1920
As lunchtime started in 16th Sept 1920, a unremarkable man driving a horse and cart drove forward. He stopped the animal and its heavy load in front of the US Assay Office, across from the JP Morgan building in Wall St. The driver got down and quickly disappeared into the busy crowd.
Bank clerks and stock brokers were swarming around the building fronts, and the streets were clogged with cars and messenger boys. The lunchtime crowd paid no notice to the battered horse-drawn wagon, unfortunately. Within minutes, the cart exploded into a hail of metal pieces.
The mound of dynamite, concealed in the wagon, detonated with an ear-splitting roar. The blast derailed a streetcar a block over and sent debris soaring up to the 34th floor of the nearby Equitable Building skyscraper. Pieces of the wagon’s ill-fated horse landed hundreds of yards away. Stockbroker Joseph Kennedy, father of future Pres. John Kennedy, was lifted clear off his feet by the explosion.
Shattered window glass drenched the streets and nearby offices. The inside of the Morgan building was raked by debris. Trading at the Stock Exchange ground to a halt, and 2,000 New York policemen and Red Cross nurses converged on Wall St to comb the carnage. The initial explosion had killed 30 men and women, and another 8 died from their wounds that day or the next. Hundreds more were burned or maimed by flying glass and shrapnel. The air was thick with smoke and soot, and severed limbs littered the ground.
Investigators struggled to explain who had carried it out & why. The target was possibly the Morgan Bank, which some critics claimed had profited off the horrors of WWI. But most of the wagon bomb’s victims were lowly clerks, not wealthy businessmen, and JP Morgan himself was away in Europe.
Wall St reopened a day after the explosion, to show the world that Wall St was Open for Business. Broken windows were draped in canvas and crews cleaned the damage up overnight, including physical evidence that might have helped identify the perpetrator. Wounded office clerks returned to their desks and by the next morning Wall St was back in business. That afternoon thousands of New Yorkers moved to Wall St and sang America the Beautiful and the National Anthem together.
Wall St reopened a day after the explosion, to show the world that Wall St was Open for Business. Broken windows were draped in canvas and crews cleaned the damage up overnight, including physical evidence that might have helped identify the perpetrator. Wounded office clerks returned to their desks and by the next morning Wall St was back in business. That afternoon thousands of New Yorkers moved to Wall St and sang America the Beautiful and the National Anthem together.
The damage from one horse and cart destroyed
The wounded were taken to hospital
Who was responsible? Conspiracy theories were everywhere when the New York Police and Fire Departments, Bureau of Investigation and the US Secret Service took over. The Bureau interviewed hundreds of people who had been in the area, but their evidence was useless. And the nature of the explosive was not understood.
With the first Red Scare heating up, people started blamed the anti-capitalist communist and anarchist groups that had been blamed for many bombings since the C19th. Then there was one lead. A letter carrier had found cheaply printed flyers in the area, from an Italian group calling itself the American Anarchist Fighters that demanded the release of political prisoners. They said “Free the political prisoners, or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchist Fighters.” So the Bureau closely investigated the printing of these flyers, but to no avail.
But a consensus was forming: immigrants did it. The early C20th had seen a massive influx of immigrants into the US, primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe. Largely Jewish or Catholic, these immigrants were “alien” to what was seen as a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant country. Many of them also subscribed to left-wing political ideologies that were seen as threats to the US, after the Bolshevik Revolution brought communism to Russia in 1917. Thus the Red Scare targeted largely left-wing immigrant activists in the US.
A Washington Post editorial from Sept 20th 1920, described the Wall Street bombing as exemplifying the extent to which the alien scum from the cesspools and sewers of the Old World has polluted the clear spring of American democracy .
The Department of Justice launched raids, rounding up thousands of leftist political activists and deporting as many as possible back to their home countries. The DOJ charged a young J Edgar Hoover with investigating the attack, along with the New York City Police Department. The nasty repression of immigrants led to the civil liberties movement; the ACLU was formed in 1920 to address this government crackdown on free speech and political activism.
