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On October 16th, 1890, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was shot to death while walking home. His death would spur violence and mass arrests, and suspicion against Italian-American immigrants who seemed to be a part of a sinister criminal conspiracy known as the mafia. His murder would result in a notorious trial, followed by an infamous event of mob justice.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.
Absent a few coincidences, and "fortunate blunders" on December 5, 1941 the history of December 7th could have different.
