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On the Waterfront: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Articles That Inspired the Classic Film and Transformed the New York Harbor
The Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper stories that shook the nation-collected for the first time since their original publication in 1948.
Until the mid-twentieth century, organized crime ruled New York's waterfront. With the threat of communism in the air, the inhumane treatment of longshoremen implicitly condoned by the unions, and the suspicious disappearance of anyone who spoke out against the system, it seemed things would never change. Then Malcolm Johnson's groundbreaking series "Crime on the Water Front" appeared in The New York Sun, revealing a violent underworld that influenced all levels of New York politics, society, and industry. Johnson's extensive investigation finally forced the public and the government to take action, leading to changes in labor laws that influenced the entire nation. Now, collected for the first time in book form, these Pulitzer Prize-winning articles tell a riveting story of mobsters, murder, faith, and the ultimate victory of fair play and American values. Included is a foreword by Malcolm Johnson's son, Haynes Johnson, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, who discusses the tremendous impact the series had upon his family, and an introduction and additional reporting by Budd Schulberg, author of the Academy Award-winning screenplay On the Waterfront.
Introduction and additional articles by Budd Schulberg.
Foreword by Haynes Johnson
Until the mid-twentieth century, organized crime ruled New York's waterfront. With the threat of communism in the air, the inhumane treatment of longshoremen implicitly condoned by the unions, and the suspicious disappearance of anyone who spoke out against the system, it seemed things would never change. Then Malcolm Johnson's groundbreaking series "Crime on the Water Front" appeared in The New York Sun, revealing a violent underworld that influenced all levels of New York politics, society, and industry. Johnson's extensive investigation finally forced the public and the government to take action, leading to changes in labor laws that influenced the entire nation. Now, collected for the first time in book form, these Pulitzer Prize-winning articles tell a riveting story of mobsters, murder, faith, and the ultimate victory of fair play and American values. Included is a foreword by Malcolm Johnson's son, Haynes Johnson, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, who discusses the tremendous impact the series had upon his family, and an introduction and additional reporting by Budd Schulberg, author of the Academy Award-winning screenplay On the Waterfront.
Introduction and additional articles by Budd Schulberg.
Foreword by Haynes Johnson
- GenresNew YorkNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 27, 2017
Man. It's cool to read important stuff like this. Crime is perverse when it's just run amuck capitalism. Kind of wish there was more story there but I knew what I was reading. Investigative journalism written with a specific policy end in mind. Nice to put some real life context to the movie. Will always be a favorite and thanks DISQUIET for introducing me. (My Acting for Writers class reenacted a scene from it. Best class I've ever taken and we met but for four sessions!)
July 14, 2019
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3193140.html
Of all the material I've looked at which was adapted to Oscar-winning movies, this is the most altered in the adaptation. It's not that surprising, really; the original material was a series of factual newspaper articles in the New York Sun in 1947 and 1948 about organised crime and the dock industry. In itself it is interesting enough. It's a classic example of investigative journalism which does not hesitate to name names (though presumably some names are left out); it's not a broad survey of social conditions on the docks, it's a very specific investigation of how the shipping industry was being extorted by the leadership of the International Longshoremen's Union, and the difficulties faced by the authorities in chasing them down. The cost of this extortion was, of course, passed on to the consumer, and the profits went directly to the union leadership, who forced the workers to compete for their small cut of the available labour.
The film of course must tell its own narrative, but I found it striking how little of the wider political context made it to the screen. Johnson's journalism makes it clear how many of the criminal bosses got their start in the days of Prohibition (less distant in 1948 than Bill Clinton's presidency is now), and the extent to which they were able to control local police forces. There is a particularly memorable chapter where leading mobster John Dunn got some mid-ranking army officers to intercede for him with the Parole Commission to insist on his early release from jail in 1943, only for Mayor LaGuardia to alert Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, who put a stop to it. (It's not in Johnson's book, but it came out many years later that Dunn and his mobster colleagues had in fact been paid informants of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which was obviously interested in anything political going on in such a sensitive economic chokepoint.)
