This week, we take an in depth look at the 1919 Boston Police Strike and ensuing riots. In the post-WW1 inflation of the summer of 1919, Boston police officers were earning wages set in 1857. Around the country, workers were striking, while the upper classes feared a Bolshevik-influenced revolution. When 72% of the police force walked off the job, lawlessness ruled in Boston for several days. Governor Calvin Coolidge sent in the state militia, and emerged a hero, paving his way to the White House. Listen to the story!
The 1919 Boston Police Strike
- A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike, by Francis Russell
- The Given Day, a novelization of the Boston Police Strike by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone
This Week in Boston History
- A 1765 Harvard “Discourse on Popish Idolatry“
- More on the Tea Act from the folks at the Tea Party Ship
- Puritan Boston bans Christmas (and cards and dice)
- John Adams is enthusiastic to fortify Boston Harbor.
- Boston loosens its quarantine policy
- The complete history of Marshmallow Fluff