Lowell, A. Lawrence (Abbott Lawrence), 1856-1943

Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927) were Italian immigrants who were tried and executed for robbery and murder of payroll guards Frederick Albert Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli. The case of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Sacco and Vanzetti quickly became one of America's most complicated and notorious political trials. They were found guilty on July 14, 1921, but the legal struggle to save them extended until 1927. By April 9, 1927, all appeals in the Massachusetts courts had failed and the men were sentenced to death. Alvan T. Fuller, the governor of Massachusetts, appointed a three person advisory committee to look into the case. The committe was known as the "Lowell Commission," so-called because the most prominent member was A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University. Other members of the commitee were Judge Robert A. Grant and Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Samuel Stratton. In its report of July 27, 1927, the committee decided that clemency was not warranted and the governor refused to commute the sentences. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927.

From the description of Papers concerning the Sacco and Vanzetti case, 1921-1927. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 79458327

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