Justice on the cheap: hierarchy and power in the Sacco-Vanzetti case

Abstract

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were put to death on the night of 23 August 1927, in the midst of a national and world-wide protest. The Transcript of the Record of the Trial provides detailed evidence of how the District Attorney and the Court, performing within a context they controlled, successfully played to this dominant audience, achieving their objectives by dressing the messages accordingly. In 1977 Michael Dukakis (1978), the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, issued a “Proclamation”, declaring “that any stigma and disgrace should be forever removed from the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti”. But the families of the men declared that the Governor’s proclamation did not go far enough. In this paper I will argue that an abuse of power, ostensibly done in the name of national security and ideology, was responsible for the injustices committed.