Biography
Robert “Bob” Burke was an American Student Union activist and Steel Workers Organizing Committee organizer in Youngstown, Ohio. Columbia University expelled him in 1936 after he led an anti-Nazi protest; he was president-elect of his junior class and a Golden Gloves boxing champion. He returned to Youngstown and organized Republic Steel workers. Authorities repeatedly detained him during the 1937 Little Steel strike. He was arrested again on June 22 and indicted on July 6 for allegedly inciting the June 19 confrontation near Republic Steel in which two pickets were killed. A jury found him guilty of rioting on September 30, 1937.
William B. Smith’s July 13, 1937 New Masses account distinguishes an earlier arrest for shooting with intent to kill from Burke’s June 22 rearrest. It says his parents supplied an alibi for the alleged shooting and that he did not remain in jail on that earlier accusation. The article also identifies him as the organizer who built the Republic Steel S.W.O.C. lodge and as a college football player and boxer. No exact day, dismissal ruling or measured custody period is supplied for the earlier arrest. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1937/v24n03-jul-13-1937-NM.pdf#page=12
