Monday, Jun. 29, 1953
Aloha Shirt Set
In Hawaii last week, Jack Hall, regional director of Harry Bridges' International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, five other aloha-shirted defendants and the wife of one of them were found guilty of Communist plotting to overthrow the Government. The verdict brought to 51 the number of U.S. Reds convicted under the Smith Act.
In protest, Bridges' I.L.W.U. men quickly began walking off jobs. A dozen ships were tied up at Hawaiian docks, two others sailed without full cargoes. Trucks were abandoned by union drivers on the highway, and mill workers quit their machines.
The trial, longest and one of the most controversial in Hawaii's history, lasted 72 months, during which time 83 witnesses gave more than 3,500,000 words of testimony. The jury of Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Caucasian strains took only 16 hours to arrive at a guilty verdict.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.