The McNamara brothers bombed the Los Angeles Times building in 1910, killing 21 people. They opposed the newspaper owner's conservative views against unions. A third bomb was found and traced back to the brothers, who were sentenced to prison. Tensions had grown due to unsafe working conditions and employers not recognizing unions. The bombing led to investigations into industrial relations and new laws protecting workers' rights. However, current efforts reducing collective bargaining could lead to new acts of domestic terrorism if workers' frustrations are not addressed through legal protest.

1. Nick Elle
Terrorism and Emergency Management
Domestic Terrorism Paper
Instructor: Earl Juskowiak
The Los Angeles Times Bombing
Brothers James and John McNamara bombed the Los Angeles Times building on
October 1st, 1910. After the explosion a fire proceeded to engulf ink containers and set the
building a blaze. Due to the blast the second floor collapsed onto the office workers below
and later the first floor fell into the basement. The combination of fire and the structural
collapse 21 people lost their lives and many more were injured.
The brothers had also planted another bomb that exploded at the home of the
owner of the Los Angeles Times Gary Otis. The explosion did not kill him. He remained the
owner of the Los Angeles times until 1917 and throughout his ownership he imposed his
conservative influence strongly against union activity. Gary Otis was also a well known
advocate of the anti-picketing ordinances which banned picketing and "speaking in public
streets in a loud or unusual tone."(6) There was a penalty for breaking the ordinance, “of
50 days in jail or a $100 fine or both.” (6)
A third bomb was found at the residence of the secretary of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association which was comprised of members against union activity and
members were mainly employers. The bomb was safely handled and defused by police.

2. The dynamite that was found in the third bomb was traced back to the McNamara brothers
that later led to their prosecution. “James McNamara got a life sentence, while his brother
received a sentence of 15 years.” (6) James received the harsher sentence because he was
the one who actually placed the bombs.
Although this is considered an act of domestic terrorism by many, in the instance of
the actual bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building, the brothers had set the device to go
off at a time when the building was clear of people. Unfortunately the timing device
malfunctioned and the bomb went off about three hours earlier killing 21 people. The
brothers claimed they had no intention of killing anyone.
The brothers were actively involved with the International Association of Bridge
and Structural Iron Workers union. There was a lot of tension building between workers
and employers due to the increasing numbers of open shops. Open shops are places of
employment where union affiliation is not required and now days is considered “scab”
labor. The steel and iron employers formed the National Erectors’ association to promote
open shop policies in order to keep their expenses of running business down.
The event took place due to the McNamara brothers acting on issues at hand
including bad working conditions such as unsafe working practices, low wages and the
increasingly bad relationships between employers and employees due to the employers not
paying attention to the unions cries for help. The Los Angeles Times owner Harrison Gray
Otis was affiliated with an anti-union organization called Merchants and Manufacturers
Association.

3. “Pickets were orderly and no violence occurred until July 16, 1910, when the City
Council passed its infamous anti-picketing ordinance.”
(http://www.ironworkers512.com/history.html) This policy came about after the Los
Angeles Times bombing in an attempt to silence the unions. The Merchants and
Manufacturers Association had a strong political voice at the time helping the ordinance
pass. This caused hundreds of protestors against the anti-picketing ordinance to be jailed.
The penalty for picketing was “…50 days in jail or a $100 fine or both.” (3) The post effect
of the anti-picketing ordinance was not favorable for anti-unionists because of the
increased strength and passion the unions gained. In September of 1910 membership of
unions increased by about 60% and 13 new unions had sprung up. The support for unions
eventually spread through national political change after numerous other events within the
state of California and outside of it there came to be certain laws for workers and unions.
Shortly after the bombing President William Howard Taft worked with Congress to
create a nine-person investigative committee, which was named the Commission on
Industrial Relations. Between 1912 and 1915 the commission conducted investigations
into industrial working conditions.
“Some of the commission findings included:
1. The Commission found that lumber workers in the Northwest labored
at their jobs for ten hours a day at only twenty cents an hour.
2. Seasonal unemployment effected tens of thousands of people in
Pacific Coast cities. Only the fortunate averaged more than a meal a day.
3. In California, migrant laborers work in fields with temperatures up to
105 degrees Fahrenheit on farms where growers refused to supply them water in
the fields.
4. One Paterson, New Jersey silk mill fined workers fifty cents for talking
and fifty cents for laughing while at work.[11] “ (4)

4. It may be argued that the commission had an effect along with other union efforts and
governmental investigations on the eight-hour work day.
To deal with this issue and prevent future incidents from happening the
Commission’s findings would have to be taken seriously and appropriate laws to protect
worker’s rights would have to be in place. These protections could include the following
and more: minimum wage laws, working condition laws, working hours regulations, and
workers compensation. Allowing for free speech and strikes to happen given they are
peaceful would be another very important step in preventing an incident like this from
happening again as it allows people to vent their frustrations in a less-damaging manner.
Public servants such as police and fire should be encouraged to appear neutral in the
conflict while serving in order to maintain an un-biased view from public agencies and
provide services equally to citizens. If addressing workers rights and concerns had been
allowed it may have been presented as the passionate nature of some unionists would have
been vented differently
This event connects with the current events in Wisconsin. Although there are laws
now in place to protect worker’s rights individually the focus of the bombing in 1910 was
to gain those rights through collective bargaining. As inflation and other events happen the
cost of living will go up and the unions in Wisconsin will not be heard. The current law
passed in Wisconsin strips many collective bargaining rights of unions which takes away
their ability to bargain with their employer, the state, on matters such as health care and
pensions. This is a regression from what was achieved through many strikes and other
events such as the Los Angeles Times bombing in which some lost their lives. There is no
doubt that if this regression from union rights continues that a regression of worker’s

5. rights will follow as well. If the stripping of many collective bargaining rights spread
throughout the United States to “fix” the current budget crisis that the United States will
face another domestic terrorism event from a concerned individual or group in an attempt
to progress with union rights.
To prevent another event motivated similarly to the Los Angeles Times bombing
free speech and the right to assembly must be respected. If these two rights are respected
the majority of the population will be heard and changes will be made.

6. Bibliography
1. Steffens, Lincoln. “Los Angeles Times Bombing”. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
August 1st, 2002. Visited 3/2/2011
2. Unknown. “The McNamara Brothers”. http://www.libraries.uc.edu
Unknown date. Visited 3/2/2011
3. Unknown. “The McNamara Brothers”. http://www.wikipedia.org
September 25th, 2010. Visited 3/3/2011
4. Unknown. “Commission on Industrial Relations”. http://www.wikipedia.org
December 7th, 2010. Visited 3/3/2011
5. Unknown. “The Bombing of the Los Angeles Times”. http://www.usc.edu
Unknown date. Visited 3/4/2011
6. Unknown. “Los Angeles Times Bombing”. http://www.wikipedia.org
January 31st, 2011. Visited 3/7/2011