Were Sacco and Vanzetti Really Heroes?.
What is a hero? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a hero is one who shows great courage and is admired for achievements and noble qualities. Most say a hero is recognized for achievements, and what they did to better society as a whole. Take for example, Socrates, a man who committed a crime of polluting the minds of the youth in his teachings or corrupt political ideas. This man did nothing but question the government. According to Roger R. Rollin, "The everyday hero must survive adverse conditions or situations. All heroes must have some quest or mission to accomplish. Heroes are marked by courage, nobility of purpose or special achievement in the force of danger and death." Now according to this a hero does not need to be perfect, he can have his or her flaws or mistakes. The key of the definition of a hero is how the hero comes through in times or distress. What makes a hero is what a hero does with what they are given and they use whatever abilities they have to the fullest. Sacco and Vanzetti fall into this category.
Paymaster Frederick Parmenter and his guard were carrying $16,000 in payroll for a South Braintree, Mass. shoe factory on April 15, 1920 when they were robbed and shot dead. The killers, two men who witnesses described as looking like Italians, leapt into a getaway car that sped to the scene. The crime was similar to a robbery four months earlier in the nearby town of Bridgewater. Bridgewater police chief Michael Stewart, who had been investigating Italian anarchists, saw a link between the two and set a trap. He caught Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, apparently the perfect suspects -- poor Italian immigrants, and anarchists. However, the ordeal started 2 years before the robbery when the two men arrived in Massachusetts from Italy. Sacco became a show worker, married and had a child. Vanzetti was a job hopper until he finally settled as a fish peddler.