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 an American journalist and political activist who was a prominent muckraker during the Progressive Era. He is best known for his exposés of Standard Oil which were written before Ida ...

and Jessie Bross, daughter of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' founder

William Bross William J. Bross (November 4, 1813 – January 27, 1890) was an American politician and publisher originally from the New Jersey–New York–Pennsylvania tri-state area. He was also elected as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. He eng ...

, 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 leg ...

, forerunner of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

Biography

Early years

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

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He was the oldest son of

progressive journalist

and Jessie Bross, daughter of ''

'' founder

, 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 education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

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 Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, completing his studies there in 1902 and continuing to practice law in the states of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. 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 The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor 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 a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

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 The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchist ...

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 19th century for high-profile representations of trade union causes, and in the 20th century for several criminal matters, including the ...

. 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 Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928), nicknamed "Big Bill", 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 Socia ...

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 corporation, multinational company that operates the Hotel#Luxury, luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 conference and resort hotels, luxury hotels an ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. 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 Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

William Bross Lloyd Jr. (1908-1995), reside at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

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