In 1921, Vice Pres Calvin Coolidge decried the threat posed by leftist immigrants to the US, writing “There is no room for the alien who turns toward America with the avowed intention of opposing government. His purpose is to tear down. There is no room for him here. He needs to be deported as a part of his punishment.”
everything and everyone in the centre of the street
and the adjoining businesses.
The dead were covered in the streets and taken to the morgue.
With the first Red Scare heating up, people started blamed the anti-capitalist communist and anarchist groups that had been blamed for many bombings since the C19th. Then there was one lead. A letter carrier had found cheaply printed flyers in the area, from an Italian group calling itself the American Anarchist Fighters that demanded the release of political prisoners. They said “Free the political prisoners, or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchist Fighters.” So the Bureau closely investigated the printing of these flyers, but to no avail.
But a consensus was forming: immigrants did it. The early C20th had seen a massive influx of immigrants into the US, primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe. Largely Jewish or Catholic, these immigrants were “alien” to what was seen as a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant country. Many of them also subscribed to left-wing political ideologies that were seen as threats to the US, after the Bolshevik Revolution brought communism to Russia in 1917. Thus the Red Scare targeted largely left-wing immigrant activists in the US.
A Washington Post editorial from Sept 20th 1920, described the Wall Street bombing as exemplifying the extent to which the alien scum from the cesspools and sewers of the Old World has polluted the clear spring of American democracy .
The Department of Justice launched raids, rounding up thousands of leftist political activists and deporting as many as possible back to their home countries. The DOJ charged a young J Edgar Hoover with investigating the attack, along with the New York City Police Department. The nasty repression of immigrants led to the civil liberties movement; the ACLU was formed in 1920 to address this government crackdown on free speech and political activism.
In 1921, Vice Pres Calvin Coolidge decried the threat posed by leftist immigrants to the US, writing “There is no room for the alien who turns toward America with the avowed intention of opposing government. His purpose is to tear down. There is no room for him here. He needs to be deported as a part of his punishment.”
New York Tribune, 17/9/20
Newspapers across the nation brought the terrible New York events
Some immigrants did commit violent acts in WW1. But so did American-born citizens commit violent crimes. Nonetheless in 1924, Pres. Coolidge signed the National Origins Act, which established a quota system based on the 1890 census, before the mass arrival of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe! As a direct result of this Act, America’s doors were closed from 1924 on.
Two questions still remain. Firstly why are the scars that are still visible on Morgan building today the lone monument to a crime that claimed 38 innocent lives? Secondly if the nasty National Origins Act was based on unproven evidence from the 1920 bombing, why did it take until after 1945 for would-be migrants to be allowed into the USA.
Thank you to Getty for the photos.
Some immigrants did commit violent acts in WW1. But so did American-born citizens commit violent crimes. Nonetheless in 1924, Pres. Coolidge signed the National Origins Act, which established a quota system based on the 1890 census, before the mass arrival of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe! As a direct result of this Act, America’s doors were closed from 1924 on.
Two questions still remain. Firstly why are the scars that are still visible on Morgan building today the lone monument to a crime that claimed 38 innocent lives? Secondly if the nasty National Origins Act was based on unproven evidence from the 1920 bombing, why did it take until after 1945 for would-be migrants to be allowed into the USA.
Thank you to Getty for the photos.
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12 comments:
Helen I didn't do American history at school but I read newspapers and watch tv. Never heard of this tragedy.
Deb
Me too. Until I came across "The Mysterious Wall St Bombing" by Evan Andrews in History Today a year or two ago.
Since then I found some excellent academic journal articles, but nothing in the ordinary newspaper and TV sites. Is the story being hidden?
Hello Hels, My guess is that the incident was glossed over on Wall Street because that was a prosperous era, and, as the rapid cleanup showed, they wanted to demonstrate business as usual, and to tell the bombers that they had not succeeded in their goal of disrupting business. The reprisals against the potential dissidents came later at a different site and venue.
By the way, the beautiful and iconic Federal Hall (the Sub-Treasury building) was designed by the famous New Haven architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, and luckily was undamaged in the blast.
--Jim
p.s. None of your photos showed up for this articles, just blank squares--I was disappointed!
Parnassus
The explosion had killed 38 innocent people, and hundreds more were burned or maimed by large-size shrapnel. Buildings and cars were damaged, and people couldn't breathe the air. It was not an "incident" easily glossed over ... it was a shocking "mass murder".
You are right that the authorities made it very clear to the bombers that they had not succeeded in their goal of disrupting business. But did the authorities not care about the dead, the seriously wounded and the workers who may never have gone back to Wall St again? I would have published the details of the story over and over again, giving the mass murder the same respect Americans give the terrorism in Orlando Florida and Oklahoma City etc
Hello again, I agree with you about the enormity of the crime and its consequences for many people. It would be an interesting research project (or dissertation) to study the official reactions to this and other disastrous incidents. I would be interested in following the news reports at that time--what details were given, and how long the coverage lasted. Sometimes human life was held cheaply--witness the difficulty the government had in keeping absolutely poisonous products off the market, including deathly medicines, cosmetics, tainted food, and even the "soothing syrups" which were estimated to kill over 500,000 babies!
On the other hand, other calamities were suitably mourned and commemorated. I have a Victorian photograph of the monument at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, a memorial to the Gnadenhutten massacre, during which Christian-converted Indians were killed as savages. The shock that was felt at this uncalled-for betrayal was deeply felt then and resonates to this day, showing that at least sometimes a proper sense of humanity was displayed.
--Jim
Parnassus
I had no trouble finding newspaper articles, often on the front page, telling the story of the Wall St bombing of the 16th Sept 1920. The articles appeared on the 17th or 18th of September 1920, in the New York Times, Atlanta Constitution, New York Tribune, The Call, The World, Daily News etc etc. But nothing that I can find after that.
Here is a perfect project for you... find out what details were given, and how long the coverage lasted. Then propose why the silence fell.
Hi Hels - I'd never heard of this ... but also have never studied American history. Interesting ... but I guess we'll never know ... take care and safe - Hilary
Hilary
I studied history for many years, but focused always on the entire British Empire, Europe, the Russian Empire and the Middle East. But that is one of the joys of blogging... we can read everything we need to know about a new topic in 1000 words or less :)
Look at "The Wall Street Bombing: Low-Tech Terrorism in Prohibition-Era New York", for example. The photos are wonderful:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/09/16/the_1920_wall_st_bombing_a_terrorist_attack_on_new_york.html
Not one I had heard of either. To commit an act like that and not inform why it was done is strange. Bomb blasts and wars, it is often the less well off who suffer the most.
Andrew
the Bureau of Investigation found no critical evidence regarding the bomber(s), yet they had to blame someone. European anarchists and communists, the Union of Russian Workers and the Italian anarchists were all blamed at one stage or another.
But what would have happened if the bomber(s) had been local lads who were angry about the USA's involvement in WW1 or were bitter about African Americans integrating into "normal" society. No locals were investigated by the authorities back then and I suppose we will never know now.
I just saw a study of the Oklahoma bombing on the History Channel. No country will ever try to hold its own people responsible for terrorist attacks. McVeigh was a home grown mass murderer.
Joseph
Australians and Brits don't understand the Patriot movement, which feared authoritarian plots by the American Feds and corporate elites. Nor do we understand citizens arming themselves up to the rafters. But in any case, who would believe the Patriot movement would deny _their own_ Federal Government and Police. It doesn't make sense claiming a right to armed self-defence against an oppressive government, especially by killing so many kindergarten children in Oklahoma City.
Was any of this true about the Wall Street Bombing?
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