Black Tom explosion

2022-11-19T02:26:27Z

66.44.21.210:

{{Short description|1916 munitions explosion in New York Harbor, USA due to German sabotage}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
|title=Black Tom explosion
|image=Pier, Jersey City after munitions explosion (LOC) (14687235026) (cropped).jpg
|caption=Black Tom pier shortly after the explosion
|location=[[Jersey City, New Jersey]], U.S.
|coordinates = {{coord|40|41|32|N|074|03|20|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark_scale:5000|display=inline,title}}
|date=July 30, 1916
|time=2:08:00 a.m.
|timezone=[[Eastern Standard Time (North America)|EST]]; [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]−5
|type=[[Sabotage]], [[state-sponsored terrorism]]
|fatalities=4
|injuries=+100
|perps=Imperial German agents
|motive=[[Sabotage#As war tactic|Sabotage]]
}}

The '''Black Tom explosion''' was an act of [[sabotage]] by agents of the [[German Empire]], to destroy U.S.-made [[munition]]s that were to be supplied to the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in [[World War I]]. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in [[New York Harbor]], killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|20|1916|r=-1}}}} million in {{CURRENTYEAR}} dollars) worth of military goods.<ref name="fbi.gov">{{cite web|date = July 30, 2004|url = https://www.fbi.gov/page2/july04/blacktom073004.htm|title = A Byte out of FBI history|publisher = [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|access-date = July 5, 2009|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090715040912/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july04/blacktom073004.htm|archive-date = July 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-01|title=Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary {{!}} Commentary {{!}} roanoke.com|url=https://roanoke.com/opinion/columns_and_blogs/columns/john_long/long-terrorism-s-th-anniversary/article_4d01bca1-e61e-575c-ad64-41c592e55c63.html|access-date=2021-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501113517/https://roanoke.com/opinion/columns_and_blogs/columns/john_long/long-terrorism-s-th-anniversary/article_4d01bca1-e61e-575c-ad64-41c592e55c63.html|archive-date=May 1, 2021}}</ref> This incident, which happened prior to [[U.S. entry into World War I]], also damaged the [[Statue of Liberty]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web|author=Warner|first=Michael|date=2007-04-14|title=The Kaiser Sows Destruction: Protecting the Homeland the First Time Around|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article02.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613110404/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article02.html|archive-date=2007-06-13|access-date=2021-09-30|website=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref> It was one of the [[largest artificial non-nuclear explosions]] in history.

== Black Tom Island ==
[[File:Black Tom Island 1915.jpg|thumb|alt=colour map|Black Tom Island, lying off Jersey City, 1915]]
The term "Black Tom" originally referred to an island in [[Port of New York and New Jersey|New York Harbor]] next to [[Liberty Island]]. The island was artificial, created by land fill around a rock of the same name, which had been a local hazard to navigation.<ref name="ENR">{{cite journal|title=Providing Better Terminal Facilities for New York|journal=Engineering News Record|date=July 31, 1880|page=258|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8hBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA258|access-date=April 26, 2022}}</ref> Being largely built up from city refuse, it developed a reputation as an unseemly environmental hazard.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1869-07-27|title=Where Street Refuse Goes; The Island of "Black Tom" in New-York Bay – How the Offal of the City Adds to the Territory of New-Jersey.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1869/07/27/archives/where-street-refuse-goes-the-island-of-black-tom-in-newyork-bayhow.html|access-date=2020-07-28|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On January 26, 1875, an accidental explosion killed four.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1875-01-17|title=A Terrible Explosion.; a Powder Factory Completely Destroyed Four Men Instantly killed|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1875/01/17/archives/a-terrible-explosion-a-powder-factory-completely-destroyed-four-men.html|access-date=2020-07-28|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By 1880, the island was transformed into a {{convert|25|acre|adj=on}} [[promontory]],<ref>Roberts, Russell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JP0wBwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT122&ots=NmaKVNfgsy&dq=The%20Black%20Tom%20promontory&pg=PT122#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Rediscover the Hidden New Jersey'']. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2015.</ref> and a [[causeway]] and [[railroad]] had been built to connect it with the mainland to use as a shipping depot.<ref>{{Cite news | title = The Point of Rocks Line: More about the Little Railroad | newspaper = New York Times | date = September 8, 1879 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1879/09/08/81762152.pdf }}</ref> Between 1905 and 1916, the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]], which owned the island and causeway, [[Land reclamation|expanded the island with land fill]], and the entire area was annexed by Jersey City. A mile-long pier on the island housed a depot and warehouses for the [[National Docks Secondary|National Dock and Storage Company]]. Black Tom Island is now part of [[Liberty State Park]].

Black Tom was a major munitions depot for the [[Northeastern United States]]. Until [[American entry into World War I|April 6, 1917]], the United States was [[neutral country|neutral]] in respect to [[World War I]] and its munitions companies earlier in the war could sell to any buyer. Due to the [[blockade of Germany]] by the [[Royal Navy]], however, only the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] Governments were able to purchase American munitions. As a result, Imperial Germany sent spies to the United States to disrupt by any means necessary the production and delivery of war munitions that were intended to kill German soldiers on the battlefields of the Great War.<ref>H. R. Balkhage and A. A. Hahling. [http://www.getnj.com/jchist/blacktoma.shtml The Black Tom Explosion], ''The American Legion Magazine'', August 1964.</ref>

== Explosion ==
[[File:View of the debris of the Lehigh Valley pier after Black Tom explosion (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|View of the Lehigh Valley pier after the explosion]]
[[File:Wrecked warehouses and scattered debris after the Black Tom Explosion, 1916.jpg|thumb|300px|Wrecked warehouses and scattered debris after explosion]]
On the night of the Black Tom explosion, July 30, 1916, about {{convert|2000000|lb}} of small arms and artillery ammunition were stored at the depot in freight cars and on barges, including {{convert|100000|lb}} of [[TNT]] on Johnson Barge No. 17.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx7OAAAAMAAJ&dq=Chief+of+police+cornelius+leyden&pg=PA73 |title=Safety Engineering |date=1916 |publisher=A. H. Best. Company |language=en}}</ref> All were waiting to be shipped to Russia.<ref name="Rielage">{{Cite book |last=Rielage |first=Dale C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XauRj69-gsC&pg=PA71 |title=Russian Supply Efforts in America During the First World War |date=2002-01-01 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1337-9 |pages=71 |language=en}}</ref> Jersey City's Commissioner of Public Safety, [[Frank Hague]], later said he had been told the barge was "tied up at Black Tom to avoid a twenty-five dollar charge".<ref name="state.nj" />

After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. Some guards fled, fearing an explosion. Others attempted to fight the fires and eventually called the [[Jersey City Fire Department]]. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place, the second and smaller explosion occurring around 2:40 am.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/nyregion/an-attack-that-turned-out-to-be-german-terrorism-has-a-modest-legacy-100-years-later.html|title=An Attack That Turned Out to Be German Terrorism Has a Modest Legacy 100 Years Later|last=Roberts|first=Sam|date=July 24, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 8, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A notable location for one of the first major explosions was around the Johnson Barge No. 17, which contained 50 tons of [[TNT]] and 417 cases of detonating fuses.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.firerescuemagazine.com/articles/print/volume-11/issue-7/command-and-leadership/the-black-tom-explosion.html|title=The Black Tom Explosion|website=www.firerescuemagazine.com|access-date=May 9, 2022}}</ref> The explosion created a detonation wave that traveled at {{convert|24000|ft/s|m/s}} with enough force to lift firefighters out of their boots and into the air.<ref name=":2" />

Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances: some lodged in the [[Statue of Liberty]], and other fragments lodged in the clock tower of ''[[The Jersey Journal]]'' building in [[Journal Square]] more than {{convert|1|mi|km}} away, stopping the clock at 2:12 am.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Robinson|first=Kathleen|date=2014-05-02|title=Looking Back – Black Tom railroad yard – NFPA Journal|url=https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications/NFPA-Journal/2014/May-June-2014/News-and-Analysis/Looking-Back|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611051132/https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications/NFPA-Journal/2014/May-June-2014/News-and-Analysis/Looking-Back|archive-date=2016-06-11|access-date=2021-09-30|website=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref> The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the [[Richter magnitude scale|Richter scale]]<ref name="state.nj">{{cite web |date= January 26, 2005|url = http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_blacktomexplosion.html|title = Black Tom Explosion (1916)|publisher = state.nj.gov| access-date = July 5, 2009 }}</ref> and was felt as far away as [[Philadelphia]]. Windows were broken as far as {{convert|25|mi}} away, including thousands in [[Lower Manhattan]]. Some window panes in [[Times Square]] were shattered. The stained glass windows in [[St. Patrick's Parish and Buildings|St. Patrick's Church]] were destroyed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Capo|first=Fran|title=It happened in New Jersey|year=2004|publisher=Twodot|location=Guilford, Conn.|isbn=0-7627-2358-0|page=106|chapter=Terrorist Attack Blamed on Mosquitoes}}</ref> The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the [[Brooklyn Bridge]] was shaken. People as far away as [[Maryland]] were awakened by what they thought was an earthquake.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/23/nyregion/on-the-map-explosion-by-the-hudson-foreign-espionage-local-fear-1916.html | title=On the Map; Explosion by the Hudson, Foreign Espionage, Local Fear: 1916| newspaper=The New York Times| date=September 23, 2001| last1=Nash| first1=Margo}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mappen |first1=Mark |title=Jerseyana |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/nyregion/jerseyana.html |access-date=19 November 2022 |newspaper=New York Times |date=July 14, 1991}}</ref>

