Red+Scare+and+Palmer+Raids



Russia in 1917 thought it was justified to allow communism in Russia, American on the other hand did not like the idea of communism and was very opposed to this idea entirely. American wanting to say communist free was put to the “red scare”. The “red scare” allowed arrests, illegal searching and expulsion of the Untied States.
 * __Palmer Raids and Red Scare__**
 * Espionage Act of 1917 & Sedation Act of 1918: $10,000 fine with 20 years of jail time if you let out private information about troops dealing with national defense and/or the recruiting of troops also refusing to serve in the military. Over 900 were imprisoned by the Espionage Act of 1917
 * August 23rd six members of the Jewish group “Frayhayt” were arrested in New York for criticizing the Untied States and their involvement in invading Russia in a paper called “Der Shrurm”. One of the six men from this group was so badly beaten when he was arrested he soon died. The girl in the group was charged as guilty and put to 15 years of jail time while the other 3 males were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment.
 * 450 people were put to jail over one letter to the “Kansas City Star” stating that “no government which is for the profiteers can also be for the people, and I am for the people while the government is for the profiteers."
 * A Socialist Journal “The Masses” was ceased due to the Espionage Act.
 * Palmer Raids: Raids in the 1920’s of suspected socialists who were either put to jail or deported from the Untied States.
 * Mitchell Palmer the new Attorney General appointed my Woodrow Wilson.
 * __Reasons for the Palmer Raids__
 * In April the Untied States post office found a total of 38 bombs sent out to big name politicians.
 * An Italian anarchist was the blown up in front of Mitchell P almers house.
 * These events led to enforcement officials to believe that terrible events were to occur. Leading to the arrest or deportation of any one suspicious.
 * The first of the “Palmer Raids” was on November 7, 1919. 1,000’s of communists and anarchists were charged, and over 200 were deported to Finland and then later moved to Russia
 * Though there was no evidence of that communism was going to spread the “Palmer Raids” went on. In January 1920 over 6,000 were arrested.
 * Many believed that Palmer did the raids so he would be a presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in the upcoming election.

Political Cartoon:

This Political Cartoon shows how leaders such as Joe McCarthy and Karl Rove were seeing "Red" everywhere they went. Joe McCarthy alone was held accountable for putting almost 6,000 people in jail. IN 1950 this senator claimed that 205 state department people were communist and had them removed. Joe McCarthy scared people into calling in their friends, family and neighbors on account of suspected communism so they, themselves would not be thrown in jail. The Army Signal Corps center was even charged with communism by Joe McCarthy. As more and more "communist" popped up by McCarthy he started to lose his credibility and on December 2nd the senator was officially censored.