A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike
by Francis Russell
A Book Review by Andrew Peralta
March, 2009
In his book, A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike,
Francis Russell decides to take no sides on the issue but rather tell the tale that he feels
is too forgotten within history books and ignored in the classroom. As a school age
child during this time period, Russell remembers looking up to the police officers that
strolled by his front yard, their uniforms demanding respect and their badges shining on
their chest. Citizens saw these men as heroes in the community, people to be
respected. Russell examines the events, history, politics, and social events of the time
period that center around the Boston Police Department. He also explains of how the
events of that terrible Tuesday in September raised Calvin Coolidge to higher office and
dismantled any police department’s hopes of striking in a major city to this very day.
To further recount the drama that was the Boston Police Strike, Russell uses a
number of sources. His research material included 32 novels and many scholarly
papers. This period of history was also researched by using a number of primary
sources. These include numerous articles from ten different newspapers, unpublished
materials such as person papers, clippings of the Governor, Mayor and Police
Commissioner, miscellaneous circulars, pamphlets, journals in the State House Library,
annual reports of the police commissioner, Harvard class reports, and so forth. Most of
these books were published in the thirty-five years or so ranging from 1935-1970, but
also include books published in the 1800s up through the 1972. The author utilizes
footnotes sparingly throughout the story, using them only to explain side notes or points
that the reader might find interesting. Russell did not however, display where certain
information could be found outside of this work. I do wonder if this lack of citing takes
away from the accuracy of this book, but I do enjoy that the author seemed more
interested in retelling the events, rather than proving points. Sources that are included
illustrate the lives and viewpoints of Bostonians who lived through this turbulent time
period that helped to shape our views on labor, civil servants, politics, and the extent
that public safety needs to be in the forefront of everyone’s agendas.
A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike is organized
in a chronological fashion. This meets Russell’s goal of personalizing the Boston Police
Strike and seeing the issues at hand from many different point of views. He included
the history of the Boston Police Department to the ramifications of the strike, the study
of the characters involved and the run up towards the walkout, and the details of the
terror that happened during those few days.
Mr. Russell begins with his personal reflection on the days of the strike, I am
drawn to how his recollection becomes so personal and how this event that I learned
from only a few lines in a history book, affected the entire community. He speaks of Mr.
Fitzgibbon, an officer of Boston Police Force. This officer walked by his house everyday
on his way back from his duty and inspired the children of the neighborhood to hopefully
one day follow in his footsteps. He speaks of his father work in the State Legislature
and how the events of the strike drew him to introduce the bill proposing the
Massachusetts State Police. He talks of his parent’s fear of leaving the house during
these few days and how it was the first time he had seen his parents scared of anything.
And finally, he writes of the fourth grader sitting on his front step and seeing the
Massachusetts State Guard line his street with their rifles and bayonets.
The section titled “The Year of Disillusion” discusses the economic and labor
issues that surfaced in Boston after the First World War Whether it was the influx of
workers into the work force when they have completed the service in the military and felt
that their homeland owed them a job, the workers who “patriotically” worked for less
while the war was being waged and now looked for the much deserved raise, or the fact
that cost of living was rising and citizens were feeling the crunch, Bostonians were at a
crossroad. The Communist party within the U.S. saw this as an opportunity and looked
to push the labor movement of the time.
The Boston Police Force was not immune to these sentiments as they felt as
though they have been taken advantage of for quite some time. As Russell discusses
the history of the Boston Police Department, he speaks of Commissioner O’Meara, an
Irish man who led the department in growth and management. He was greatly
respected by the officers who he led and fought for their rights and wages. Towards the
end of his tenure, the men looked the other way as he was unable to match their pay
with the growing cost of living because he was one of them, above the political fray.
This was not the case as a new commissioner, Edwin Curtis, a Yankee, continually
overlooked officers needs such as work condition such as 80+ hour weeks, low wages,
and dilapidated and pest infested station houses.
Curtis is not the only political figure that pushed the police force towards joining
the American Federation of Labor. The mayor at the time was Andrew Peters, another
Yankee and a gentleman that was more focused on the social aspects of the mayoral
responsibilities as opposed to the actual governing involved. Seen as lightweight
intellectually, Peters left the job for the months leading up the strike and ignored the
problems as he vacationed through the summer. Calvin Coolidge, the Governor of
Massachusetts at the time, was also discussed by Russell. He described Coolidge as a
quiet, reserved, and scholarly man who, even with the support of the labor unions,
supported the police commissioner with the idea that public officers do not have the
right the strike.
