In the United States, Joe Hill's musical legacy has been passed down from generation to generation, and is part of the musical tradition of the country. Their songs have been sung by Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Billy Bragg and many others. Committed to the union struggle, Joe Hill was arrested, tried and sentenced to death in 1915, accused of murdering two shopkeepers, father and son, in a robbery. Joe always pleaded not guilty. No conclusive evidence was provided in the trial, but the governor of Utah declined to take action on the issue, despite the great protests and even the intercession of the Swedish government and US President Wilson himself. Finally Hill was shot. In 1971 the Swedish filmmaker Bo Wideberg made the film The Balad of Joe Hill, which tells the story of this legendary singer, whose songs covered the great emancipatory struggles of the last century.