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How did the Sacco and Vanzetti case show intolerance?

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How did the Sacco and Vanzetti case show intolerance?

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The intolerance of the decade is embodied in murder trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. From the start, it was clear their trial was not about the murders, but about their backgrounds and beliefs. The judge violated all semblance of impartiality by criticizing their political view in court.
https://www.ushistory.org/us/47c.asp

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As people from other nations began to pour into the United States, some Americans began to resent their presence and blame them for economic and social problems

Sometimes the battle got ugly. Old versus new was not a conscious topic to be discussed calmly at the nation's dinner tables. In an effort to preserve so-called true American values, the forces against change sometimes displayed intolerance ranging from restrictive legislation to outright violence. Immigrants from areas outside Northern and Western Europe became targets of narrow-mindedness. African Americans faced new threats from a resurgent Ku Klux Klan. Socialists, anarchists, and atheists beware! The message was simple and clear. Conform or else.

Restricting Immigration

Since the 1880s, America's shores were flooded with immigrants primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe. The old nativist arguments grew louder in the first two decades of the 20th century. Critics of an open immigration policy cried that America's racial stock was being overrun by undesirable ethnicities. Protestant fundamentalists worried as the numbers of Jewish and Catholic Americans grew larger. Labor leaders claimed that immigration lowered wages. As a result, Congress slowly built walls against the newcomers. The first line of defense was a literacy test, passed in 1917. The results were not as encouraging as the nativists had hoped. About 1.25 million immigrants still entered America in the first two years of the twenties. An outright cap on immigrant numbers was enacted in 1921. Ethnic nationalists claimed that these conditions favored Southern and Eastern immigrants too favorably. The result was the National Origins Act of 1924. This law based admission to America on nationality. Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe were granted higher quotas than from other parts of the world. Asian immigration was banned completely. As a sign of pan-Americanism, there were no restrictions placed on immigrants from the western hemisphere.

Resurgence of the KKK

By 1915, the Ku Klux Klan was almost dead. William Simmons of Atlanta, a history teacher at Lanier College, summoned a secret gathering on Stone Mountain on Thanksgiving Day. As the sun set, the participants massed around a burning cross and pledged once again to reassert white supremacy. The Klan grew slowly, boasting only about five thousand members in 1920. That year, Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Y. Clarke used their professional fundraising experience to boost the Klan's numbers. They raised membership dues and sold a great variety of Klan merchandise, including the infamous hoods and robes. Simmons is credited with much of the Klan terminology. Local chapters were called Klaverns, songs were called Klodes, and the leader was called the Imperial Wizard. By the middle of the decade there were an estimated 5 million Klansmen, with a significant women's auxiliary. This new Klan was national, particularly strong in the Midwest and South but powerful as far west as Oregon. The targets of this group went beyond African Americans. Catholics, Jews, and "non-Nordic" immigrants were victimized by the new reign of terror. Toward the end of the decade, corruption and sex scandals among the national leadership discredited the high and mighty message the Klan was trying to promote, and membership numbers sharply dropped.

Membership in the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan peaked in 1924. Here, the Klan holds a rally in Williamson, West Virginia

"Back to Africa" Movement

The environment of intolerance and a new KKK prompted a drastic response by Marcus Garvey. Garvey believed that equality for African Americans could never be achieved in the United States. He formed the United Negro Improvement Association to promote economic cooperation among black businesses. Garvey made fiery speeches and created uniforms and flags to symbolize a new black pride. The ultimate goal for blacks across the world should be to return to the "Motherland." Only in Africa could a strong nation dedicated to promotion of black culture flourish. After amassing about 80,000 followers, Garvey founded the Black Star Steamship Company to begin transporting African Americans "back to Africa." Closely watched by government officials, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and deported to Jamaica.

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

The intolerance of the decade is embodied in the murder trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. These two self-avowed anarchists and atheists were arrested in April 1920 for two Massachusetts murders. From the start, it was clear their trial was not about the murders, but about their backgrounds and beliefs. The judge violated all semblance of impartiality by criticizing their political views in court. Their guilt or innocence remains uncertain, and the circumstantial evidence on which they were convicted was murky. The jury found them guilty, and after six years of delay, Sacco and Vanzetti were silenced permanently by the electric chair.

