From Blackjacks to Briefcases

Athens, Ohio--Robert Smith uncovered the sordid practices and the extent of a uniquely American industry by reading the subpoenaed documents of strikebound companies and their mercenary strikebreakers, by digging through newspaper archives for articles on long-forgotten strikes, and by studying the testimony of executives and strikebreakers who appeared before private, state, and federal governmental inquiries. Smith describes incidents, often bloody, involving strikebreakers in industrial, transportation, and mining disputes across the nation--including infamous or revealing strikes in California, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia. While the activities of such hired guns are occasionally touched upon in broader studies, or in accounts of specific strikes, the lack of primary evidence has made a thorough examination of this industry difficult. Many of the earliest anti-union entrepreneurs carried their offices in their hats, and their secretive nature and the business comm

Robert Michael Smith is a professor of history at Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio.