Willard M. Oliver is a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He received his PhD and MA in political science from West Virginia University, and his BS and MS in criminal justice from Radford University. His areas of research interest include policing, criminal justice history, and crime/criminal justice policy, especially where the three intersect. He has authored two dozen books, including The Birth of the FBI: Teddy Roosevelt, the Secret Service, and the Fight Over America’s Premier Law Enforcement Agency (Rowman & Littlefield 2019). Oliver is a retired major in the U.S. Army Reserves and a former police officer. He resides in Huntsville, Texas with his family.
The Boston Police Strike of 1919 is one of the signal events in Boston's history, and in Willard Oliver's vivid and well-research account, one of the most important in the nation's. He has mined the Boston newspapers and a new database compiled for the Strike's centennial in 1919 to tell the story, and to analyze its importance for Boston, for its police force, and for unions. The strike destroyed the nascent Boston police union, set off a wave of violence in the city, and helped make Calvin Coolidge President of the United States. This is a story that has long needed to be told well, and we are fortunate that Willard Oliver, one of the nation's foremost scholars of police work, has completed the task. This detailed history of the Boston strike of 1919 is an interesting and intriguing read for not just any Boston police officer, but for anyone interested in the fight for unionization of police officers. Oliver's depictions and insights of the people involved in this historical moment give us lessons in history and politics that are still relevant and applicable today. A must read for anyone interested in the Police Labor movement.