I also found it striking that Hoboken, where the film is so memorably set, was not the centre of the main action of the ILA up and down the West Side of Manhattan - though the Jersey side certainly doesn't go unmentioned. From the film you would almost think that the docks were restricted to Hudson County. The book makes it clear what a big deal the docks were (and still are); New York Harbour was then the world's busiest port, seeing about a quarter of all imports into the USA. (Nowadays it's not even in the top 20 worldwide, and beaten by both South Louisiana and Houston in the USA, but there's still a lot going on.)
Anyway, this is all something of a historical curiosity. The power of the ILA was broken in 1953, before the film came out, by the creation of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which has inevitably developed its own problems with corruption; New Jersey is attempting to extricate itself from it (though has not yet succeeded). Father Corridan, the model for Father Barry in the film, gets a lot of the good lines. The actual union members themselves who successfully went on strike against their own leadership don't get quite so much coverage, which is perhaps rather telling.
Anyway, mainly of interest to people who want a microstudy of a particular moment of American crime and labour history, or to aspiring film buffs like myself.
Of all the material I've looked at which was adapted to Oscar-winning movies, this is the most altered in the adaptation. It's not that surprising, really; the original material was a series of factual newspaper articles in the New York Sun in 1947 and 1948 about organised crime and the dock industry. In itself it is interesting enough. It's a classic example of investigative journalism which does not hesitate to name names (though presumably some names are left out); it's not a broad survey of social conditions on the docks, it's a very specific investigation of how the shipping industry was being extorted by the leadership of the International Longshoremen's Union, and the difficulties faced by the authorities in chasing them down. The cost of this extortion was, of course, passed on to the consumer, and the profits went directly to the union leadership, who forced the workers to compete for their small cut of the available labour.
The film of course must tell its own narrative, but I found it striking how little of the wider political context made it to the screen. Johnson's journalism makes it clear how many of the criminal bosses got their start in the days of Prohibition (less distant in 1948 than Bill Clinton's presidency is now), and the extent to which they were able to control local police forces. There is a particularly memorable chapter where leading mobster John Dunn got some mid-ranking army officers to intercede for him with the Parole Commission to insist on his early release from jail in 1943, only for Mayor LaGuardia to alert Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, who put a stop to it. (It's not in Johnson's book, but it came out many years later that Dunn and his mobster colleagues had in fact been paid informants of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which was obviously interested in anything political going on in such a sensitive economic chokepoint.)
I also found it striking that Hoboken, where the film is so memorably set, was not the centre of the main action of the ILA up and down the West Side of Manhattan - though the Jersey side certainly doesn't go unmentioned. From the film you would almost think that the docks were restricted to Hudson County. The book makes it clear what a big deal the docks were (and still are); New York Harbour was then the world's busiest port, seeing about a quarter of all imports into the USA. (Nowadays it's not even in the top 20 worldwide, and beaten by both South Louisiana and Houston in the USA, but there's still a lot going on.)
Anyway, this is all something of a historical curiosity. The power of the ILA was broken in 1953, before the film came out, by the creation of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which has inevitably developed its own problems with corruption; New Jersey is attempting to extricate itself from it (though has not yet succeeded). Father Corridan, the model for Father Barry in the film, gets a lot of the good lines. The actual union members themselves who successfully went on strike against their own leadership don't get quite so much coverage, which is perhaps rather telling.
Anyway, mainly of interest to people who want a microstudy of a particular moment of American crime and labour history, or to aspiring film buffs like myself.
October 24, 2017
Most of the book replicates the newspaper series of Malcolm Johnson for the NY Sun. Johnson received a Pulitzer Prize for the series and the series may have had an impact on bringing about change on the waterfront. The rest of the book is rounded out with additional news articles the authors dug up that date to the same period. The additional articles are much longer and very repetitive to the point of weakening the book.
Malcolm Johnson did not uncover new material. There had been waterfront exposes long before that outlined the rackets and social problem associated with the shape up system. Johnson contributed to the story with the mass readership of the NY Sun. He reached many more people than any previous expose. Furthermore, the sensational writing style of the Sun contributed with its use of short stories and emphasis on the nitty gritty. The result was a series of articles that resemble summaries rather than traditional articles. Through this medium, Johnson introduced his readers to the gangsters, murders, labor bosses, and systematic theft of the harbor.