In the East St. Louis, Illinois, massacre in 1917, whites rampaged through the African American community, killing 40 men, women and children, driving 6000 more from their homes, and destroying over $400,000 in property.
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Lynch Law in Georgia
The real purpose of these savage demonstrations (lynchings) is to teach the Negro that in the South he has no rights that the law will enforce. Samuel Hose was burned to teach the Negroes that no matter what a white man does to them, they must not resist.
-Ida B. Wells-Barnett, "Lynch Law in Georgia"

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A flood of immigration and the slow advancement of African-Americans after the abolition of slavery during the 2nd half of the 19th century resulted in a sharp increase in racial and cultural intolerance, including the rise of the KKK, in the early 20th century.

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Sacco and Vanzetti didn't receive a fair trial. They had no history of violence on their criminal records or anything. What was brought up was their immigrant background and their refusal to go to the military. Despite people showing demonstrations of their innocence, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed for murder.

Websites:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sacco-and-vanzetti-executed#:~:text=Despite%20worldwide%20demonstrations%20in%20support,killed%20along%20with%20his%20guard.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/sacco-vanzetti-justice-on-trial#:~:text=The%201920's%20trial%20and%20executions,and%20intrigue%20us%20decades%20later.&text=Sacco%20and%20Vanzetti%20did%20not,shoe%20factory%20in%20South%20Braintree.

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On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard.
They knew the murders were two Italian men and that they escaped with more than $15,000. When Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo went to claim their car a police said that the car was connected with the crime and they were arrested and charged with the crime.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sacco-and-vanzetti-executed

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Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder.

On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard. The murderers, who were described as two Italian men, escaped with more than $15,000. After going to a garage to claim a car that police said was connected with the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the crime. Although both men carried guns and made false statements upon their arrest, neither had a previous criminal record. On July 14, 1921, they were convicted and sentenced to die.

Anti-radical sentiment was running high in America at the time, and the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was regarded by many as unlawfully sensational. Authorities had failed to come up with any evidence of the stolen money, and much of the other evidence against them was later discredited. During the next few years, sporadic protests were held in Massachusetts and around the world calling for their release, especially after Celestino Madeiros, then under a sentence for murder, confessed in 1925 that he had participated in the crime with the Joe Morelli gang. The state Supreme Court refused to upset the verdict, and Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller denied the men clemency. In the days leading up to the execution, protests were held in cities around the world, and bombs were set off in New York City and Philadelphia. On August 23, Sacco and Vanzetti were electrocuted.

In 1961, a test of Sacco's gun using modern forensic techniques apparently proved it was his gun that killed the guard, though little evidence has been found to substantiate Vanzetti's guilt. In 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation vindicating Sacco and Vanzetti, stating that they had been treated unjustly and that no stigma should be associated with their names.

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Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard. The murderers, who were described as two Italian men, escaped with more than $15,000.

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Vanzetti was born in the Italian town of Villaffalletto on June 11th, 1888. He was the son of a farmer and moved to the United States when he was twenty years old. Vanzetti then settled in Plymouth, where he worked as a fish peddler.
(https://spartacus-educational.com/USAvanzetti.htm)
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAvanzetti4.jpg

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Sacco was born in Torremaggiore. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 17. While there he learned the trade of shoe edge-trimming and then later settled in Milford, Mass., working for a local shoe company. (https://biography.yourdictionary.com/sacco-and-vanzetti)

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Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and avowed anarchist
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/sacco-vanzetti-justice-on-trial#:~:text=Although%20Sacco%20and%20Vanzetti%20were,of%20social%20tension%20and%20turmoil.&text=The%20Commonwealth%20of%20Massachusetts%20executed,Vanzetti%20on%20August%2023%2C%201927.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSacco_and_Vanzetti&psig=AOvVaw2HGIh3I8tEvVpL0CjEG6fy&ust=1643911053493000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCNiP64XM4fUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD