Transcript The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti

The
Trial
of
Sacco
and
The Trial of Sacco and
Vanzetti
Vanzetti
By:
By: Hara
Hara Sun
Sun
Sacco

Nicola Sacco was born in the
Italian town of Torremaggiore.
He emigrated to the U.S. when
he was seventeen. Sacco
worked in a shoe factory in
Stoughton, MA.
Vanzetti

Bartolomeo Vanzetti was born in
the Italian town of Villaffalletto.
He emigrated to the U.S. when
he was twenty. Vanzetti settled in
Plymouth, MA, where he worked
as a fish peddler.

Sacco and Vanzetti were
shocked by the way working
class immigrants were treated
in America and became involved
in left-wing politics.
They first met each other at
an anarchist gathering. The
two men became friends and
often attended the same
political meetings together.

As left-wing radicals, Sacco and
Vanzetti opposed WWI. They decided to
flee away to Mexico in order to avoid
being conscripted into the United
States Army. When WWII was over the
two men returned to the United States.

One day, Sacco and Vanzetti were
arrested and interviewed about the
murders of Frederick Parmenter and
Alessandro Berardelli, in Bridgewater,
Massachusetts.

Several eyewitnesses claimed that the
robbers looked Italian so a large number
of Italian immigrants were questioned,
but eventually the authorities decided
to charge Sacco and Vanzetti with the
murders.

Although the two men did not
have criminal records, it was
argued that they had
committed the robbery to
acquire funds for their
anarchist political campaign.

Sacco and Vanzetti were known to
be dedicated supporters of Luigi
Galleani's Italian language journal
Cronaca Sovversiva, the most
influential anarchist journal in
America.

The main evidence against the men was that
they were both carrying a gun when arrested.
However, during the exact time of the
incident, Vanzetti was selling his fishes, and
Sacco was having his photograph taken with
his wife.

Some people who saw the
crime taking place identified
Vanzetti and Sacco as the
robbers. Others disagreed
and both men had good alibis.
Sacco and Vanzetti’s Trial
was marked in the
beginning of the twentieth
century as America's most
notorious political trial.

The arrest of Sacco and
Vanzetti had coincided with
the period of the most
intense political repression in
American history, the Red
Scare 1919-20.

The Red Scare took hold in the
United States. It was a
nationwide fear of communists,
socialists, anarchists, and other
dissidents that suddenly
grabbed the American psyche.

Vanzetti and Sacco were
disadvantaged by not having a full
grasp of the English language. It was
clear from some of the answers they
gave in court that they had
misunderstood the question.

During the trial the prosecution
emphasized the men's radical
political beliefs. Vanzetti and
Sacco were also accused of
unpatriotic behavior by fleeing to
Mexico during the WWI.

After a hard-fought trial of six
weeks, during which the themes of
patriotism and radicalism were
often sharply contrasted, the jury
found Sacco and Vanzetti guilty of
robbery and first degree murder .

After all recourse in the
Massachusetts courts had
failed, Sacco and Vanzetti
were sentenced to be
executed on August 23, 1927

Public agitation arose on behalf of
the unfair trial of Sacco and
Vanzetti by radicals, workers,
immigrants, and Italians. Many
international protests occurred
around the world as well.

On August 23, 1927, the day of execution,
over 250,000 people took part in a silent
demonstration in Boston. On August 23,
1977, fifty years later, the Governor of MA,
issued a proclamation, effectively absolving
the two men of the crime.

It was because of cases such as
Sacco and Vanzetti's that the
Supreme Court ultimately made
numerous decisions that made
the Bill of Rights change many
states’ legal systems.

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