The Red Scare
The Red Scare took place twice in American History. First in the period of 1919 to 1921which was triggered by a Communist take over of Russia. The Red scare never really stoppedsince it's first appearance, but occurred again in the 1950's. It was a label given to the actions oflegislation, race riots, and the hatred and persecution of revolutionary objectors during that After the war formally ended on November 18, 1918, there was an ideological war stillgoing on in the US. It was a war which prompted mass paranoia and caused what would beknown as the Red Scare, beginning in 1919 and ending in 1921. First period of red scare beganin June 1919, when the newly appointed US attorney general, A. Mitchel Palmer, was waken upby the explosion on his door steps. A bomber tripped over something, blowing himself up. It waslater found that additional bombs had exploded on the doorsteps of other high-rankinggovernment officials in at least 8 more cities. This was the start of the first Red Scare throughoutthe country. The next day's New York Times newspaper reported that the attack was Bolshevik
Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Out of 6,000 warrants issued during the raids, less than 1,000deportations resulted. In 1918,after the end of the war, all the groups which opposed the war came under fire. They werethought to be making threatening moves against the Capitalist system through subversiveSocialist organizations. When the Palmer Raidsbegan, its two main targets were the Communist Party, and the Communist Labor Party. Post began to reject most of the cases broughtbefore him concerning the immigrants. Also, no legislation regardingcommunism was passed by congress at that time, so workers in Unions were legally allowed tobe Communists. Another reason for the Red Scare was the strike held by mine workers. Even the Secretary of Labor himself, William B. One provision stated that a worker must swear that he isnot, and was not a communist, before entering a Union. The focus of the attacks was nolonger on the conscientious objectors, since many of them had already been jailed during thewar, and were still in jail at the time. After WWI was over, manypeople were coming home and there was a tremendous rise in unemployment. It was now switched over to the Socialists; they were still aviable target. Nationalist Americanscalled for a halt to this "Bolshevik Revolution" which was taking place on American soil.
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