http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0f59r8q2 No online items Finding Aid to the Thomas J. Mooney Papers, 1887-1949, bulk 1930-1942 Finding Aid written by Teresa Maria Mora The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ © 2007 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid to the Thomas J. BANC MSS C-B 410 1 Mooney Papers, 1887-1949, bulk 1930-1942 Finding Aid to the Thomas J. Mooney Papers, 1887-1949, bulk 1930-1942 Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 410 The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Finding Aid Written By: Teresa Maria Mora Date Completed: January 2012 © 2012 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: Thomas J. Mooney papers Date (inclusive): 1887-1949, Date (bulk): bulk 1930-1942 Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 410 Creators : Mooney, Thomas J. Extent: Number of containers: 70 cartons, 5 boxes, 25 oversize boxes, 16 oversize folders, 37 scrapbooks and 91 volumesLinear feet: circa 120 Repository: The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ Abstract: The Thomas J. Mooney Papers document the attempts to free and vindicate Thomas J. Mooney who was wrongfully convicted of bombing the San Francisco Preparedness Day Parade of 1916. Although the collection does include personal papers of Mooney and his wife Rena Mooney, the bulk of the collection consists of the records of the Tom Mooney Molder's Defense Committee (TMMDC), an organization run by Mooney from his jail cell for the duration of his incarceration. Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html . Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Thomas J. Mooney Papers, BANC MSS C-B 410, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Finding Aid to the Thomas J. BANC MSS C-B 410 2 Mooney Papers, 1887-1949, bulk 1930-1942 Alternate Forms Available There are no alternate forms of this collection. Related Collections Fremont Older Papers (BANC MSS C-B 376) McDevitt papers (BANC MSS 89/86) Austin Lewis papers (BANC MSS C-B 467) George T. Davis collection of legal documents related to Thomas J. Mooney and Warren K. Billings (BANC MSS 2003/327) An interview with Mary Gallagher on the I.W.W., Tom Mooney (BANC MSS C-D 4011) Carl Hoffman papers (BANC MSS C-B 377) Photographs from the Thomas J. Mooney papers (BANC PIC 1945.003-PIC) Austin Lewis papers (BANC MSS C-B 467) George T. Davis papers (BANC MSS 2003/320) Collection of material relating to the I.W.W. and various labor and Socialist leaders (BANC MSS C-R 90) BANC PIC 1905.02830 Tom Mooney Molders Defense Committee presents the Mooney case [videorecording]: as told to the camera by Tom Mooney (Motion Picture 1188 E) The strange case of Tom Mooney. Reel 2 [videorecording] (Motion Picture 1189 E) Separated Material Most photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library. Film has been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library. Many printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library. Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942--Archives Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942--Trials, litigation, etc Bombings--California--San Francisco Trials (Murder)--California--San Francisco Trials (Terrorism)--California--San Francisco Mooney, Rena Mooney Molders Defense Committee Billings, Warren K., 1893-1972 Labor movement--San Francisco (Calif.)--History Acquisition Information The Thomas J. Mooney Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by the estate of Thomas J. Mooney on May 31, 1943. Additions were made by Sara H. Eliaser, former Chair of the Tom Moony Molders' Defense Committee, in 1958. Accruals No additions are expected. System of Arrangement Arranged to the folder level. Processing Information Processed by Teresa Mora in 2008-2011. Biographical Information Mooney, Thomas Joseph (8 Dec. 1882-6 Mar. 1942), labor leader, was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Bryan Mooney (also called Bernard), a coal miner, and Mary Hefferon (or Heffernan). Mooney lived in Washington, Indiana, until he was ten, when his father died. The family then moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where his mother found work in a paper mill as a ragsorter. Mooney left school at fourteen for a job in a local factory and in 1898 entered the iron molding trade. He joined the molders' union, a membership he maintained the rest of his life. With opportunities for employment scarce, he began traveling around the country, doing whatever work he could find. In 1907 his journeys took him to Europe, and there he discovered socialism. Returning home, he began drifting again, this time traveling as far west as Stockton, California. Finding Aid to the Thomas J. BANC MSS C-B 410 3 Mooney Papers, 1887-1949, bulk 1930-1942 There he joined the Socialist party, worked for the presidential campaign of Eugene V. Debs, and spent a winter in Chicago learning more about the party. In 1909 Mooney set off again, this time seeking to win a round-the-world trip in a subscription-selling contest sponsored by a socialist magazine. He lost, but so narrowly that the magazine paid his way to attend the International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen in 1910. He then returned to California, this time settling in San Francisco. He belonged briefly to the Industrial Workers of the World, but, finding them too sectarian, he aligned himself with the radical minority of the local Socialist party and served as circulation manager for their short-lived newspaper, Revolt. He ran on the Socialist party ticket for superior court judge in 1910 and for sheriff in 1911. He also helped organize molders for the tiny left-wing Syndicalist League of North America. He was married in 1911 to Rena Ellen Brink Hermann; they had no children. In 1913 Mooney and Warren Knox Billings, another young radical, became involved in a bitter electrical workers' strike against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Billings was caught with a suitcase full of dynamite, and although Mooney does not appear to have been involved, he heard that he too was about to be arrested. He went underground for several months, then tried to slip away by boat, but was caught and charged with illegal possession of explosives. Three trials followed, the first two ending in hung juries and the third (1914) in his acquittal. Once released, Mooney resumed his labor activism. By 1916, with World War I in Europe nearly two years old, many Americans were calling for a military build-up. Others, including many labor leaders and radicals, opposed the idea, arguing that it would only hasten the country's entry into what they saw as a corrupt and imperialist war. On 22 July 1916, during the period when Preparedness Day parades were being held throughout the country, a bomb exploded in the midst of San Francisco's parade, killing ten people and wounding forty more. Although there was almost no physical evidence, the press immediately blamed political radicals, while District Attorney Charles M. Fickert concluded that the bomb had been brought to the scene in a suitcase. With encouragement from the private detective at Pacific Gas and Electric who had tracked down Mooney and Billings in 1913, Fickert quickly arrested both men, along with Mooney's wife and several other people. Billings, who was tried first, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mooney's trial for first-degree murder followed in January 1917. A rancher named Frank Oxman, who had not appeared in the Billings trial, testified that he had seen both men carrying a suitcase near the bomb scene, and although his statement contradicted other prosecution testimony, Mooney was convicted and sentenced to the gallows. Subsequent investigations discredited Oxman's testimony, but under pressure from local business interests and the Hearst press, Fickert refused to reopen the case. In the meantime, Mooney's wife was tried (without Oxman's testimony) and acquitted. Until Mooney's conviction, most of his support came from fellow radicals, in addition to a few public-minded lawyers, led by Bourke Cockran. Once the trial was over, however, Mooney's circle of supporters expanded to include a wide array of mainstream labor leaders, civil libertarians, reformers, public officials, and members of the general public. The case attracted worldwide attention, and when mobs in Petrograd stormed the American embassy to protest Mooney's conviction, President Woodrow Wilson urged the governor of California to consider giving Mooney a new trial.