A Look Back at the Sacco and Vanzetti Case
https://preview-archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=642
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC Today Show
Tom Brokaw
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
07/14/1921
07/19/1977
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1977
00:02:11
Description
It's the 50 year anniversary of an infamous case in Braintree, near Boston, Massachusetts, when hold up
men killed a paymaster and his guard. Sacco and Vanzetti were both charged and eventually executed for
a crime that many say they did not commit.
Keywords
Sacco And Vanzetti, Exoneration, Fair Trial, Michael Dukakis, Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti,
Leftist, Anarchist, Murder, Case, Execution, South Braintree, Massachusetts, Upton Sinclair's 'Boston'
Citation
MLA
"A Look Back at the Sacco and Vanzetti Case." Tom Brokaw, correspondent. NBC Today Show.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 2
NBCUniversal Media. 19 July 1977. NBC Learn. Web. 25 February 2015
APA
Brokaw, T. (Reporter). 1977, July 19. A Look Back at the Sacco and Vanzetti Case. [Television series
episode]. NBC Today Show. Retrieved from https://preview-archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k12/browse/?cuecard=642
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"A Look Back at the Sacco and Vanzetti Case" NBC Today Show, New York, NY: NBC Universal,
07/19/1977. Accessed Wed Feb 25 2015 from NBC Learn: https://previewarchives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=642
Transcript
A Look Back at the Sacco and Vanzetti Case
TOM BROKAW: Mention the names Sacco and Vanzetti and there’s a good chance that you’ll stir
controversy anew, 50 years after Sacco and Vanzetti were executed for murder. There they are. It still is a
case that causes a lot of passion in the hearts of a lot of people who were not even alive during those days.
The case is likely to be relived again today by those old enough to remember, especially today, for in
Boston, the governor of Massachusetts is going to issue a proclamation at noon saying in effect, that the
two men did not have a fair trial, that the stigma attached to their names should be erased, and that
henceforth, August 23rd in Massachusetts shall be known as Sacco-Vanzetti day. Does that mean that the
governor at this late date is finding them not guilty? Lets recall how it all started, how the names of these
two Italian immigrants blazed onto the front pages and then the history books of this country, they became
the liberal and radical cause of the time. It all began in South Braintree, near Boston, Massachusetts, in
April 1920 when hold up men killed a paymaster and his guard. Sacco and Vanzetti, both militant leftists,
were quickly charged. The jury found Sacco and Vanzetti guilty of murder on July 14, 1921. For the next
six years with the defense claiming new evidence and filing appeals, the case grew into a major
controversy. Prominent figures in Boston society joined intellectuals, anarchists, socialists and civil
libertarians in the picket line near the state house, demanding exoneration or a new trial for Sacco and
Vanzetti. On the date of the execution, all legal defenses exhausted, Boston was like a city under Marshal
Law. On August 23, 1927, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both avowed anarchists, were executed
in Charleston prison. In the beginning, it was an obscure criminal case, a paymaster and a guard killed in a
hold up, but by the time of their death, the names Sacco and Vanzetti were known throughout the world.
To many, they were martyrs, to others, just hoodlums who deserved their fate.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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