Palmer Raids Research Paper

The Red scare was a series of witch hunts for suspected communist sympathetic members of congress and public office holding Citizens who were supposedly “Red” this lasted from (1919-1920) started by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. During the first war the Red Scared was represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. The American people went into a mass hysteric frenzy over the news and many

The First and Second Red Scare of the United States paved the way for a long standing fear of communism and proved to be one of America’s largest periods of mass hysteria. Throughout the years authors and analysts have studied and formed expository albeit argumentative books and articles in an attempt to further understand this period of time; the mindset held during this period however is shown to be completely different compared to now.

Vivian Gonzalez Mr. Martinez-Ramos A.P. United States History May 3, 2000 McCarthyism was one of the saddest events of American history. It destroyed people’s lives and shattered many families. It threw innocent people into a whirlwind of mass confusion and fictional portrayals of their lives. McCarthyism spawned for the country’s new found terror of Communism known as the red scare. McCarthyism was an extreme version of the red scare, a scare whose ends did not justify the means. The Red Scare happened twice in the history of this great country. When the communist took over Russia in 1919, the American people were unnerved. They were afraid of a communist take over in the states. When the First World War ended in 1918, there was still

“Miller also observes the tremendous forces that mere accusation had at this time, something that was evident as well in the McCarthy witch-hunts. A man’s career could be ruined if he were merely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?””

The Red Scare is the rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrates of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. Certain causes that led up to this event was the fact that the United States feared the fact that certain immigrants embraced communist, socialist, and anarchist ideology. The Red Scare later led to the impact of the fear of communism. Today this event is remembered all over the world for is impact that it made on every person society.

Having previous experience dealing with aliens, Palmer took seriously to threats of communism overthrowing the country and decided to act on this, thus leading to the Palmer Raids. In his 1920 forum, “The Case against the ‘Reds’”, Palmer defends America from the communists declaring that the communists are “…preaching of anarchy and sedition…advising the defiance of law…” and encouraging the destruction of property. This primary document written by Palmer, set communists up as criminals stating that “robbery, not war, is the ideal of communism…” and that it is “…the American Government[s]…” job to prevent this . By gaining support of fellow Americans, Palmer helps further exploit the communist party and extract fear into the American minds.

Red Scare – Period of anticommunist hysteria that swept the United States after World War I

In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy turned Americans against each other by installing fear in the people regarding toward Communism. During this time, in fact, people were getting blacklisted even if they weren't communist. In an incident at the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, McCarthy delivered a speech. The situation involving the Senator escalated when he stated that the State Department is infested with Communist. In this point in time, due to the false allegations, people went on a decade long period of witch hunts. Sam Roberts, the author of “A Decade of Fear” stated that in fact, “...thousands of alleged Communists in the U.S. were arrested and deported during what became known as the Red Scare.”

In June 1919, several cities were bombed. Including the home of Attorney General of the United States, A. Mitchell Palmer. The raids were conducted in the following cities: Cleveland, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Louisville, Milwaukee, Newark, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland (Mass.), Syracuse, Toledo, and Trenton. Many believed the cause of the raids were because of the “Reds” (communist) tried to take over our government. “On December 31, 1919, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer stated: Any movement, however cloaked or dissembled, designed to undermine the government will be met with unflinching, persistent, aggressive warfare” (Cayton 1). The consequences Palmer promised surely were met.

The Red Scare, also known as, McCarthyism started in the early 1950’s. It got the name McCarthyism from Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. McCarthy started The Red Scare. It was very similar to a witch hunt but, it wasn’t witches they were hunting for. They were searching for communist. The Red Scare was a horrible and cruel period during the early 1900’s.

The 1920’s, often referred to as the “Roaring 20’s,” was a great time. Women gained the right to vote and the Economy flourished; however, these times contained some horrible travesties. The Immigration Act of 1924, for example, was passed to keep people from immigrating to America from areas of the world such as Eastern Europe and Russia. This act was passed largely because of the “Red Scare.” The Red Scare was America’s fear of communism and Russian or Communist sympathizers and the thought that they could overthrow America. The Red Scare even caused two possibly innocent men named Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti to be sentenced to the electric chair in 1927. The Anti-Immigration hysteria plagued America and its citizens during the 1920’s and many people suffered as a result.

"Fully 90 percent of the Communist and Anarchist agitation is traceable to aliens." Through the use of the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 Palmer began his campaign against this threat against our government. Palmer used this legislation as justification of his actions. The best example of Palmers manipulation of the law to take normally illegal action against suspects was on January 2nd 1920. Palmer had federal agents round up thousands of suspected subversives without respecting those individuals' constitutional rights as American citizens. This was not the first time in our history that the government has backed the unnecessary persecution of a group of people based on fear that they would eventually take over the United States and change the American way of life. One event in history that has similar attributes to this period is the passing of the Chinese exclusion act. These two occurrences, although for different reasons, were very similar in the tactics that were employed to enforce and justify superfluous panic.

The United States wrongly deported and imprisoned many who did not agree with the values they believed. Foreigners were mostly affected through this, a specifc time, 1919-1920 the Palmer raids began to surface. In the document "The Case Against the "Reds", it elaborated on the views of A. Mitchell Palmer. Palmer believed that thousands of "aliens" supported communism and he would deport and imprison those who supported radical ideas. No actual evidence to support this belief just a broad statement. In the document "Emma Goldman Deportation Statement" Emma believes that the deportations were unjustified and used communism as an excuse to deport people who did not support the country.

Following World War I, America turned inward and began to focus on itself. Yet, coming home from war Americans were also fearful of communism due to the recent Bolshevik Revolution where Lenin and the Bolshevik party gained control of Russia and made it communist. This scare led to drastic changes within our nation’s borders as America fought to keep communist influence out of its borders. This was such an impactful event that even the Attorney General of the time, A. Mitchell Palmer, set up a section in the Justice Department to handle issues relating to radicals, this sect of the Justice Department would be very active as, “More than ten thousand people were arrested—some for membership in Communist or left-wing groups, others on no greater pretext than that they looked or sounded foreign—and then jailed and interrogated with little regard for their right to due process” (Lehman, Phelps 260). This severe response to the scare of Communism demonstrates an inward focusing of America. Similarly, in the post-World War I time period America would demonstrate its interest in nativism which it would demonstrate through multiple acts being passed on immigration primarily, the Immigration Act of 1924. During this period of nativism, “Through the whole movement, from 1921 on, for more drastic curbs on the new immigration ran an increasingly assertive racial nativism” (Higham 313). That is America had

American anticommunism stems from a history of fear, and want of control over individuals, and groups of people who are defined as “others”. In this case “others”, is a term attributed to American citizens who were a part of, or held any relation or affiliation with the American Communist Party. Before them, it was immigrants; and before them it was African Americans, and Native Americans (Schrecker, 13). This fear and want of control over the American Communist Party, which immediately started after WWI in America, during the Red Scare of 1919-20; was used by the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their constituents, to gain and hold support in the United States government, and to attempt to shape American domestic and foreign policy