Fore River Shipyard

History of the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. Includes photographs and information about the many ships launched from here.

Senator Ted Kennedy said, "My father worked here. The Fore River Shipyard will once again be a symbol of our leadership. And I will do all I can to insure that this leadership continues to thrive. The shipbuilding industry has been struggling in this country as a whole. Employment has dropped to a 40 year low. American-built ships carry less than one percent of world trade. That is unacceptable." Senator John McCain said, "We have an obligation to protect the taxpayers' dollars by ensuring that this is a viable project. It is my desire that the Quincy shipyard, into which the state of Massachusetts and the city of Quincy have invested significant resources, will be a successful venture." President Clinton said about shipbuilding and the Quincy yard in particular, "Shipbuilding is one of the keys to America's national defense and helping our shipbuilders succeed commercially is an important goal of defense conversion. This administration is committed to preserving highly skilled American jobs and we believe that American shipbuilding can compete and win in world markets." What happened ? SHIPBUILDING USED TO BE ONE OF THE TOP FIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE U.S.A.

In Organizing the Shipyards, David Palmer documents the history of union organizing at three of America's largest private shipyards from the Great Depression and the beginning of the New Deal to the end of World War II. These yards had tremendous strategic importance because of their location in the Northeast's three port regions: New York Shipbuilding in the port of Philadelphia, Bethlehem Fore River Shipyard in the port of Boston, and Federal Shipbuilding in the port of New York. The Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, which led each of the drives, pioneered industrial unionism and became one of the largest of the new CIO unions, with a quarter of a million members in an industry that employed more wartime workers than any other. Using oral history interviews with former union officials, organizing staff, and rank-and-file workers, Palmer presents both a narrative and a scholarly account. He covers the successes and the failures of union organizing in the yards themselves, in neighboring communities, and sometimes in outreach to political leaders as elevated as Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the process, Palmer offers a reassessment of the basis for the early gains of the CIO and also for its subsequent bureaucratization.

A guide to the history of the Massachusetts region for visitors, locals and armchair tourists alike. The South Shore is an intriguing mix of antiquity and modernity. The region’s first settlement, Plymouth, is a top tourist destination, as more than one million visitors flock to it annually. Quincy showcases the region’s Revolutionary War past, but even more of its fascinating sites are hidden behind an urban façade. Along windswept beaches and cranberry bogs, the varied terrain is unique and captivating. From the birthplace of Abigail Adams in Weymouth to the historical houses of Hingham and the Old Scituate Light, author Zachary Lamothe uncovers the stories behind some of the most notable people and landmarks in New England.

Postcard publishers had plenty to work with in the Boston area at the beginning of the 20th century, the heyday of the American postcard. This collection of vintage postcards shows how the Boston Harbor Islands offered romantic scenery, historic lighthouses, and majestic coastal artillery forts, picturesque summer destinations, and a working waterfront.