Arthur Stivaletta

Stivaletta died April 18, 2002, at the Glover Hospital in Needham, Massachusetts and was buried at Brookdale Cemetery.

In 1998, Stivaletta and the other heirs to his father's estate gifted the land to the Town of Dedham.

During the Vietnam War, he burned the flag of the Viet Cong on the Boston Common. In 1981, he burned a Soviet flag to protest the suppression of human rights in Poland. After the Iran hostage crisis, he burned Iranian flags.

In 1976 Stivaletta persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to erect a plaque in the Massachusetts State House honoring him. It read in part, "Presented in grateful recognition to Arthur Stivaletta ... His dream of sharing his love of country with his fellow Americans will live forever[.]"

After Stivaletta claimed to be a co-sponsor of the Flag Day Parade in Dedham in 1971, organizers publicly clarified that he participated but was not a sponsor.

In the 1970s, Stivaletta campaigned for more pride in the United States and condemned acts he saw as unpatriotic, such as "burning the American flag, waving the Vietcong Flag, and what the SDS and the Weathermen do." Bumper stickers and billboard messages he produced were commonly seen during that decade. He also sponsored a bracelet campaign to show support for prisoners of war.

During an October 1969 rally attended by 100,000 protesters on Boston Common to end the war, he dropped thousands of leaflets on the crowd in support of the troops from an airplane overhead. In the spring of 1970, he sponsored a "Wake Up America" rally on the Common to support "the Constitution, God and Country." The rally, which was hosted by Hope, attracted a crowd of 65,000 people.

In the late 1940s, Joseph Stivaletta purchased land that once housed Hannah B. Chickering's Temporary Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners. He discovered Baby Cemetery on the property and, rather than disturb the graves, set the land aside and did not build a home on it. When Massachusetts Route 128 was being constructed, Joseph convinced then-Transportation Secretary John Volpe to move the road rather than disturb the graves. Volpe's family came from the same small town in Italy as Joseph.

Arthur Stivaletta, (June 9, 1934 - April 18, 2002) also known as Mr. Wake Up America, was an American political activist and building contractor from Dedham, Massachusetts.

Stivaletta was born on June 9, 1934, to Joseph J. and Antoinette (née Paldero) Stivaletta. He had brothers Albert, Joseph, Paul, Michael, Edward, and Robert. He had four children, Deborah, Cheryl, Arthur, and Jay. He was friends with Massachusetts Auditor Joseph DeNucci.