Calvin Coolidge, Telegram to Samuel Gompers (September 14, 1919). In Calvin Coolidge, Have Faith in Massachusetts: A Collection of Speeches and Messages, 2nd ed. ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919).

[Coolidge was governor of Massachusetts in 1919, when almost 80% of Boston police went on strike after the city police commissioner refused to allow them to unionize. Widespread crime and rioting ensued, and Boston militia companies forcibly broke the strike. After the strike was broken, Coolidge deployed the entire state militia, who fired into a crowd and killed two.]

Mr. Samuel Gompers
President American Federation of Labor
New York City, N.Y.

Replying to your telegram, I have already refused to remove the Police Commissioner of Boston. I did not appoint him. He can assume no position which the courts would uphold except what the people have by the authority of their law vested in him. He speaks only with their voice. The right of the police of Boston to affiliate has always been questioned, never granted, is now prohibited. The suggestion of President Wilson to Washington does not apply to Boston. There the police have remained on duty. Here the Policemen's Union left their duty, an action which President Wilson characterized as a crime against civilization. Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity, the criminal element furnished the action. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time. You ask that the public safety again be placed in the hands of these same policemen while they continue in disobedience to the laws of Massachusetts and in their refusal to obey the orders of the Police Department. Nineteen men have been tried and removed. Others having abandoned their duty, their places have, under the law, been declared vacant on the opinion of the Attorney General. I can suggest no authority outside the courts to take further action. I wish to join and assist in taking a broad view of every situation. A grave responsibility rests on all of us. You can depend on me to support you in every legal action and sound policy. I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and law of her people.

Calvin Coolidge
Governor of Massachusetts