This stand and lack of interest by the necessary parties angered the Police
Department causing them to look into membership of the AFL. Boston was one of the
first charters given to a police force and this through the civil leaders of Boston for a
loop. Curtis decided to take a stand of this action and instituted Rule 35, section 19 of
the rules and regulations of the police force which stated that no member of the force
can join an outside organization. The two sides continued to posture on pay, hours,
conditions, but most of all, over union representation. By the time Peters came back
from his vacation, the two sides has come to an impasse and there was little the mayor
could do to stop them.
Mayor Peters, who tried to politically take advantage of the situation, assembled
a commission to study the problem and realized the terrible working conditions that the
police force endured. While meeting at the Parker House, this committee offered a
compromise that involved the force beginning their own union, without the AFL. This
was denied by both the force, but more importantly, completely ignored by
Commissioner Curtis. This set the stage for the largest police strike in national history.
On September 9, 1919 at 6 p.m., the Boston Police Force walked off the job.
Russell describes the riots that took place on the Boston streets and simply mob
violence. Without the fear of police interference, craps games began to shoot up all
over town, a window was broken, a cigar shop looted, and general violence followed.
People were robbed on the street and stores were destroyed. With a skeleton police
force from those officers that stayed on, only the fear of brandishing weapons and
shooting into the air broke up the mob. Even the next night, when Harvard and
community volunteers (mostly Yankees) came to defend their city for the mob (mostly
Irish), the threat of weapons seemed less persuasive.
It was not until Peters, and more importantly Coolidge, called out the
Massachusetts National Guard, that the violence subsided and order returned to the
city. Peters began the call, trying to take the politic advantage away from Coolidge, but
the Governor took control as he called out the entire state’s militia and called on the
Federal government for support if needed. Coolidge also backed Curtis in his decision
to dismiss every officer that walked off the beat. This move, after the violence that was
seen on the street, was seen as a hard stand against labor and positioned himself as a
hardnosed, law and order type of governor.
Governor Coolidge used this public sentiment against the chaos involved in
organized labor to help his political gains. In the coming Presidential election, Senator
Warren G. Harding and the party leaders unexpectedly decided on Coolidge for Vice
President. His reputation for decisive action and frankness appealed to the voter of our
nation. Coolidge ended up finishing Harding’s term as he died in office and won the
1924 election with his victory over John W. Davis.
A City in Terror has helped to contribute to my background knowledge of the
Boston area due to the importance of Boston in the Industrial Revolution and the labor
movement of the early twentieth century. This text will help with my understanding of
Boston and of the many locations that were addressed within. The State House,
Governor’s Mansion, police station houses, and various halls throughout the downtown
area will be of great interest to me as we tour the city. This book also addresses that
the hotel that we are lodging, The Parker House, Room 29, was the location of
meetings between the mayor’s representative and representatives of the Police Union
and the AFL.
My ability to teach about the Industrial Revolution and the Labor Movement of the
time period has been influenced greatly by this book. While I have always been
interested in the inner workings of politics and social injustice, this particular event in
history is something that was glossed over in the history classes. I now have many
specific situations that I can share with my students on how even when people are
mistreated and taken advantage of, case and point, the Police Department,
responsibility must be taken when looking after your neighbor . I also have learned
information about injustices of the time and how the conflict between Yankees and
immigrants played a large part in the conflicts of the time.
In conclusion, I would enthusiastically recommend the book, A City in Terror:
Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike by Francis Russell. It is a wellwritten and strongly-referenced book that tells the story of Boston Police Strike. It
shows the thoughts, politics, and fears of the people involved in this historical event and
how the aftermath reflects the history of the White House and the current impact on
labor union and rules. Through this book, Francis Russell allows us a glimpse of the
idea that once you take an oath to protect, nothing can come between that oath and the
obligation to the public. He showed what it would have been like to see our homes,
businesses, and city threaten by an angry mob and how the worst in society can come
out without protection from our neighbors.