The Wall Street Bombing of 1920: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Anarchist Attack on New York City

In The Day Wall Street Exploded, Beverly Gage tells the story of a once infamous but now largely forgotten terrorist attack. Based on thousands of pages of Bureau of Investigation reports, this historical detective saga traces the four-year hunt for the perpetrators, a worldwide effort that spread as far as Italy and the new Soviet nation. It also takes readers back into the decades-long but little-known history of homegrown terrorism that shaped American society a century ago. The book delves into the lives of victims, suspects, and investigators: world banking power J.P. Morgan, Jr.; labor radical "Big Bill" Haywood; anarchist firebrands Emma Goldman and Luigi Galleani; "America's Sherlock Holmes," William J. Burns; even a young J. Edgar Hoover. It grapples as well with some of the most controversial events of its day, including the rise of the Bureau of Investigation, the federal campaign against immigrant "terrorists," the grassroots effort to define and protect civil liberties, and the establishment of anti-communism as the sine qua non of American politics. Many Americans saw the destruction of the World Trade Center as the first major terrorist attack on American soil, an act of evil without precedent. The Day Wall Street Exploded reminds us that terror, too, has a history. Just after noon on September 16, 1920, as hundreds of workers poured onto Wall Street for their lunchtime break, a horse-drawn cart packed with dynamite exploded in a spray of metal and fire, turning the busiest corner of the financial center into a war zone. Thirty-nine people died and hundreds more lay wounded, making the Wall Street explosion the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history until the Oklahoma City bombing. In The Day Wall Street Exploded, Beverly Gage tells the story of that once infamous but now largely forgotten event. Based on thousands of pages of Bureau of Investigation reports, this historical detective saga traces the four-year hunt for the perpetrators, a worldwide effort that spread as far as Italy and the new Soviet nation. It also gives readers the decades-long but little-known history of homegrown terrorism that helped to shape American society a century ago. The book delves into the lives of victims, suspects, and investigators: world banking power J.P. Morgan, Jr.; labor radical'Big Bill'Haywood; anarchist firebrands Emma Goldman and Luigi Galleani;'America's Sherlock Holmes,'William J. Burns; even a young J. Edgar Hoover. It grapples as well with some of the most controversial events of its day, including the rise of the Bureau of Investigation, the federal campaign against immigrant'terrorists,'the grassroots effort to define and protect civil liberties, and the establishment of anti-communism as the sine qua non of American politics. Many Americans saw the destruction of the World Trade Center as the first major terrorist attack on American soil, an act of evil without precedent. The Day Wall Street Exploded reminds us that terror, too, has a history. Praise for the hardcover:'Outstanding.'--New York Times Book Review'Ms. Gage is a storyteller...she leaves it to her readers to draw their own connections as they digest her engaging narrative.'--The New York Times'Brisk, suspenseful and richly documented'--The Chicago Tribune'An uncommonly intelligent, witty and vibrant account. She has performed a real service in presenting such a complicated case in such a fair and balanced way.'--San Francisco Chronicle The trial and imprisonment of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti and the resulting press coverage catapulted the two immigrant anarchists from the margins of obscurity to international celebrity in 1926 and 1927. This study examines this press coverage and the political movement that set the tone for one of the 20th century's most debated and least understood political causes. Neville argues that, while casting about for a case to champion in 1926, the Comintern of the USSR discovered in Sacco-Vanzetti the perfect vehicle to discredit and shame the United States. As an international cause celebre, this event did not occur spontaneously but, rather, was managed behind the scenes in Europe to discredit the reputation of the United States through a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign. Perhaps the most formidable enemies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. government were ultimately their own political leaders, who seemed powerless to rebut an all-or-nothing international propaganda campaign designed to succeed with Sacco and Vanzetti playing the role of willing martyrs. That few supporters of the Sacco-Vanzetti movement realized this effort distorted the historical accuracy of the case for decades after the men were executed. More than 70 years later, historians and scholars must separate the myth from the reality, an extremely difficult task given the passage of time and the still largely accepted view that Sacco and Vanzetti were victims of political persecution.

Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community. This study brings together 16 selections that restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left. The detailed introduction by the volume editors interprets the overall history of Italian-American radicalism and offers extensive bibliographical references on the topic, which the volume editors organize into three sections: labor, politics, and culture. A concluding selection relates the radicalism of Italian Americans to that in other Italian immigrant communities.

In the section on labor, Rudolph Vecoli, among others, traces the rise and decline of radicalism within the Italian-American working class, and Jennifer Guglielmo breaks new ground in uncovering the involvement of Italian American women in the radical movements. In politics, Paul Avrich unveils the violent reaction of anarchists in the United States to the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Jackie DiSalvo identifies Father James Groppi as the most important white leader in the Civil Rights movement. On culture, Julia Lisella, Mary Jo Bono, and Edvige Guinta present pioneering interpretive studies on the work of Italian-American women in literature.

"Hopeless Cases describes the futile search for those responsible for a series of apparently related terrorist attacks and plots in the World War I-Red Scare era during the final surge of early twentieth-century anarchist violence in the United States. The most brazen attacks occurred in 1919 when bombs mailed to thirty-six public figures nationwide in May were followed in June by coordinated nearly simultaneous bombings aimed at public figures and institutions in eight cities. The end of the campaign was the Wall Street explosion (September 16, 1920) that killed forty and injured hundreds. Scores were arrested (thirty for the Wall Street explosion alone), but lawmen never caught the culprits." "The book profiles the suspects but focuses on the investigators, especially the Bureau of Investigation and its spies and informants. Based largely upon FBI files, it explores the Bureau's relationship with British Intelligence in New York City, and to the Sacco-Vanzetti case, as well as a privately funded search for the bombers. Throughout, the manhunt was handicapped by disputes with other law enforcement agencies and by intra-Bureau jealousies and rivalries, agent job insecurity and high turnover, inadequate training and resources, and morale problems, particularly in the New York and Boston field offices."--BOOK JACKET Just after noon on September 16, 1920, as hundreds of workers poured onto Wall Street for lunch, a horse-cart packed with dynamite exploded. Thirty-nine people died and hundreds more lay wounded in the worst terrorist attack to that point in U.S. history. Historian Beverly Gage recounts that now largely forgotten event: this historical detective saga traces the four-year hunt for the perpetrators, which spread as far as Italy and the new Soviet nation. It also presents the little-known history of homegrown terrorism, and delves into the lives of victims, suspects, and investigators: banking power J.P. Morgan, Jr.; labor radical "Big Bill" Haywood; anarchist firebrands Emma Goldman and Luigi Galleani; "America's Sherlock Holmes," William J. Burns; even a young J. Edgar Hoover. It grapples with some of the controversies of its day, including the rise of the Bureau of Investigation, the federal campaign against immigrant "terrorists," the grassroots effort to define and protect civil liberties, and the establishment of anti-communism at the heart of American politics.--From publisher description The Middle Of Things -- The End Of The World -- The First Terrorist Act In America -- American Roughneck -- The War At Home -- The Great Detectives -- Business As Usual -- Usual Suspects -- A Perfect Alibi -- The Anarchist Fighters -- Illegal Practices -- The Martyr Who Wasn't -- The Great Detective Returns -- Triple-cross -- The Wall Street Curse -- The Roar Of The Twenties. Beverly Gage. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 339-385) And Index. The middle of things The end of the world The first terrorist act in America American roughneck The war at home The great detectives Business as usual Usual suspects A perfect alibi The anarchist fighters Illegal practices The martyr who wasn't The great detective returns Triple-cross Red scare The roar of the twenties. Charles H. Mccormick. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [147]-168) And Index. The building still stands on East 14th Street in lower Manhattan.