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RADICAL RESPONSES TO THE GREAT
DEPRESSION The Case of Tom Mooney |
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Stone Face, Tom Mooney (1892-1942), a member of the Socialist Party, was a labor agitator and anti-war activist living in San Francisco. In 1916, the Chamber of Commerce held a large Preparedness Day Parade to rally support for the European War. A bomb exploded at the parade and ten people were killed. Mooney and three other men, including Warren K. Billings, were arrested and charged with the bombing, and Mooney was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Billings was convicted of second degree murder. After the trial, evidence of perjury surfaced and the conservative Wickersham Commission concluded that the sole purpose of the trial was to convict Mooney and Billings. Thereafter, Mooney's death sentence was commuted to life. A huge international outpouring of public support followed in the next two decades. A European survey taken in 1935 showed that Mooney was one of four best known Americans, the others being Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, and Henry Ford. Mooney was finally pardoned, but not until 1939, after 23 years in prison during which his health had suffered. He died a few years after. Billings was released with Mooney, but not officially pardoned until 1961; he died in 1972. |