Books, Arts & Manners: Truth Pursued

Sacco & Vanzetti: The Case Resolved, by Francis Russell (Harper & Row, 256 pp., $16.95)

This is a very well-written book by a man whose knowledge and understanding of modern American history is deeply rooted in his own New England traditions. The book is important on two levels. One is Francis Russell’s careful revision of the still widely accepted legend of the innocence of these two Italian terrorists. In August 1977, Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts, officially declared the fiftieth anniversary of their execution “Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Memorial Day.” Dukakis explained “that although he took no stand on whether the two were guilty or innocent, he wanted to remove any stigma or disgrace from the names of their families and descendants and so from the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Russell writes: “How that could be done without declaring them innocent is a politician’s secret.” Never mind. That declaration was another of those Ideas Whose Time Has Come. An idea whose time has come —especially in this Age of Publicity— is usually no good.

JL

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John Lukacs

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Sacco & Vanzetti: The Case Resolved, by Francis Russell (Harper & Row, 256 pp., $16.95)

This is a very well-written book by a man whose knowledge and understanding of modern American history is deeply rooted in his own New England traditions. The book is important on two levels. One is Francis Russell’s careful revision of the still widely accepted legend of the innocence of these two Italian terrorists. In August 1977, Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts, officially declared the fiftieth anniversary of their execution “Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Memorial Day.” Dukakis explained “that although he took no stand on whether the two were guilty or innocent, he wanted to remove any stigma or disgrace from the names of their families and descendants and so from the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Russell writes: “How that could be done without declaring them innocent is a politician’s secret.” Never mind. That declaration was another of those Ideas Whose Time Has Come. An idea whose time has come —especially in this Age of Publicity— is usually no good.