Property damage from the attack was estimated at {{US$|20000000|1916|long=no|round=-6|about=yes}}. On the island, the explosion destroyed more than one hundred railroad cars, thirteen warehouses, and left a {{convert|375|by|175|ft|m|adj=on|-1}} crater at the source of the explosion.<ref name=":1" /> The damage to the [[Statue of Liberty]] was estimated to be {{US$|100000|1916|long=no|round=-4|about=yes}}, and included damage to the skirt and torch.<ref name="mcall">{{cite web|last=Warner|first=Frank|date=2009-07-04|title=When Liberty trembled|url=http://articles.mcall.com/2009-07-04/news/4400845_1_statue-liberty-national-monument-torch|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112191426/http://articles.mcall.com/2009-07-04/news/4400845_1_statue-liberty-national-monument-torch|archive-date=2013-11-12|access-date=2021-09-30|work=[[Wayback Machine]]|publisher=[[The Morning Call]]}}</ref>

There were four confirmed fatalities in the explosion:<ref>{{cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96088180/1916-08-01/ed-1/seq-2/|title=Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??–1918|date=August 1, 1916|pages=2|via=chroniclingamerica.loc.gov}}</ref><ref name="fbi.gov"/> the barge captain,<ref name="njcu" /> [[Jersey City Police Department]] officer James F. Doherty,<ref>{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.odmp.org/officer/4153-patrolman-james-f.-doherty|title = The Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers|publisher = [[The Officer Down Memorial Page]]| access-date = July 5, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="njcu">{{cite web|year = 2009|url = http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/B_Pages/Black_Tom_Explosion.htm|title = Black Tom Explosion|publisher = [[New Jersey City University]]|access-date = July 5, 2009|last = Carmela Karnoutsos|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101205013226/http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/pages/b_pages/black_tom_explosion.htm|archive-date = December 5, 2010|url-status = dead}}</ref> [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] chief of police Joseph Leyden,<ref>{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.odmp.org/officer/17457-chief-of-police-cornelius-joseph-leyden|title = The Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers|publisher = [[The Officer Down Memorial Page]]| access-date = July 5, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx7OAAAAMAAJ&q=Chief+of+police+cornelius+leyden&pg=PA73|title=Safety Engineering|date=July 25, 2017|publisher=A. H. Best. Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> and ten-week-old infant Arthur Tosson. One contemporary newspaper report estimated up to seven deaths in the attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19160731&id=fk9XAAAAIBAJ&pg=5781,1786188&hl=en|title=Eugene Register-Guard |via=Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> Immigrants being processed at [[Ellis Island]] had to be evacuated to [[Lower Manhattan]].

== Investigation ==
[[File:Black Tom explosion headline.jpg|thumb|Newspaper headline about the Black Tom explosion]]
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, two [[watchman (law enforcement)|watchmen]] who had lit [[smudge pot]]s to keep away mosquitoes were questioned by police but the police soon determined that the smudge pots had not caused the fire and that the blast had likely been an accident.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sabotage-in-new-york-harbor-123968672/|title=Sabotage in New York Harbor|last=King|first=Gilbert|work=Smithsonian|access-date=January 22, 2022}}</ref> [[President Wilson]] remarked of the incident that it was "a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal",<ref name=":6">[https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2016/07/29/the-terror-attack-on-nj-that-america-forgot/92739322/ The terror attack on N.J. that America forgot]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_York_at_War/AbGGFQ19t9AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT197 New York at War – Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue in Gotham]</ref> and [[Edgar E. Clark]] of the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] was dispatched to investigate.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1916/08/05/archives/clark-to-fix-blame-for-big-explosion-wilson-sends-commerce.html CLARK TO FIX BLAME FOR BIG EXPLOSION; Wilson Sends Commerce Commissioner Here to Continue Investigation. LAW CAN'T HALT MUNITIONS Representative Hamill Introduces Bill Giving Cities Power to Bar Explosives.]</ref>

