Boston Police Strike Of 1919 - 1307 Words

Boston Police Strike of 1919. By Richard Bennet The Boston Police Strike of 1919 was the result of the intolerable conditions under which the police officer’s worked and the refusal of key city and state officials to act to improve those conditions. On the day of September the 9th 1919, almost three quarters of Boston s police force failed to show up to work. The police strike was a political windfall for the governor of Massachusetts and was fodder for the anti- union stance of government and business of the day. The backlash resulted in police departments across the country not to be afforded the right to organize for the next twenty years. The Boston Police Department in 1919 was under the control of Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis. The Massachusetts Legislative had vested this single commissioner appointed by the governor, to have absolute control over the operations, hiring, training and discipline and control over police officers in Boston. The mayor of Boston and the city was responsibl e to pay the police officers and was responsible for maintaining the physical working conditions for the police. Having no control over the police force, the city and mayor did not devote the resources necessary to maintain the quality of the conditions under which the police operated. Commissioner Curtis was anti union and would not let the police unionize. Curtis issued a general order banning all officers from joining any groups or organizations except forShow MoreRelatedComparing The 1919 Boston Police Strike937 Words   |  4 Pages The 1919 Boston Police Strike took place against the backdrop of general distrust of unions. The AFL, the union that the police were part of, were in their own struggle for acceptance as a legitimate organization by the public. Unions were relatively new and they were associated with the violence that striking workers perpetrated, creating suspicion about unions in general. The Boston Police Strike, unfortunately, brought so many issues of the da y to head: Communism which was an issue to AmericansRead More The Boston Police...in 1912 Essay897 Words   |  4 PagesThe Boston Police Were Justified in Going Out on Strike in 1919 nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The period after the Civil War was a time when many businesses and corporations grew to a size where power was the key to success. Different companies would have to compete with each other to stay on top of the fast enlargement of industry. Many businesses and corporation grew so large that the factory owners did not care about the laborers themselves or there concerns, but how much time and work theyRead MoreEssay on Social Changes and Unrest in American During World War I906 Words   |  4 Pagesprovincial families started living in the same cities as immigrants new to the United States. After the war the fear of these foreigners and their transoceanic ways started to increase rapidly. This fear amplified in the late spring and early summer of 1919, after several bombs went off in two separate bombings. One involved 36 bombs mailed to members of the politically elite and the rich. These mail bombings were sent to people like J.D.Rockefeller and Rayme Weston Finch, who was a member of the FBIRead MoreRacism and Intolerance in America During the 1920s Essay1413 Words   |  6 Pagestitle Reds.3600 strikes involving 400,000 workers took place in 1919 which began the Red Scare that carried on until 1921, in which members of the American public were led to believe that Reds were trying to ruin their way of life. A Seattle strike in 1919 led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), nicknamed the Wobblies seemed to be evidence of a communist plot. Coal miners, steel-workers and even the police force all went on strike in Boston, leading to manyRead MoreThe Red Scare Of Nicola Sacco And Bartolomeo Vanzetti1138 Words   |  5 Pagesseverity throughout the war inducing the Red Scare of 1920. The fear of communism increased when a series of strikes occurred in 1919. The police of Boston went on strike and 100,000 of steel and coal workers did as well. The communist usually always got the blame. As America entered the 1920s, the hostility towards immigrants was mounting to incomparable levels. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1919 brought about the fear and panic of communism which led to the institutionalization of Red Scare policiesRead MoreRole Of The Thief Takers During Early Civilizations913 Words   |  4 Pages1. Fifth-century- Organized police departments were rare in early civilizations. Rome created the first specialized investigate unit. These units were known as Questors, or trackers of murder. Also around this time Roman emperor Augustus picked special, highly qualified members of t he military to form the Praetorian Guard which could be considered the first police officers. Their job was to protect the palace and the emperor. Vigiles were known as early roman firefighters and were eventuallyRead MoreImportance Of Unions : History And Significance946 Words   |  4 PagesRoosevelt intervened in the Anthracite strike which led to arbitration, and Maryland passes an accidental compensation law. 3) In 1903 the Women’s Trade Union League was formed at AFL convention. 4) In 1905 Industrial Workers of the World was founded. In 1908 the AFL endorsed Democrat William Jennings Bryan for President. 5) In 1909 20,000 female shirtwaist makers strike in New York strike against sweatshop conditions and unorganized immigrant steel workers strike in McKees Rocks, Pa. and won all demandsRead MoreThe Red Scare Essay examples1067 Words   |  5 PagesDepression beginning to kick off. With food and living expenses drastically increasing certain propaganda began to appear. Perhaps one of the most notable of these was Lenin’s â€Å"Letter to the American Workers† which appeared in the United States in 1919. Loosely tied but heavily attributing to the problem was Ludwig Martens’ appearance later that year claiming to be a representative of the Foreign Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. (Murray, p. 46-47) With these figures imposing upon the American peopleRead MoreA Brief Lool at John Quincy Adams1051 Words   |  4 Pagesof educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Eventually his hard work earned him the title of The Governor of Massachusetts, but he was never really recognized until the Boston Police Strike of 1919, where he reinstated Officer Curtis after the Mayor of Boston had fired him illegally. This put him on the spotlight and made many respect him as a man of choice. He is known much more for his character than his achievements. President Coolidge was an old school manRead MoreTaking a Look at Calvin Coolidge1083 Words   |  4 PagesHis reputation grew and he was elected Lieutenant governor and governor in the 1918 election. During the governor term of Calvin Coolidge, an issue broke out that cause him to get national publicity and attention. In 1919, Boston police officers went on strike because the police commissioner had tried to block their unionization with the American Federation of Labor. Calvin handled this situation by calling the national guard and speaking directly with Samuel Gompers, the head of the American Federation