The Boston Molasses Crisis: Molassacre Background Guide Table of Contents

The Boston Molasses Crisis: Molassacre Background Guide Table of Contents Letter from the Chair Letter from the Crisis Director Introduction to the Committee Overview of Crisis Structure of the Committee A Brief History of Boston The North End in the 20th Century The Purity Distilling Company Boston Elevated Railway Topic 1 Topic 2 Questions to Consider Resources to Use Dossiers Bibliography Staff of the Committee Chair Noah Riley Vice Chair Anna Rafferty Crisis Director Elizabeth Jones Assistant Crisis Director Sam Knoll Under Secretary General Jane Gallagher Taylor Cowser, Secretary General Neha Iyer, Director General Letter from the Chair Dear Delegates, Welcome to BosMUN XIX! My name is Noah Riley and I am beyond excited to be serving as your Chair for The Boston Molasses Crisis: Molassacre! This is, believe it or not, my seventh BosMUN; my first four I attended as a high school delegate, my freshman year at Boston University I served as the Chair of the 1953 Iran Coup d'état committee, and last year I was fortunate enough to serve as the conference’s Under-Secretary General of Crisis Committees (now the fabulous Jane Gallagher). I understand this conference inside and out and hope to provide the best experience for all of you in my committee! I do promise, though, that my whole life is not Model UN (I swear). At BU, I study International Relations and Economics, as well as Chinese. I recently returned from a seven-month study in China, the fortunate recipient of a Boren Scholarship. At BU I remain involved in the International Affairs Association and the BU Club Baseball team, among other activities. I originally hail from Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, and grew up in the Greater Boston Area. An absolute Boston sports fanatic, when not watching the Celtics, I can be found bingeing TV shows, reading history books, or playing pranks on my friends. Also, be warned, I cannot get enough cheesy ice-breakers…so just be ready. I’m very easy-going, so please don’t hesitate to reach out as I am happy to answer questions about the committee, college, and share my (limited) life wisdom. Can’t wait to see you all in February! Your Chair, Noah Riley Introduction On an uncharacteristically warm winter day, many Bostonians find themselves outside, walking the streets of their beautiful city. At approximately mid-day, on January 15, 1919, a tsunami wreaked havoc in the streets of Boston’s newly flourishing North End neighborhood. It was not a typical natural disaster, however. A huge tank of molasses off Commercial Street, near Keany Square, exploded and over 2.3 million tons of the brown liquid have flooded Boston’s streets, destroyed buildings and homes, and has most certainly taken the lives of many who call Boston home. The committee will begin only hours after the tank has erupted, and Boston is still in disarray. Quick action must be taken by the committee to salvage part of the city, find and treat survivors amidst the wreckage, and identify the dead. Something clearly went very, very wrong here, and the incident at Purity Distilling Company’s molasses tank must be understood. At some point, an entire neighborhood will need to be rebuilt, lives will need to be put back together. The smell of molasses will haunt many in Boston, forever. Overview of Crisis A crisis committee, for those of you who have not previously participated, is a fast-paced, constantly-changing delegate experience. Delegates are tasked with dealing two equally important components in this type of committee: 1) The in-room (inside the committee) which is more conventionally-based Model UN. Delegates are tasked with making speeches, cooperating and negotiating with other delegates, and writing directives to address problems the committee will face. 2) The Crisis room (not literally inside the committee), which will be delivering updates to the committee based on a combination of historical events, responses to delegates directives, the actions of delegates when personally communicating and interacting with the crisis room, and other factors. Delegates will have to work together to react quickly and smartly to updates given to them by the crisis room. At the same time, delegates should also personally interact with the crisis room via their own personal directives in whichever manner they see fit. Debate will generally revolve around the two main topics outlined later in the background guide, however, the committee will primarily be driven by crises that delegates are expected to deal with. This, by no means, requires delegates to do any research outside of the subjects mentioned in the guide (but please do research on the subjects mentioned here!), but just that delegates should be adaptable and quick-thinking to address anything that might be throw their way in committee! Overview of Crisis Further details on the “in-room” Delegates are expected to work with one another to address the issues put forward in the committee. In crisis, there is no “Opening Speech”, nor is