The President is Coming, But Labor Holds a Grudge
As Everett prepares to host William Howard Taft, local union activists voice their enduring resentment over his judicial history and the ongoing imprisonment of labor leaders.
President Taft is to be Everett’s guest of honor next Monday and it will be a gala day. We hope none of us are lacking in respect for the office of chief executive of this republic nor would we mar the day by any act or word of disrespect. The enthusiasm of our people, however, cannot help but be marked by a keen memory of the A.R.U. strike and the knowledge that today in the sunny south our people are going to jail because federal judges are following in the judicial footsteps of Taft, the judge.
“The enthusiasm of our people, however, cannot help but be marked by a keen memory of the A.R.U. strike and the knowledge that today in the sunny south our people are going to jail because federal judges are following in the judicial footsteps of Taft, the judge.”
Everett’s labor movement remained fiercely independent and skeptical of federal power for decades. This tension between a 'gala' presidential visit and the reality of local labor struggles—specifically the McNamara brothers' legal plight—foreshadows the volatility that would explode in the Everett Massacre just five years later.
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