William Bross Lloyd (February 24, 1875 – June 30, 1946) was an American attorney and political activist. The oldest son of the

muckraking The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...

journalist

Henry Demarest Lloyd Henry Demarest Lloyd (May 1, 1847 – September 28, 1903) was a 19th-century American progressive political activist and pioneer muckraking journalist. He is best remembered for his exposés of the Standard Oil Company, which were written before ...

and Jessie Bross, daughter of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' founder William Bross, William Bross Lloyd is best remembered as a founding member and financial angel of the fledgling

Communist Labor Party of America The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America. Although a legal ...

, forerunner of the Communist Party USA.

Biography

Early years

William Bross Lloyd Sr. was born February 24, 1875, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He was the oldest son of

progressive journalist

and Jessie Bross, daughter of ''

'' founder William Bross, through whom he ultimately inherited a valuable one-quarter share of the newspaper.Theodore Draper, ''The Roots of American Communism.'' New York: The Viking Press, 1957; pg. 138. Lloyd attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

from which he graduated in 1898.Stephan Weatherly (ed.)
"Biographical/Historical Information,"
William Bross Lloyd papers online finding aid. New York: New York Public Library, 2014. Thereafter he enrolled at Harvard Law School, completing his studies there in 1902 and continuing to practice law in the states of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. While at Harvard Lloyd met his fellow student Lola Maverick and the couple married in November 1902. The couple traveled briefly following their marriage before setting up house in Chicago, where William intended to begin practicing law.William Bross Lloyd, "William Bross Lloyd," i
''Harvard College Class of 1898 Quindecennial Report.''
n.c.: n.p., June 1913; pp. 199-200. The couple would have four children, three girls and a son, before a bitter divorce in 1916. Lloyd would remarry to Madge Bird following the divorce and fathered one more son in 1918 by his second wife.

Political activism

Following his father's death in September 1903, William decided to enter politics himself, giving up plans on practicing law to instead become an activist in the movement for public ownership of the municipal railway system — the primary mode of civic transportation in the pre-automotive era. While Lloyd's father, Henry Demarest Lloyd, had long been a member of the socialist movement, as a youth William Bross Lloyd was not a member of the Socialist Party of America or its youth section, joining the organization only in 1906. Lloyd would remain a political activist for the better part of the next two decades. In 1918, William Bross Lloyd entered the world of practical politics for himself, running for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on the Socialist Party ticket. Lloyd was a member of one of the earliest explicitly Bolshevik political organizations in the United States, the Communist Propaganda League, established in Chicago in 1918. Lloyd's personal secretary, attorney Isaac Edward Ferguson, was the founding secretary of that same organization. Lloyd was elected to the 15-member National Executive Committee which governed the Socialist Party in early 1919, but the results of the election — which would have turned control of the party and its assets to an insurgent left wing — were overturned and ignored by the outgoing NEC in June and he never assumed office. Following the split of the left wing from the Socialist Party in the summer of 1919, Lloyd became a founding member of the

.Dennis Rodkin
"The 1855 Home of a Legendary Chicago Journalist Sold in Winnetka for Almost $2 Million,"
''Chicago Magazine,'' July 29, 2013. After just three months of public existence this organization was subjected to government repression as one of the targets of the Palmer Raids of January 2/3, 1920, and was driven underground. Lloyd would be one of 20 Communists tried for conspiring to overthrow the US government in a major Chicago trial, which was prosecuted by future Chicago judge Frank D. Comerford and defended by celebrated attorney

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

. The trial, which ran from May 10 to August 2, 1920, resulted in convictions for all of the defendants. Lloyd received a sentence of from 1 to 5 years in prisonLawrence Kestenbaum (ed.)
"Politicians Who Died of Cancer: William Bross Lloyd (1875-1946),"
The Political Graveyard, www.politicalgraveyard.com/ but remained free on bail pending resolution of the appeal process. Though the appeals process was exhausted in 1922, Lloyd was no longer seen as a threatening advocate of communism by that date and his sentence was accordingly commuted. Lloyd posted bail for

Big Bill Haywood William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928) was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of ...

for his 1921 trial. Haywood skipped bail while out on appeal and fled to the Russian SFSR. The $15,000 bail was forfeited as a result of Haywood's flight.

Death and legacy

William Bross Lloyd died of cancer on June 30, 1946, at the

Ritz-Carlton Hotel The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addi ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He was 71 years old at the time of his death. Lloyd's body was cremated and his ashes cast into the Atlantic Ocean by his surviving family. Lloyd's papers, combined into one collection with those of his eldest son, prominent pacifist William Bross Lloyd Jr. (1908-1995), reside at the New York Public Library in New York City."William Bross Lloyd Papers, 1912-1986."
OCLC WorldCat no. 122466592. The collection, totaling 24 linear feet of material, is housed in 41 archival boxes and includes writings, publications, photographs, and family correspondence.

Footnotes

Works

* ''Peace: Now You See It and Now You Don't; or, That's All — The Prestidigitator.'' n.c. hicago? n.p., . 1917 * ''The Socialist Party and Its Purposes.'' With Isaac Edward Ferguson. Chicago: Goodspeed Press, 1918. * "Silence — And the Resurrection: A Letter from William Bross Lloyd" with "In Reply" by Max Eastman, ''The Liberator,'
vol. 1, no. 6
(Aug. 1918), pp. 30–32.

External links

* Weatherly Stephan (ed.)
William Bross Lloyd papers
online finding aid, New York Public Library, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, William Bross 1875 births 1946 deaths Politicians from Chicago Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from Chicago Massachusetts lawyers Members of the Socialist Party of America American Marxists Harvard College alumni