Sacco and Vanzetti

Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and electrocuted in Massachusetts in 1927 on charges of murder of a shoe factory paymaster named Frederick Parmenter and a security guard named Alessandro Berardelli, and of robbery of $15,766.51 from the factory's payroll, although there was much doubt regarding their guilt. The murders and robbery occurred in April of 1920, with three robbers. Both Sacco and Vanzetti had alibis, but they were the only people accused of the crime. Judge Webster Thayer, who heard the case, allegedly described the two as "anarchist bastards". Sacco was a shoe-maker born in Torremaggiore, Foggia, Puglia. Vanzetti was a fish seller born in Villafalletto, Cuneo, Piemonte.

Sacco and Vanzetti in Arts

• In 1960, Folkways Records released an LP titled "The Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti". This record included eleven songs comprised and sung by folksinger Woody Guthrie in 1946-1947, and one song sung by folksinger Pete Seeger (Words by Nicola Sacco).
• In 1977, folksinger Charlie King wrote a protest song called Two Good Arms that was based on Vanzetti's final speech.
• The novel Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut has their trial as a major part of it.
• Upton Sinclair's 1928 book, Boston (ISBN 0837604206), is a fictional interpretation of the affair.
• The 1969 book The Case That Will Not Die: Commonwealth vs. Sacco and Venzetti (ISBN 0316231002), by Herbert B. Ehrmann, junior counsel for the defense, describes the author's experiences working on the case.
• "Sacco e Vanzetti", a 1971 film by Italian director Giuliano Montaldo covers the case. The soundtrack was written by composer Ennio Morricone and sung by folk singer Joan Baez. The notable song "Here's to you" was a hit for Joan Baez.
• At the time of his murder in 1964, American composer Marc Blitzstein was working on an opera on Sacco and Vanzetti.
• In his poem "America" Allen Ginsberg includes the line, "Sacco and Vanzetti must not die."
• Carl Sandburg described the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti in his poem "Legal Midnight Hour."
• Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a poem after the executions entitled "Justice Denied In Massachusetts."

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