His grandson and Schullberg add very little content except larger newspaper and magazine excerpts. They added little or no analysis or discussion. Schullberg focused on the movie that was based on the series. The result weakened the original series by dulling readers to the same story over and over. There were only passing references to subsequent changes; but nowhere did they ever definitively pinpoint the end of the shape up or the demise of Joe Ryan. In fact, there is no epilogue for the heroes or the villains. Johnson could have discussed family legacy; but Malcolm Johnson is strangely quiet in the book outside of the original articles.
Overall, I am impressed with Malcolm Johnson's stories. I wished there had been more. I eagerly read each chapter. Once the series was over, the book became tedious and repetitive to the point that it dragged on and on without adding anything. Readers are probably better served reading other books on the subject such as "Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath."
Malcolm Johnson did not uncover new material. There had been waterfront exposes long before that outlined the rackets and social problem associated with the shape up system. Johnson contributed to the story with the mass readership of the NY Sun. He reached many more people than any previous expose. Furthermore, the sensational writing style of the Sun contributed with its use of short stories and emphasis on the nitty gritty. The result was a series of articles that resemble summaries rather than traditional articles. Through this medium, Johnson introduced his readers to the gangsters, murders, labor bosses, and systematic theft of the harbor.
His grandson and Schullberg add very little content except larger newspaper and magazine excerpts. They added little or no analysis or discussion. Schullberg focused on the movie that was based on the series. The result weakened the original series by dulling readers to the same story over and over. There were only passing references to subsequent changes; but nowhere did they ever definitively pinpoint the end of the shape up or the demise of Joe Ryan. In fact, there is no epilogue for the heroes or the villains. Johnson could have discussed family legacy; but Malcolm Johnson is strangely quiet in the book outside of the original articles.
Overall, I am impressed with Malcolm Johnson's stories. I wished there had been more. I eagerly read each chapter. Once the series was over, the book became tedious and repetitive to the point that it dragged on and on without adding anything. Readers are probably better served reading other books on the subject such as "Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath."
August 11, 2020
No doubt this is incredibly important work... but it is kinda boring TBH. And maybe that's the takeaway -- the mafia IRL is not like the movies. It's mostly banal behind the scenes stuff that when all put together takes a toll on society at large. Kudos to Johnson for his contributions but again not a particularly exciting read.
January 17, 2020
This is a very worthwhile read. It consists of a series of newspaper articles from the 40s, and some follow-up pieces from the 60s, concerning the corruption besetting the docks of New York. Still compelling all these years later.
November 26, 2017
B+. I thought that I'd already reviewed this and that this was my second m\read prior to sending it to Anna via Dave.
June 20, 2023
When I went to my mom’s and forgot to bring my book
January 31, 2025
The movie doesn’t quite do justice to the reporting/ stories in this book. Must read if you’re interested in history of NYC during 1940s-50s
November 15, 2024
Oscar BP Winner 1954
The information was great, but I struggled to get through these articles. I also didn’t read the Appendix (I’m sorry, I was done by that point).
I hate to say skip this and watch the movie for the more important bits but you may want to :/
The information was great, but I struggled to get through these articles. I also didn’t read the Appendix (I’m sorry, I was done by that point).
I hate to say skip this and watch the movie for the more important bits but you may want to :/
April 2, 2013
Reveals conditions on the New York waterfront; the awakening of mainstream America to the Mafia and its power; the awful choices available to ordinary people caught in a corrupt system; a WWII and post-war reality usually ignored; the impact a faithful parish priest can have; what constituted great journalism at that time. Also increases the impact of the movie by substantiating the reality captured by the movie.
July 14, 2012
I remember liking the film, so maybe its the writing style or maybe its a dramatically different story or maybe Marlon Brando is really such an phenomenal actor....but not much about the book excited me.
Read
May 15, 2016Excellent reporting. Now I want to see the movie.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews