Schlesinger Assails Judge Thayer For 'Bias' Against Sacco, Vanzetti

Sacco and Vanzetti were "victims of an unfair trial and a biased judge," Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. '19, Francis Lee Higginbottom Professor of History, Emeritus, said yesterday. Last Thursday, Schlesinger testified in favor of a bill in the State Legislature which would posthumously pardon the two men.

Judge Webster Thayer, who presided over the famous murder trial, was attacked by Schlesinger for having refused a retrial for the men when new evidence appeared. "Thayer's court-room innuendoes," he also claimed, "were the chief factor in persuading the jury to condemn the men."

Schlesinger doubted that the Legislature would approve the bill in the near future, due to "fear that such an action would represent an indictment of the Commonwealth's judicial system." But he claimed that the Legislature's fear is "an unreasonable refusal to admit that any system can make mistakes."

Citing precedents for the bill, Schlesinger mentioned the Legislature's posthumous pardon of victims of the Salem witch trials, and a 1939 bill which reformed appelate procedures in the Massachusetts courts. "If this bill had been in effect in 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti might have been saved."

Schlesinger praised the work of Morris Ernst, a New York lawyer who testified at last Thursday's hearings. Ernst produced evidence supporting one theory that a gang from Providence, R.I., had actually committed the murders for which Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.

"The prickings of conscience have finally moved the Legislature to consider the case," Schlesinger said. He expressed hope that the Legislature will establish a committee of legal experts to study the problem. "We might succeed after four or five tries," he added.