Soon after the explosion, suspicion fell upon Michael Kristoff,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.historynet.com/world-war-i-intrigue-german-spies-in-new-york.htm | title=World War I Intrigue: German Spies in New York!| date=February 27, 2022}}</ref> a [[Slovak Americans|Slovak]] immigrant.<ref>Carmela Karnoutsos. [http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/B_Pages/Black_Tom_Explosion.htm Black Tom Explosion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205013226/http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/pages/b_pages/black_tom_explosion.htm |date=December 5, 2010 }}, ''New Jersey State University''</ref> Kristoff would later serve in the [[United States Army]] in World War I,{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} but admitted to working for German agents (transporting suitcases) in 1915 and 1916 while the US was still neutral.{{citation needed|date = February 2022}} According to Kristoff, two of the guards at Black Tom were German agents.{{citation needed|date = February 2022}} It is likely{{According to whom|date=February 2022}} that the bombing involved some of the techniques developed by German agents working for Ambassador Count [[Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff]], who covertly acted as a [[spymaster]] while under [[German Foreign Office]] cover, and Captain [[Franz von Rintelen]] of the [[Nachrichten-Abteilung|intelligence wing]] of the [[German Imperial Navy]], using the [[pencil bomb|cigar bombs]] developed by Dr. [[Walter Scheele]].<ref name="getnj">{{cite web |date= August 1964 |url = http://www.getnj.com/jchist/blacktoma.shtml|title = The Black Tom Explosion|work = The American Legion Magazine| access-date = July 5, 2009 | last=H. R. Balkhage and A. A. Hahling }}</ref> von Rintelen used many resources at his disposal, including a large amount of money.<ref name=":3" /> von Rintelen used these resources to make generous cash bribes, one of which was notably given to Michael Kristoff in exchange for access to the pier.<ref name=":3" /> Suspicion at the time fell solely upon suspected German intelligence operatives [[Kurt Jahnke]] and [[Lothar Witzke]], who are still judged as legally responsible.<ref>Witcover, Jules. ''Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914–1917''. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1989.</ref><ref>''World War I Encyclopedia''. Volume 4 S–Z. Edited by Spencer Tucker, p. 1033.</ref> It is also believed that Michael Kristoff was responsible for planting and initiating the incendiary devices that led to the explosions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sabotage-in-new-york-harbor-123968672/|title=Sabotage in New York Harbor|last=King|first=Gilbert|website=Smithsonian|access-date=May 9, 2022}}</ref>

Additional investigations by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence|Directorate of Naval Intelligence]] also found links to some members of the [[Irish republicanism|Irish republican]] [[Clan na Gael]] organization and [[far-left]] organizations.<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news| author = Stafford, David | newspaper = The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stafford-roosevelt.html| title= Men of Secrets: Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill | access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref><ref name="FAS">{{cite web|author = Moynihan, D.P.| publisher = Fas.org| url=https://fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa2.html| title= Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. Senate Document 105-2| access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> Irish socialist and [[labour union]] leader [[James Larkin]] asserted that he had not participated in sabotage, but admitted to having encouraged work stoppages and [[strike action]]s in munitions factories, in an affidavit to McCloy in 1934.<ref>Millman, C. ''The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice'' (New York: Little, Brown, 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-316-73496-7}}.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071029142733/http://www.observer.com/node/39098 Review of Millman's book] in ''[[The New York Observer]]'', July 16, 2006.</ref>

The United States did not have an established national intelligence service, other than diplomats and few military and naval attaches, making the investigation difficult. Without a formal intelligence service on the national level, the United States only had rudimentary communications security and no federal laws forbidding espionage or sabotage except during wartime,<ref name=":0"/> making the connections to the saboteurs and accomplices almost impossible to track.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

== Aftermath ==
This attack was one of many during the German sabotage campaign against the neutral United States, and it is notable for its contribution to the shift of public opinion against Germany, which eventually resulted in American support to enter [[World War I]].<ref name=":0" />

