| The Red Scare of 1917-20 |
| History 122 Research Brief; David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College |
Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer
| Introduction and Background The period 1917–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of anarchism and communism in America.[1] Fueled by anarchist bombings and spurred on by Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer, the era of the Red Scare was characterized by detainment and deportation of hundreds of suspected "Reds."[2] The origins of the Red Scare lie in the subversive actions of foreign and leftist elements in the United States, especially militant followers of Luigi Galleani, and in the attempts of the government to quell protest and gain favorable public views of American entry into World War I. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public Information to produce and distribute anti-German and pro-Allied propaganda. To add to the effectiveness of the Committee, the Bureau of Investigation (the early name for the Federal Bureau of Investigation until 1935) disrupted the work of German-American, union, and leftist organizations through the use of raids, arrests, agents provocateurs, and legal prosecution. Revolutionary and pacifist groups, such as the Socialist Party of America and the |
| The effort was also helped by the
United States Congress with passage of the Espionage Act in
1917 and the Sedition Act in 1918. The Espionage Act
made it a crime to interfere with the operation or success of the
military, and the Sedition Act forbade Americans to use "disloyal,
profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States
government, flag, or armed forces during war. Section Four of
the Sedition Act empowered the Postmaster General to slow or
confiscate all Socialist material in the mail, a task that he took
on readily. U.S. postal inspectors refused to distribute
materials they deemed as subversive to the war effort. Many
foreign language and radical publications were
disrupted as a consequence. One of the most notorious was
Luigi Galleani's Cronaca Sovversiva (Subversive Chronicle),
an Italian anarchist newsletter, which not only advocated the
overthrow of the government, but also advertised a booklet
innocuously titled Health is in You!, actually an explicit
bomb-making manual.
After the war officially ended, the
government investigations abated for a few months but did not cease.
They soon resumed in the context of the establishment of the
Soviet Union and Marxist-Leninist call for
worldwide socialist revolution. Widespread postwar labor
strikes in America and scattered acts of anarchist terrorism
contributed to the wave of anxiety. Many Americans feared that
a communist revolution in the United States was imminent. |
| Anarchists go on the Attack In April 1919, thirty identical envelopes were mailed to prominent men: John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Attorney-General Palmer, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson, Senator Thomas W. Hardwick, and other targeted enemies of the Anarchist Movement. Each package was neatly wrapped in brown paper and marked GIMBEL BROTHERS, NEW YORK--SAMPLE and decorated with a drawing of an Alpine mountaineer. Each envelope contained an ingenious and deadly bomb. The first to explode was Senator Hardwick's package. It blew off the hands of his servant who had discovered it, severely burning Hardwick and his wife. The following morning, a New York City postal worker discovered sixteen similar packages, each holding enough nitroglycerin to kill a man. Delivery had been delayed due to insufficient postage, foiling the broadest assassination plot in American history. On June 2, a new series of much
more powerful bombs were left at the homes of prominent politicians,
judges, and law enforcement officials. One bomb
partially destroyed the front of Attorney-General Palmer's house in
Washington. The bomber, Carlo Valdinoci, a Galleanist militant, blew
himself up when the bomb prematurely exploded. On June 3, |
| The Palmer Raids The largest government actions of the Red Scare were the Palmer Raids against anarchist, socialist, and communist groups. Left-wing activists, such as five-time Socialist presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs, were jailed by government officials using the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. Galleani and eight of his adherents were deported [see cartoon] in June 1919, three weeks after the wave of bombings on June 2. (Although authorities did not have enough evidence to arrest Galleani for the bombings, they could deport him because he was a resident alien who had overtly encouraged the violent overthrow of the government.) Undeterred, the Galleanisti continued their attacks. In response to the
bombings, the press, public, and prominent men of business and
politics flared up in a surge of patriotism, often involving violent
hatred of communists, radicals, and foreigners. Senator Kenneth
D. McKellar proposed sending radicals to a penal colony in Guam;
U.S. Army General Leonard Wood approved a call to put them on "ships
of stone with sails of lead"; evangelist Billy Sunday clamored to
"stand [radicals] up before a firing squad." Vigilante justice was also prevalent. In Centralia, Washington, a
Attorney-General Palmer, with his eye on a run for the presidency,
ordered simultaneous raids in major cities across the nation.
In December 1919 an assortment of 249 Russians living in the United
States were arrested and deported on a ship nicknamed the Red Ark.
A month later, 10,000 suspected anarchists, Bolsheviks and Wobblies
were arrested. Over 500 were deported, some were imprisoned,
and most were released. Palmer predicted a communist
revolution in America would take place on May 1, 1920 [see
Palmer's Warning].
May Day came and went, quietly, and Palmer was discredited. He
lost the Democratic Party nomination. Following the election
of Republican Warren Harding in November 1920, Palmer retired to his
private law practice. |
| Sacco and Vanzetti The most sensational and deadly anarchist attack was the Wall Street bombing [see research brief] on September 16, 1920. A truck packed with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of fragmented iron exploded in front of the offices of the J.P. Morgan Company, killing 38 people and injuring 400 others. The identity of the bomber was undetermined at the time, but he is believed to have been "Mike Boda." Mario Buda was a friend and associate of two Galleanisti: Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The Wall Street bombing was one week after their indictment for first-degree murder. The paranoia and xenophobia which much of the nation was experiencing explains the sensationalism surrounding the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. On May 5, 1920, they had accompanied Buda and another friend, Ricardo Orciani, to pick up Buda's car from a mechanic's garage. Buda was a suspect in a recent holdup and murder of a paymaster and his guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Sacco and Vanzetti were followed from the garage and arrested on their way home. Unable to apprehend the elusive Buda, authorities prosecuted Sacco and Vanzetti for the crime. Many questions about judicial misconduct were raised at the time, to no avail. Both men were active members of the Galleanisti "American Anarchist Fighters." With the consent of trial judge Webster Thayer, Prosecutor Frederick Katzmann capitalized on the jury's prejudice against Italian immigrants and fear of anarchist terrorism. Despite numerous holes in the state's case, they were convicted in July 1921. Numerous motions for a new trial were denied. Sacco and Vanzetti were electrocuted on August 23, 1927. A wreath left at the funeral parlor where their caskets were exhibited bore the ominous message Aspetando l'ora di vendetta (Awaiting the hour of vengeance). Retaliation was not long in coming. In 1928 a bomb destroyed the home of the electrician who had served as executioner; and in September 1932 the home of judge Thayer was bombed. Thayer was unharmed, but he suffered a fatal stroke seven months later. Related Articles and Documents: [1] In the mid-nineteenth century, a handful of radicals from czarist Russia and royalist France, led by Mikhail Bakunin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, turned the ancient Greek word anarkhos--"without a ruler"--into a revolutionary philosophy called anarchism. The anarchist "idea" was simple: abolish government and men would be free. Liberated from the repression of mankind's tormentors--politicians, judges, police, priests--with no government and no laws, people would band together in workshops, communes, and cooperatives, sharing the fruits of their labor, living in peace and harmony. [2] Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, rival Marxist factions fought a civil war for control of the country. The Bolsheviks (majority), led by Vladmir Lenin, carried a red flag, and the Mensheviks (minority), led by Alexander Kerensky, carried a white flag. (The United States secretly sent troops in a feeble attempt to help the Whites defeat the Reds.) The Bolsheviks were victorious in October 1919, and the Soviet Union was established in 1920. The name "Reds" became synonymous with Soviet socialism ("Communism"). |
