August 23 in History: The Salad Bowl Strike and Other Milestones
On Aug. 23, 1970, the largest farmworker strike in U.S. history began. Also on this date: Wallace's execution, Sacco and Vanzetti, and more.
On August 23, 1970, the Salad Bowl strike erupted in California's agricultural fields. Organized by labor leader Cesar Chavez, between 5,000 and 10,000 farmworkers walked off their jobs, marking the largest farmworker strike in American history. The action drew national attention to the plight of agricultural laborers and their fight for better wages and working conditions.
The date also carries other significant historical weight. In 1305, Scottish rebel William Wallace was executed by the English for treason. In 1775, Britain's King George III declared the American colonies to be in a state of "open and avowed rebellion." In 1914, Japan entered World War I by declaring war on Germany.
In 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for murders committed during a 1920 robbery. Their trial was widely criticized, and in 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating they had been unfairly tried and convicted.
Other notable events on this date include the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the 2000 Gulf Air crash near Bahrain that killed all 143 aboard, and the 2011 Virginia earthquake that damaged the Washington Monument. In 2013, Maj. Nidal Hasan was convicted for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. In 2020, the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparked protests. In 2022, two men were convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.