The [[Russian Provisional Government|Russian government]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mooney|first=Eugene F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8IfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|title=Foreign Seizures: Sabbatino and the Act of State Doctrine|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=2014|isbn=978-0-8131-6382-6|pages=39–40|language=en}}</ref> sued the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad|Lehigh Valley Railroad Company]] operating the Black Tom Terminal on grounds that lax security (there was no entrance gate; the territory was unlit)<ref>Landau, Henry, Capt. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3MQNAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA77&ots=L1ccq3sH0Y&dq=The%20Black%20Tom%20promontory&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false ''The Enemy Within: The Inside Story of German Sabotage in America'']. New York: Putnam, 1937, pp. 78–80.</ref> permitted the loss of their ammunition and argued that due to the failure to deliver them the manufacturer was obliged by the contract to replace them.<ref name="Rielage" />

The Lehigh Valley Railroad, advised by [[John J. McCloy]], sought damages against Germany under the [[Treaty of Berlin (1921)|Treaty of Berlin]] from the German-American Mixed Claims Commission. The Mixed Claims Commission declared in 1939 that Imperial Germany had been responsible and awarded $50 million (the largest claim) in damages, which Nazi Germany refused to pay.<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sabotage-in-new-york-harbor-123968672/ Sabotage in New York Harbor], ''Smithsonian.com''</ref> The issue was finally settled in 1953 for $95 million (interest included) with the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-06-07|title=The Kaiser Sows Destruction — Central Intelligence Agency|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol46no1/html/v46i1a02p.htm|url-status=dead|access-date=2021-10-22|website=[[Wayback Machine]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607070146/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol46no1/html/v46i1a02p.htm|archive-date=June 7, 2022}}</ref> The final payment was made in 1979.<ref>Burkhard Jähnicke. ''Washington und Berlin zwischen den Kriegen: Die Mixed Claims Commission in den transatlantischen Beziehungen.'' Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2003, p. 240. {{ISBN|978-3832900564}}</ref>

The Statue of Liberty's torch was closed to the public following the explosion, due to structural damages.<ref>{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions – Statue Of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)|url=http://www.nps.gov/stli/faqs.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902055753/http://www.nps.gov/stli/faqs.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|access-date=2021-10-22|website=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-01|title=Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary {{!}} Commentary {{!}} roanoke.com|url=https://roanoke.com/opinion/columns_and_blogs/columns/john_long/long-terrorism-s-th-anniversary/article_4d01bca1-e61e-575c-ad64-41c592e55c63.html|access-date=2021-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501113517/https://roanoke.com/opinion/columns_and_blogs/columns/john_long/long-terrorism-s-th-anniversary/article_4d01bca1-e61e-575c-ad64-41c592e55c63.html |archive-date=May 1, 2021 }}</ref> Access was not opened even after the [[Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty|1984–1986 restoration]] which included repairs to the arm and installation of a new gold-plated copper torch.<ref>Nina Ruggiero. [http://www.amny.com/lifestyle/why-can-t-we-go-up-the-statue-of-liberty-s-torch-1.7320932 Why can't we go up the Statue of Liberty's torch?] ''amNewYork'', October 28, 2016.</ref>

== Legacy ==
The Black Tom explosion resulted in the establishment of domestic intelligence agencies for the United States.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://hazards.colorado.edu/article/100-years-of-terror-the-black-tom-explosion-and-the-birth-of-u-s-intelligence-services-1|title=100 Years of Terror|last=Sabella|first=Elke Weesjes|website=hazards.colorado.edu|access-date=May 9, 2022}}</ref> The then Police Commissioner of New York, Arthur Woods, argued, "The lessons to America are clear as day. We must not again be caught napping with no adequate national intelligence organization. The several federal bureaus should be welded into one and that one should be eternally and comprehensively vigilant."<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Engel|first1=Charles|last2=Rogers|first2=John|date=July 1999|title=Violating the Law of One Price: Should We Make a Federal Case Out of It?|location=Cambridge, MA|doi=10.3386/w7242|doi-access=free}}</ref> The explosion also played a role in how future presidents responded to military conflict. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the Black Tom explosion as part of his rationale for the [[internment of Japanese Americans]] following the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941]].<ref name=":5"/> In an interview with [[Jules Witcover]], McCloy noted that as assistant secretary of the navy under Wilson, Roosevelt "knew all about Black Tom." At the time President Roosevelt said to him: "We don't want any more Black Toms."<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sabotage_at_Black_Tom/y9xmAAAAMAAJ Sabotage at Black Tom - Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914-1917], p. 311, by [[Jules Witcover]]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190329233418/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/29/nyregion/about-books.html ABOUT BOOKS], OCT. 29, 1989, [[New York Times]]</ref>

The incident also influenced public safety legislation.<ref name=":4"/> The [[sabotage]] techniques used by Germany, and the United States' declaration of war on Germany, led to the creation of the [[Espionage Act of 1917|Espionage Act]], which passed by Congress in late 1917.<ref name=":0"/> Landfill projects later made Black Tom Island part of the mainland, and it was incorporated into [[Liberty State Park]].<ref name=":6" /> The former Black Tom Island is at the end of Morris Pesin Drive in the southeastern corner of the park, where a plaque marks the spot of the explosion. A circle of U.S. flags complements the plaque, which stands east of the visitors' center.

