HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

In the 1940s, Boston was still an industrial city, and when the US entered World War II, that industrial might would be turned to wartime production. With industry comes labor disputes, and a new government agency was given extraordinary powers to resolve them. In other early cases, the National War Labor Board used its authority and the might of the military to break strikes by organized labor. However, in August 1942, they would step in to force an employer to honor their union contract, using the US Army to enforce workers’ rights. That employer was the SA Woods Machine Company of South Boston, and this Wednesday marks the anniversary of the military takeover of their plant, setting up an epic battle of wills between the SA Woods corporation and the US government, and between the company’s cantankerous president and the young major sent to take over his company.

Please check out the transcript and full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/198/

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Army Takeover of SA Woods The MPs arrive at SA Woods Nailing Executive order 9225 to the door Guarding the front gates Meet the new management Lining up to go to work Checking IDs Fake labor negotiations A help wanted ad from the Murray company’s operation of SA Woods

• Industrialists in Olive Drab, by John Ohly
• Executive Order 9225
• “The Closed Shop Issue in World War II,” by T. T. Hammond
• “The S.A. Woods Story,” via Wood-Worker Magazine, May 1956
• Solomon A Woods Obituary
• Damrell Ave smokestack demolished
• Washington Village to be constructed on SA Woods site
• Boston Globe Coverage (subscription required)
  • August 15: Harry Dodge says defying the NWLB is defending democracy
  • August 17: SA Woods seeks court test
  • August 18: SA Woods denies obstructing war effort
  • August 19 (evening): FDR orders plant seizure, not expected today
  • August 20: Plant seized last night, Army sets up perimeter cordon
  • August 20 (evening): Army auditing SA Woods books
  • August 21: SA Woods calls seizure of woodworking and electric motor plants “punitive”
  • August 22: Harry Dodge fired
  • August 24: Army officials make a show of negotiating with the union
  • October 13: Troops to be withdrawn from SA Woods
• Pictures above from the Boston Globe and Digital Commonwealth

Boston Book Club

During the 1983 Boston City Council race, WGBH was given extraordinary behind-the-scenes access to one candidate’s campaign, as he ran for office for the first time. The council had just been restructured, introducing a new District Councilor seat. Before this, all nine city councilors were elected at large, meaning that they had to run city-wide. With the restructuring, there would now be four at-large councilors and nine district councilors, who would be elected by the residents of specific neighborhoods. This first time candidate, named Tom Menino, was running to represent Hyde Park and Roslindale in District 5.

There’s a charming segment where the camera goes behind the scenes in the future councilor’s basement, as he rehearses the speech announcing his candidacy over and over again to a small audience of family and friends. His wife Angela gently corrects his pronunciation, then the scene shifts to his parents’ backyard in Hyde Park, where he is delivering the speech for real. As he stumbles over the same word again, the camera cuts to Angela, who stares directly into the camera and gives a little smirk that would make the writers of The Office proud.

For an episode that will be focusing on manufacturing in Boston, it’s interesting to hear future mayor Menino discuss the role that one of the large factories in the Readville section of Hyde Park played in his family and the neighborhood. He describes how his father, three of his aunts, and his neighbors had all worked at Westinghouse making industrial fans. Even young Tommy had worked there for a few summers, though he mentions that the company is having financial difficulties. Of course, the old Westinghouse plant is now condos, and a charter school, and the offices for a few small businesses.

The show closes on election night, as the candidate and his staff count the votes coming in from individual precincts. By now it’s not a spoiler to say that Tommy Menino won that race. He would go on to the Mayor’s office in 1994 and end up as the city’s longest-serving mayor.

Upcoming Event(s)

On August 26, the USS Constitution Museum will be presenting a virtual panel discussion about using naval power to secure commercial shipping around the world, from the time of the Constitution’s campaign against the Barbary pirates to the rising tensions with China over access to the South China Sea. The panelists will include Professor Robert Allison of Suffolk University, Professor James Holmes of the US Naval War College, and Professor Rockford Weitz of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. They will be moderated by the Constitution Museum’s public historian, Carl Herzog.

Here’s how the museum describes the event:

Throughout the first half of the 1800s, USS Constitution was deployed to locations around the globe to protect American maritime commerce and interests. Keeping seaways open and safe for American ships passing through far flung locales was a fundamental goal in the creation of the US Navy and USS Constitution. Today, US Navy ships are still stationed and patrolling waters around the world to protect maritime commerce and freedom of navigation in increasingly volatile regions such as the South China Sea.

In a virtual panel discussion on August 26, the USS Constitution Museum brings together three experts to discuss Constitution’s history protecting maritime commerce and how that legacy is reflected in the deployments of US Navy ships to tense sea lanes around the world today. What lessons does “Old Ironsides” offer us for guidance in understanding overseas naval presence today? How do global issues of maritime security affect commerce coming to and from American shores today and how does that compare to the 19th-century commerce Constitution sought to protect?

The event will be free, but advanced registration is required.

Though it’s last minute notice, Old North will present an illustrated talk by Alex Goldfield on Tuesday, August 19. He’ll speak on the topic of Black freedom in early Boston, retracing the lives of free and enslaved African Americans in the first decades of our city. Old North’s description says:

Public historian and local author Alex Goldfeld will give an illustrated presentation on Boston’s African-American community in the 1600s. He will draw on his graduate research in The History of the Streets of Boston’s North End to speak about life for Boston’s earliest black residents. The audience will get glimpses of free Black Bostonians as well as efforts to control them by law throughout Massachusetts.

Registration is also required for this event, and donations are encouraged.