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| Title | Armed policemen during longshoremen's strike, Seattle, July 20, 1934 |
| Photographer | Staff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Date | 1934 |
| Caption | In the early 1930s, the International Longshoremen's Association, led by San Francisco-based Harry Bridges, tried to unionize all West Coast dockworkers to improve pay and working conditions. In 1934, after employers refused to recognize the union, West Coast longshoremen went out on strike for 98 days, seriously disrupting trade. At Seattle's Smith Cove, picketing strikers blocked access to the piers and tried to prevent ships from being loaded and unloaded. The mayor called out the police to curb periodic violence.
Strikers and sympathizers had stormed Seattle's police headquarters after police raids on Communist and radical unions began on July 18. When the men retreated to Smith Cove to join the picketers, Mayor Charles Smith led 300 policemen to the area armed with tear gas and submachine guns. Injuries were heavy on both sides, but no shots were fired.
In this July 19, 1934, photo, taken in Seattle during the West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, two policemen crouch behind protective bales of wool on the Garfield Street (Magnolia) Bridge at Smith Cove. |
| Notes | Caption from 7/21/34 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: READY IF NEEDED - Luckily for the rioters, these patrolmen armed with submachine guns didn't go into action yesterday. But they were on duty behind wool bales, prepared to lay down a deadly barrage if the worst came to the worst.
Handwritten on sleeve: Strikes - 1934 - Longshore.
Caption by MOHAI staff. |
| Subjects | Longshoremen's strikes--Washington (State)--Seattle; Police--Washington (State)--Seattle; Firearms--Washington (State)--Seattle; Bridges--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle
Interbay (Seattle, Wash.) |
| Digital Collection | Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection |
| Image Number | PI24007 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph. |
| Credit Line | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved |
| Repository | Museum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI) |
| Repository Collection | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Physical Description | 1 nitrate negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in.; dichroic fog |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from print made from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3. |
