[IronJack]

Upton Sinclair actually was afraid to release the truth because ...

... the truth didn't serve his communist ideal.

[Adrastus]

Many historians seem to subscribe to the idea that it's prefectly acceptable to pick an event in the past and fictionalize your way to it.

[Brilliant]

The media and elite academics are hopelessly mired in fiction.

[martin_fierro]

Guilty. Guilty. GUILTY.

[andy58-in-nh]

It's amazing how little changes, and how themes repeat themselves throughout history:

1.) He was afraid he would be killed by the anarchists (not the WASPy Judge;) - Compare this with modern Liberals' fear of taking on Radical Islam, while attacking their own country..

2. He was afraid he would lose sales overseas (stories about how thuggish and close-minded Americans are always sell well in thuggish and close-minded societies;) - Hypocrisy, anyone?

3.) He still believed, despite the evidence, that someday, someplace thuggish, close-minded American Judges WOULD railroad somebody. - A/k/a = The "Fake but Accurate" defense.

[dead]

In 1977, Dingbat Massachussetts Governor Michael Dukakis proclaimed August 23 "Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Day."

Spencer Sacco, grandson of Nicola Sacco receiving proclamation from Michael Dukakis, effectively absolving the two men of their crimes.

Therefore, I, Michael S. Dukakis, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ... hereby proclaim Tuesday, August 23, 1977, "NICOLA SACCO AND BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI MEMORIAL DAY"; and declare, further, that any stigma and disgrace should be forever removed from the names of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, from the names of their families and descendants, and so ... call upon all the people of Massachusetts to pause in their daily endeavors to reflect upon these tragic events, and draw from their historic lessons the resolve to prevent the forces of intolerance, fear, and hatred from ever again uniting to overcome the rationality, wisdom, and fairness to which our legal system aspires.

If the world was run by liberal moonbats, this dumbass would have been President.

[KC_Conspirator]

"My wife is absolutely certain that if I tell what I believe, I will be called a traitor to the movement and may not live to finish the book," Sinclair wrote Robert Minor, a confidant at the Socialist Daily Worker in New York, in 1927.

"Of course," he added, "the next big case may be a frame-up, and my telling the truth about the Sacco-Vanzetti case will make things harder for the victims."

So like a good leftist he lied to protect people from future and imaginery crimes.

[dighton]

See also the LA Times piece and comments here.

[elbucko]

There is no end to the inanity among professional historians,..

True, I read the same story in the LAT, as you mention. It was buried in section "B" page 3. Had this been a story about finding a 70 year old letter from Hitler to the Republican Party in 1935, it would have been on page "A-1", above the fold with a color picture of Bush.

[Boundless]

See also:

Sinclair Letter Turns Out to Be Another Exposé
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1546636/posts

[Graymatter]

He still believed, despite the evidence, that someday, someplace thuggish, close-minded American Judges WOULD railroad somebody.

Yes but given the chance, would he have recognized George Greer?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I would strongly recommend Robert H. Montgomery's Sacco-Vanzetti: The murder and the myth

Sinclair Lewis' purported opinions are of little or no probative value, one way or the other. The facts in the case speak for themselves. The most damning fact, is that when arrested Sacco was in possession of the murder gun. At his trial Sacco did not dispute his possession of the gun. At the time of the trial, the comparator microscope was not available, it was invented shortly thereafter. During the appeals process, on seeing the results of a comparison of test rounds from the gun taken from Sacco and the murder bullets, the ballistics expert for the defense, a mechanical engineering professor from MIT, resigned from the defense team. Supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti have tried to throw up a smoke screen about chain of custody, switched weapons, etc, but once one accepts as axiomatic that Sacco and Vanzetti were framed by a giant conspiracy, evidence is useless.

Francis Russell, a Boston historian, thought that Sacco was incontrovertibly a member of the murder party, but that Vanzetti was most likely merely an accessory after the fact. In 1920, accessories to murder were electrocuted, but if Vanzetti had admitted his guilt his sentence would have probably been mitigated.

[beelzepug]

I had never been to the History News Network before. Very interesting place and I have bookmarked it. Thanks.

[aculeus]

Lefties never change.

They've been lying about S&V for 70+ years.

[tophat9000]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-sinclair24dec24,1,5286806.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

See the story

[Pharmboy]

Perfect. Just last week my high school junior daughter came home and told me that they discussed Sacco and Vanzetti in class. When I asked her if they taught her that they were guilty, she said that it was unknown. I told her it was well known that they were guilty.

I just emailed this story to her.

Thanks.

[printhead]

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. mentioned this case a lot in one of his books. Sorry I don't remember which one and I don't remember why.

[annalex]

Now billions of former Soviet citizens who grew up gnawing on Sakko i Vantsetti pencils will have to be reeducated.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

bump to reply with more info