Red Scare

1
Red Scare Palmer Raids

• Objective Analyze the events and the results of
  the Red Scare and the Palmer Raids

2
Government actions

• 1921-The government had in the time issued
  immigration quotas to stop the flow of people
  entering the United States.
• The Red Scare had brought fear of communism
  coming to the U.S. and the blame the foreigners.
• Palmer Raids(1919-1921) were accusations of about
  150,00 people

3
A push towards Isolationism
Several factors led many in the U.S. to favor
policies that decreased the role of the country
in world affairs.
Wartime Casualties The high number of casualties
and the total devastation of the war made many
question whether or not the U.S. should be
willing to get involved in European affairs.
All in all, its just another brick in the wall.
Economic Recession A short, but severe recession
hit the country as the economy adjusted to
returning vets, a shifting from wartime goods to
peacetime goods, and a higher standard of living.
Communism The red scare of 1919-1920 swept
across America as a small communist party formed
and strikes became common across America. (More
on this to follow)
How would isolationism help address these issues?
What are some of the possible negative
consequences of isolationism?
4
The Red Scare
Shortly after the end of World War I and the
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Red Scare
took hold in the United States.  A nationwide
fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and
other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American
psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist
bombings.  The nation was gripped in fear. 
Innocent people were jailed for expressing their
views, civil liberties were ignored, and many
Americans feared that a Bolshevik-style
revolution was at hand. Then, in the early 1920s,
the fear seemed to dissipate just as quickly as
it had begun, and the Red Scare was over.
5
Marx and Engels

• 1917Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
• Communism called for a worldwide revolution
• Struggle between workers and capitalists
• Fueled the Red Scare in the U.S.

6
Red Scare

• Red Scare, 1919 to 1921, was a time of great
  upheavalU.S. scared out of their wits".
• "Reds as they were called, "Anarchists or
  "Outside Foreign-Born Radical Agitators
  (Communists).

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer

• Anti-red hysteria came about after WWI and the
  Russian Revolution.
• 6,000 immigrants the government suspected of
  being Communists were arrested (Palmer Raids) and
  600 were deported or expelled from the U.S.
• No due process was followed

7
The Red Scare

• Fighting Quaker Attorney Gen. Palmer led
  crusade against leftists with suspect allegiance,
  6000 suspects held.
• Dec. 1919 249 alien radicals deported to Russia
  on the ship Buford.
• Sept. 1920 Hysteria heightened by bomb on Wall
  Street.

8
The Red Scare
Several states passed criminal syndicalism laws
mere advocacy of violence for social change was
criminalized.
1920 5 NY legislators denied seats because they
were Socialists.
Conservative business owners used scare against
labor open shop was American plan.
What is an open shop?
1921 Many regarded the conviction of Sacco
Vanzetti as a judicial lynching because they
were Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft
dodgers.
9
Nativism and the Legal System-The Sacco-Vanzetti
Case

• 2 men shot and killed two employees of a shoe
  store in Braintree Ma, Robbing it of 15,000.
• Sacco and Vanzetti two Italian immigrants were
  arrested, charged, and tried for the crime.
• Men were anarchists (someone who opposes all
  forms of government)
• Sacco owned a gun similar to the one used in the
  crime- bullets matched.
• No conclusive proof to their committing of the
  crime.
• Both were found guilty and sentenced to death
• Guilty or victims of prejudice?

10
Sacco and Vanzetti

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian
  immigrants charged with murdering a guard and
  robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, Mass.

• The trial lasted 1920-1927. Convicted on
  circumstantial evidence, many believed they had
  been framed for the crime because of their
  anarchist and pro-union activities.
• In this time period, anti-foreignism was high as
  well.
• Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men,
  but they would be executed.

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The Red Scare

• After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,
  Americans had a fear of Communism. Laborers were
  lumped together with communists.

14
The Red Scare

• Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer conducted the
  Palmer Raids which rounded up thousands of
  communists. Some 249 communists were sent back
  to Russia on the Soviet Ark. Labor Unions were
  also lumped together with communism.

15
The Red Scare

• As a result of the aforementioned, the ACLU or
  American Civil Liberties Union was formed by
  Felix Frankfurter

16
A. Mitchell Palmer

• Attorney General
• Appointed in 1919
• Convinced that he needed to protect Americans
  from political radicals (communists)

17
A. Mitchell Palmer

• Sent out government agents on illegal raids to
  hunt down suspected radicals
• Known as the Palmer Raids
• His popularity fell when warnings of a plot to
  overthrow the government were proven foolish