Final answer:
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were denounced for thoughtcrime due to their anarchist beliefs during a period of American history characterized by the Red Scare, leading to their execution despite significant public protest and questions about their actual guilt.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian-born anarchists, were infamously denigrated during their trial for armed robbery and murder not on the basis of definitive evidence, but due to their anarchist political affiliations. The trial illustrated a period of intense anti-immigrant sentiment and fear of radical ideologies like communism and anarchism in the United States, known as the Red Scare. This period was characterized by a broader suppression of political dissent, evident in cases like Schenck v. United States, where the Supreme Court ruled that encouraging draft resistance presented a 'clear and present danger' to public order. In the end, despite protests and the confession of another man to the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed, which led to significant international outcry and later reflection on American justice and civil liberties.