Sacco and Vanzetti Timeline
 
1908  ·Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti immigrate to the US from their home country, Italy.
1916  ·Vanzetti Participated in the cordage strike in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
·Sacco is arrested for supporting Mesabi strikers, including anarchist Carlo Tresca, who is one of their leaders.
Source:www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ USAtresca.htm
1917 ·US Enters WWI.
·Onset of the Russian Revolution.
·Sacco and Vanzetti visit anarchists in Mexico
1919 ·A series of bombings and attempted bombings occur nationwide.  Bombings are attributed to anarchists, and anarchist and radical groups become the subjects of federal investigation.
·May 1: May Day riots shake cities across the country, including Boston.
·November 7: Beginning of the "Palmer Raids" against radicals, especially those of foreign birth.  10,000 dissidents are deported.
·December 24: Hold-up in Bridgewater, Massachusetts for which Vanzetti was later accused.
1920

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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 ·January 22: Second series of Palmer Raids.
·February 25: Italian radicals Andrea Salsedo and Roberto Elia are arrested and detained for alleged participation in the bomb plots.
·April 15: South Braintree, Massachusetts payroll hold-up and double homicide.
·April: Anarchist Feruccio Coacci is arrested in Bridgewater and deported.
·Vanzetti visits Carlo Tresca in New York to discuss the Salsedo-Elia affair.
·May 2: Boston radicals, including Sacco, Vanzetti, Boda, Aldino Feliciani, and others meet to discuss support for Salsedo and Elia and to plan a protest against the men's imprisonment. 
·May 3: Salsedo mysteriously falls to his death from a window while detained in the New York City Department of Justice.
·May 4: Sacco gets passport for himself and family to return to Italy.
·May 5: Sacco and Vanzetti go to pick up Boda's car so they can distribute literature about Salsedo and Elias.  They are unable to use the car and take a street car, instead.  During their passage, Sacco and Vanzetti are arrested.
·May 6:  The Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee forms with Aldino Feliciani as Treasurer.
·May 18: Vanzetti's preliminary hearing on Bridgewater charge.
·May 26: Sacco's preliminary hearing for South Braintree.
·June 11: Vanzetti is indicted for Bridgewater holdup.
·June 22-July 1: Vanzetti is tried and convicted for Bridgewater hold-up.
·August 16: Vanzetti sentenced.
·September 11: Sacco and Vanzetti are indicted for South Braintree crimes.
·September 28: Sacco and Vanzetti plead not guilty.
·October: The Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee begins publishing the Italian-language journal, L'Agitazione, edited by Aldino Felicani.
 
1921 ·May 31-July 14: Sacco and Vanzetti are tried in Dedham with Judge Webster Thayer presiding. Both men are found guilty.

Source:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/images.html
·October: Radicals organize mass demonstrations against the verdict throughout Europe.
 
1922 ·May 4: A Second Supplementary motion is filed on Sacco and Vanzetti's behalf.
1923 ·April 23-September 29: Sacco is committed to Bridgewater Hospital for the Criminally Insane
·October 1: A supplement to the first motion for a new trial is filed.
·November 5: A 5th supplementary motion is filed.
1924 ·October 1: Judge Thayer denies all motions.
·November: William Thompson takes over defense for both men.
1925 ·January-May: Vanzetti is committed to Bridgewater Mental Hospital.
·Madieros confesses to Sacco that he is guilty of the crimes for which Sacco and Vanzetti are imprisoned.
·December: Official Bulletin of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee begins publishing.
 
1926 ·May 12: Massachusetts Supreme Court upholds Sacco and Vanzetti's conviction and Judge Thayer's denials of the motions for a new trial.
·May 26: The defense again motions for a new trial based on the Madieros confession.
·October 23: Judge Thayer denies Madeiros motion.
 
1927

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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 ·January 27-28: Thompson appeals Thayer denial to Massachusetts Supreme Court.
·April 5: Supreme Court upholds judge Thayer's denial of the Madeiros motion.
·April 9: Judge Thayer sentences Sacco and Vanzetti to death.  The execution is scheduled for July 10.
·May 3: Sacco and Vanzetti petition Massachusetts Governor Fuller for clemency.
·June 1: Fuller appoints Advisory Committee, with Harvard president Thomas Lowell at its head ("the Lowell Committee").
Source:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/images.html
·June 29: Fuller grants 30 day delay of execution to August 10.
·July 27: The Lowell Committee reports their findings to Gov. Fuller.
Source:http://digital.lib.msu.edu/onlinecolls/subcollection.cfm?CID=1&SCID=11
·August 3: Fuller denies clemency upon recommendation of the Lowell Committee.
·August 6: Motion for a new trial based on Judge Thayer's prejudice is filed.
·August 7: Demonstrations on behalf of Sacco and Vanzetti take place world-wide.

·August 10: Fuller denies motion based on his prejudice but grants Stay of execution for 12 days to August 22.
·Nicola Sacco writes a final letter to his son
·August 22:  Sacco's wife makes a final appeal for clemency.
Rosina SaccoSource: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/not_guilty/sacco/
·August 23: Sacco, Vanzetti, and Madeiros are executed.
·August 28: Sacco-Vanzetti are buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.  A poem published in the Masses memorializes them

Source:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/images.html
1947 Department of Justice Sacco-Vanzetti files are opened under Freedom of Information Act.
1977 Fifty years after execution of Sacco and Vanzetti Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis effectively pardons Sacco and Vanzetti by officially clearing their names.
Massachusetts State Police files are opened under Freedom of Information Act.
Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell SaccoVanzetti papers are opened to the public.
 
   
  Source: http://oasis.harvard.edu/html/law00088.html
http://www.saccovanzettiproject.org/pages/chronology.htm

 

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