there a “Speaker’s List”, as in more conventional, General Assembly-type committees. Rather, debate is driven forward by various “Moderated Caucuses”, “Unmoderated Caucuses”, and other forms of debate that are generally considered “Suspensions of the Rules” (such as a Round Robin, a Question & Answer period, or other creative motions delegates may have to propose should circumstances dictate as such). To address the topics of debate and crises, delegates will author “Directives”. Delegates may be familiar with “Resolutions” – documents that are written in long-form, formalized and structured writing, and often the subject of final debate in large committees to address a given topic. Directives, on the other hand, are much shorter, informal (do not require perambulatory or operative clauses), and should be consistently produced by delegates throughout the duration of the conference, in an attempt to solve the crises that are given to the committee. While the dais appreciates the constant churning out directives and understands that, due to the fast-paced nature of a crisis committee, such directives may not be a delegate’s magnum opus, the expectation that directives will retain detail and creativity remains; there is no expectation, however, that they resemble formal resolutions in anyway. The more detailed and creative (if only in a few lines) directives are, the more likely that these documents will effectively deal with a crisis at hand. Further details on the Crisis Room (“out-room”) For those who have never participated in a crisis committee before, what differentiates this committee type from all others is the crisis room element. While this is actually a physical Overview of Crisis “room”, delegates will never actually journey to this place – it is where the committee’s Crisis Director and Crisis staffers will be pulling the strings of the committee. It is the crisis room that dictates what crises the committee is confronted with; these crises are decided based on the plans of the Crisis Director, but also how delegates interact with the crisis room, and the ways in which the committee acts as a whole. Delegates will be communicating with the crisis room via notepads (“crisis pads”), which will be provided by the conference. Delegates should write to some sort of character (or characters), of their own creation and imagination. For example, notes should not be addressed “To the Crisis Room”, but instead, “Dear Secretary Johnson”, (just a made up character). Such notes should then go into detail about what delegates want to accomplish, why they want to accomplish it, and (most importantly) how to accomplish it. The last part is key – the Crisis room is likely to grant delegates’ requests/actions should the delegate be thorough, creative, and mostly realistic (related to delegates’ portfolio powers) to do so. These notes can be used to accomplish personal (as the delegate is representing a character) as well as committee-wide objectives. That which delegates accomplish outside the committee room, will often directly and indirectly impact what happens inside the committee room. While this all may sound complicated and overwhelming…there is no need to worry. Both the Crisis Director and Chair are very understanding and more than willing to answer any questions. Both will go over further expectations and questions regarding crisis at the beginning of the committee, but delegates should familiarize themselves with expectations prior to the conference. BUT ALSO, if a delegate has never participated in Crisis before…not a problem!! To be put simply, the best way to learn a crisis committee is to do a crisis committee. The first one is always the most fun (probably ). Structure of the Committee The structure of the committee will diverge slightly from a basic, one governing-body based committee. While the plurality of members in “Molassacre” will be Boston City Council members, due to historical limitations and size of the actual City Council, it would not be possible to form this committee with only members of that body. The role of the United States Industrial Alcohol Company and its subsidiary, the Purity Distilling Company, in the Boston Molasses Crisis of course necessitate representation on any committee responding to the crisis. However, we decided that a committee of only City Councilors and USIA representatives would be divided along obvious lines and likely stagnate debate. As such, we intend to make this committee as dynamic and diverse as possible in order for delegates to respond to Boston Molasses Crisis and any other updates they may face. Delegate roles may range from the owner of a prominent Boston newspaper to the Boston Police Commissioner or liaison with federal government. Regardless of roles, each committee member will have equal power and authority in the committee room, though, as in any crisis committee, their different roles will dictate their relationship with the crisis room and the actions they might individually perform in responding to a crisis.

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