Thomas Mooney
Thomas Joseph Mooney (born December 8, 1882 in Chicago , Illinois , † March 6, 1942 in San Francisco , California ) was a worker activist in San Francisco who is said to have been involved in the bomb attack on Preparedness Day 1916.
origin
Mooney was born in Chicago to Irish immigrants . His father Bernard was a coal mine worker and a militant organizer for the Knights of Labor . He died at the age of 36 when Tom, the oldest of three children, was ten years old.
Start of political work
As a young man, Mooney traveled through Europe where he came into contact with socialism . On his return to California , he met his future wife, Rena, and found a place in the Socialist Party . During the presidential campaign for Eugene V. Debs in 1910, Mooney won a trip to the International Socialist Conference in Copenhagen because he sold a large number of subscriptions to the socialist WILSHIRE MAGAZINE. On his way home he attended the British Trades Union Congress in Sheffield , England . On his return he joined the Wobblies (term for members of the IWW ), but left the organization quickly after some disagreements had occurred. Later in his life he admitted that he was running a campaign to demolish power poles for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the benefit of PG&E workers. had started. Mooney was tried but never convicted of transporting explosives with the intent to blow up transmission lines.
Political career
Mooney had many jobs in industry before embarking on a career as an activist for workers, anarchists, pacifists, and socialists. He was known as a militant socialist and a suspected bomber. He was blamed for the Preparedness Day bombing on July 22, 1916 in San Francisco . The bomb detonated on Steuart and Market Streets near the Embarcadero . Mooney saw signs of provocation ahead of the parade. He instigated resolve among his own union, the Molders, the San Francisco Central Labor Council, and the Building Trades Council, by warning them that provocateurs could try to tarnish the labor movement by disrupting the parade. Ten dead and forty wounded as a result of the explosion in the middle of the parade.
Trial and sentencing
Thomas Mooney, his wife Rena, and two partners ( Warren K. Billings and Israel Weinberg) were arrested and in a show trial that was carried out in a "lynch mob atmosphere" and which produced many alleged eyewitnesses whose perjuries were trained by Assistant Prosecutor Eddie Cunha and Charles Fickert were convicted. Mooney and Billings were sentenced to death by hanging in separate trials . Rena Mooney and Israel Weinberg were acquitted.
Pardon and proven innocence
After Mooney's conviction, the Socialist Party tried to expel him, but his local party friends resisted. Because of the excitement from Petrograd to Mexico, President Woodrow Wilson became involved in the matter. Although no one on the Defense Committee knew of the intervention, Woodrow Wilson wrote to California Governor Stephens asking if Mooney's death sentence could not be commuted to life imprisonment. Later, a commission appointed by Wilson found little evidence of Mooney's guilt. In 1918 the sentence was changed from the death penalty to life imprisonment . The same thing happened with Billings' sentence. In no time, Mooney became the most famous political prisoner in America, and perhaps the most famous in the entire world. Evidence of perjury and false testimony became common knowledge. A worldwide campaign for the release of Tom Mooney followed. During this time his wife Rena, the editor of BULLETIN Fremont Older, Alexander Berkman , Emma Goldman , Hollywood stars , politicians around the world and many well-known personalities campaigned for his release. Even when proven innocent, he was imprisoned for nearly 23 years. He was granted release from prison in 1938 by the Democratic Governor Culbert Olson ; but he was only released from prison in 1941. On the Sunday after his pardon, he visited his mother's grave, one of his greatest supporters, on Mount Tamalpais .
Mooney then campaigned for Billings to be released from prison. He traveled all over the country giving speeches. He died on March 6, 1942, nine months after his release from prison. He was buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma , California .
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mooney, Thomas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mooney, Thomas Joseph (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American worker activist in San Francisco who was involved in the 1916 Preparedness Day bombings |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1882 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 6, 1942 |
| Place of death | San Francisco , California |