James B. McNamara

James B. McNamara (1882 – March 8, 1941), also known as J.B. McNamara or JB, was a 20th-century American labor unionist, best known for his involvement in the McNamara Case as the bomber of the Los Angeles Times building.

Background

James B. McNamara was born in 1882.

Career

In 1903, steel manufacturers US Steel and its subsidiary the American Steel Company formed the National Erectors' Association (NEA) to promote the open shop and bust unions through a combination of agents provocateurs, private detective agencies, and strikebreakers with support from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. In 1905, the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers union (IW or IABSIW or BSIW) elected as treasurer with his older brother John J. McNamara (AKA J.J. McNamara or JJ).

McNamara planted five more bombs in March 1911 alone.

Personal life and death McNamara was an (honorary) member of the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, founded in 1940, whose other members included: Joseph R. Brodsky, Franz Boas, Max Yergan, Tom Mooney, Marc Blitzstein, John M. Coffee, Bella Dodd, Robert W. Dunn, Dashiell Hammett, Abraham J. Isserman, Carol Weiss King, Robert Morss Lovett, Albert Maltz, Vito Marcantonio, Lewis Merrill, Jerry O'Connell, William L. Patterson, Michael Quill, Reid Robinson, George Seldes, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ella Winter, Richard Wright, and Art Young.

James B. McNamara died in prison on March 8, 1941. He is buried in the Mount Tamalpais Cemetery, San Rafael, California.

Legacy McNamara's guilty pleas undercut the campaign of labor lawyer Job Harriman for mayor of Los Angeles (here, shown as running mate of Eugene V. Debs in 1900) The guilty plea of the McNamara brothers on December 1, 1911, undercut the campaign of Job Harriman for mayor of Los Angeles, with elections only four days later.

Darrow found himself implicated in jury tampering, an issue never fully resolved.

In 1913, McManigal wrote a 91-page account of the bombings. The cover shows an images of the explosion and McManigal to the side plus a caption "Ortie McManigal's own story of the National Dynamite Plot." Opposite the title page is an image of William J. Burns, captioned "The main who secured the evidence to corroborate my confession."

The McNamara papers at the University of Cincinnati include correspondence with Clarence Darrow and Upton Sinclair and photos.

Robert Cantwell left an unfinished book about McNamara.