The Great Bridgman Convention and Red Raid

Nick Bogert, a board member at The Region of Three Oaks Museum, had an article published in the July/August 2022 issue of Michigan History magazine describing the 1922 Bridgman Red Raid. He will present a talk and PowerPoint presentation on this fascinating chapter on local history.

A century ago, on Tuesday, August 22, 1922, St. Joseph County and federal authorities stormed a Bridgman beach resort to disrupt a meeting of American Communists. Aided by an informant in the gathering, police and agents dug up documents that the Communists had buried in the dunes. Authorities clearly considered this evidence a smoking gun: "We've got pretty near enough on them to hang them", crowed one of the agents.

It didn't turn out that way. Trials in St. Joseph made national news and raised important issues about freedom of speech and the right to assemble peaceably. None of the 17 arrested at the Bridgman meeting ever served prison terms. The Michigan law under which the Communists were charged was eventually found unconstitutional. In retrospect, Berrien County's prosecutor felt the arrests did more to glorify the Communist cause than to stop it.

 
Photo: Those arrested at the Bridgman Convention in 1922.