He wrote articles and gave speeches warning of dangers posed by leftists. In one raid, in December , federal agents detained nearly suspected subversives, including the anarchist Emma Goldman , and placed them on board a ship bound for the Soviet Union. In January , another 6, suspected radicals, most members of the Industrial Workers of the World IWW , were arrested and those who were not citizens were deported. By the end of the month, 10, individuals had been rounded up in what became known as the Palmer Raids.
At the time it was the largest mass arrest in the history of the United States. Although the public generally supported these efforts, Palmer and his federal agents were accused by civil liberties groups of using illegal and unconstitutional methods for obtaining evidence and conducting surveillance , including warrantless searches, illegal wiretaps, and cruel interrogation techniques. Public support for continuing repression gradually eroded, as the raids increasingly became the subject of public criticism.
Other public figures and some public officials were inspired by this pamphlet to speak out as well. The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in largely in reaction to the violation of liberties that the Palmer raids represented. The organization later represented numerous individuals who were caught in a second Red Scare at the end of World War II , when the Soviet Union was emerging as a global power. After serving as attorney general, Palmer stayed in Washington to practice law and remained active in Democratic Party politics until his death.
The Palmer raids illustrate that important legal rights are sometimes violated during times of war and perceived crisis. This article was originally published in Braeman, John.
Finan, Christopher M. Boston: Beacon Press, Goldstein, Robert Justin. Political Repression in Modern America, to There were over 3, cases of industrial strikes in , including the Boston Police force.
Feelings of anger and animosity arose towards communists and many Americans believed that some of the events of and were linked to communism. In September , a bomb exploded on Wall Street killing 38 people, and another bomb destroyed the front of the Attorney General, A Mitchell Palmer's house.
An algebra class was interrupted by armed agents, with the teacher being beaten. The detained were ordered to hand over their money to agents, who were then directed to tear the place apart. Dragged and shoved into patrol wagons and taken into custody, agents searched among the detainees for members of the Union of Russian Workers. The questioning that followed revealed that only 39 of the people arrested had anything to do with the union.
Raids across the United States continued, with police pulling suspects out of their apartments, often without arrest warrants. One thousand people were arrested in 11 cities.
Seventy-five percent of the arrestees were released. Many of the alleged Communist sympathizers that were rounded up were deported in December A total of radicals were deported aboard the ship, including Goldman. More violent abuses abounded: New York City deportee Gaspar Cannone was held secretly without being charged and beaten when he would not inform on others.
When Cannone refused to sign a statement admitting to being an anarchist, his signature was forged. She would not return to America until when her dead body was shipped for burial. More raids followed on January 2, Justice Department agents conducted raids in 33 cities, resulting in the arrest of 3, people. Over of the arrested suspected radicals were living in the Boston area. Around Chicagoans were arrested on January 1 in raids on union halls and radical bookstores.
Abuses of arrestees were routine: In Detroit, nearly 1, men were detained and starved for almost a week in a small area without windows on the top floor of the federal building. They were later transferred to Fort Wayne to be tortured during questioning. Family members of prisoners were assaulted in front of them as part of interrogation. The ACLU took on cases defending immigrants that were being targeted and members of Industrial Workers of the World, as well as other trade union members and political radicals, directly combating the efforts of the Palmer raids.
Though the first raids were popular with American citizens, they eventually elicited much criticism, particularly after the second wave of raids, and Palmer faced rebukes from numerous sources, including Congress. Palmer defended his actions in the press, but a subsequent report from a group of lawyers and judges revealing the extent to which due process had been disregarded caused further damage. Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post invalidated well over 1, deportations.
Only arrestees remained deported. He predicted an armed Communist uprising on May 1, , to justify further raids and other actions. When that never materialized, his plans fell apart and he was subject to near-universal mockery.
A career politician, Palmer sought the Democratic nomination for president in but lost to James M. Palmer died in
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