The inscription on the plaque reads:
<blockquote>
'''Explosion at Liberty!'''

On July 30, 1916 the Black Tom munitions depot exploded rocking New York Harbor and sending residents tumbling from their beds.

The noise of the explosion was heard as far away as Maryland and Connecticut. On Ellis Island, terrified immigrants were evacuated by ferry to the Battery. Shrapnel pierced the Statue of Liberty (the arm of the Statue was closed to visitors after this). Property damage was estimated at $20 million. It is not known how many died.

Why the explosion? Was it an accident or planned? According to historians, the Germans sabotaged the Lehigh Valley munitions depot in order to stop deliveries being made to the British who had blockaded the Germans in Europe.

You are walking on a site which saw one of the worse [sic] acts of terrorism in American history.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explosion at Liberty! Historical Marker|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=126348|access-date=2021-12-17|website=www.hmdb.org|language=en}}</ref>
</blockquote>

A stained-glass window at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church memorialized the victims of the attack.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=July 30, 2006 | last=Pyle | first=Richard | title=1916 Black Tom Blast Anniversary Observed | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/30/AR2006073000267.html | access-date=February 1, 2022}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Gallery">
File:StatueOfLibertyFromBlackTomIslandToday.jpg|View of the [[Statue of Liberty]] from the site of the explosion: The explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage to the statue, and from then onward the torch has been closed to tourists.
File:ExplosionAtLibertyPlaque.jpg|Commemorative plaque
File:Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church in Jersey City - Black Tom explosion commemorative stained glass windows.jpg|Stained-glass windows from inside Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City, NJ. The bottom stained-glass windows have text in Polish to commemorate the explosion in 1916.
File:Blacktom.JPG|Melted bottle from the Black Tom explosion
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[List of German sponsored acts of terrorism during WWI]]
* [[Anton Dilger]]
* [[Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions]]
* [[List of accidents and incidents involving transport or storage of ammunition]]
* [[Kingsland explosion]]
* [[SS El Estero|SS ''El Estero'']], fire and averted explosion near same location in World War II
* [[United States in World War I]]
* [[Zimmermann Telegram]]
* [[Halifax explosion]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book| last = Chad Millman| title = The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice| page = [https://archive.org/details/detonatorssecret00mill/page/352 352]| publisher = Little, Brown and Company| isbn = 0-316-73496-9| date = 2006| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/detonatorssecret00mill/page/352}}
* {{cite book | last = Jules Witcover| title = Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany's Secret in America, 1914–1917|page= 339 | publisher = Algonquin Books| isbn= 0-912697-98-9| year = 1989}}
* Ron Semple (2015). ''Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson''. Top Hat Books, p. 514. {{ISBN|978-1-78535-110-5}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Black Tom explosion}}
* [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_blacktomexplosion.html Black Tom Explosion (1916)], ''Liberty State Park''
* [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sabotage-in-new-york-harbor-123968672/ Sabotage in New York Harbor], ''Smithsonian.com''
* [http://www.history.com/news/the-black-tom-explosion The Black Tom Explosion], ''History.com''
* [http://gendisasters.com/new-jersey/14865/jersey-city-nj-munitions-explosion-july-1916 GenDisasters Black Tom 1916]
{{German sponsored acts of terrorism during WWI}}
{{Statue of Liberty|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1916 crimes in the United States]]
[[Category:1916 in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Acts of sabotage]]
[[Category:Crimes in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Disasters in New York City]]
[[Category:Explosions in 1916]]
[[Category:Explosions in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Hindu–German Conspiracy]]
[[Category:History of Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:July 1916 events]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1916]]
[[Category:People killed in intelligence operations]]
[[Category:Port of New York and New Jersey]]
[[Category:State-sponsored terrorism]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in the United States in the 1910s]]
[[Category:United States home front during World War I]]

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Black Tom explosion