped supporters and detractors alike. Overwhelmingly, people were revolted by the gross injustice bestowed upon two innocents.
In Boston, supporters showed up by the hundreds of thousands. After the three-day wake, the funeral procession was next. It was planned as a six-mile march, starting in the North End and ending at the crematorium in Forest Hills Cemetery.
50,000 marchers began the dreary walk to the cemetery with another 200,000 people watching. However, rainy weather and strict policing disrupted the procession, disallowing thousands from finishing Sacco & Vanzetti's final march. More than 500 policemen were assigned to the event.
When threatened by police to disperse, the crowds reacted on more than one occasion by linking arms across entire streets, effectively blocking the authorities' demands to cease the mournful journey to the crematorium.
In the end, only a few thousand mourners managed to stick with the martyred Italians until they were cremated. Afterwards, police insisted on dispersing and silencing the crowds by violently clubbing marchers. But despite violent efforts to silence the radical ideals of Sacco, Vanzetti, and their supporters, their wake continues to cause waves around the world.
"[The case of Sacco & Vanzetti] brings to light so much about America — about patriotism, about what it really is and what it shouldn't be, and the need for a new society. In which the existence of men like Sacco & Vanzetti and their dream of a truly democratic, egalitarian society remains alive." (Howard Zinn, Sacco & Vanzetti film.)
* Because the executions happened at midnight, the day of death is sometimes noted as the 23rd, sometimes the 22nd.
Works Cited
Marchione, William P. Boston Miscellany, opens a new window. The History Press, 2008, pp. 124-28.
Miller, Peter, director. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Trial of Two Italian Immigrants in the 1920s, opens a new window, 2006. Kanopy.
Sacco, Nicola, and Vanzetti, Bartolomeo. The Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti, opens a new window. 1928. Penguin Books, 2007.
It's been said that no other legal case has created so much art. Enjoy this round-up of music, art, literature, primary sources, and select histories in honor of Sacco & Vanzetti.
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