Red Scare

The term "Red Scare" has been applied to two distinct periods of intense anti-Communism and anti-Anarchism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. Both periods were characterized by the suspicion of widespread civil-service infiltration by Communists and Anarchist and fears of communist influence on U.S. society and infiltration of the U.S. government. These fears spurred aggressive investigation and (particularly during the first period) jailing of persons associated with communist and socialist ideology or political movements.

The "Red Summer"

Forts rule the world

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A series of bombings in June of 1919 sparked the FBI to more aggressive actions. The mayor of Seattle received a homemade bomb in the mail on April 28, which was defused. Senator Thomas R. Hardwick received a bomb the next day, which blew off the hands of his servant who had discovered it, severely burning him and his wife. The following morning, a New York City postal worker discovered sixteen similar packages addressed to well-known people of the time, including oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. On June 2, a bomb partially destroyed the front of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's house.

Related Topics:
1919 - Mayor - Seattle - Bomb - April 28 - Senator - Thomas R. Hardwick - New York City - Postal worker - John D. Rockefeller - June 2 - Attorney General - A. Mitchell Palmer

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In the Wall Street bombing on September 16, 1920, 100 pounds (45 kg) of dynamite with 500 pounds (230 kg) of fragmented steel exploded in front of the offices of the J.P. Morgan Company, killing 40 people and injuring 300 others. Anarchists have long been suspected as initiating the attack, which followed a number of letter bombs that targeted Morgan himself. However, the identity of the bombers has never been determined.

Related Topics:
Wall Street bombing - September 16 - 1920 - J.P. Morgan

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Reactions

In response to the bombings, the public 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; General Leonard Wood called to place them on "ships of stone with sails of lead"; evangelist Billy Sunday clamored to "stand up before a firing squad and save space on our ships." In Centralia, Washington, a Wobblie was dragged from a town jail and hanged.

Related Topics:
Kenneth D. McKellar - Guam - Leonard Wood - Evangelist - Billy Sunday - Firing squad - Centralia, Washington - Wobblie

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The largest government action of the Red Scare was Palmer Raids against anarchist, socialist, and communist groups. Left-wing activists such as Eugene V. Debs were jailed by government officials using the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. Section Four of the Sedition act empowered Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson to slow or confiscate all Socialist material in the mail, a task that he took on readily. In a spectacle that exposed the paranoia, xenophobia, and fear of anarchism which much of the United States was experiencing, Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists, were executed for murder in a trial seen as unfair and protested by left wing forces around the world.

Related Topics:
Palmer Raids - Eugene V. Debs - Espionage Act of 1917 - Sedition Act of 1918 - Postmaster General - Albert S. Burleson - Xenophobia - Sacco and Vanzetti - Italian - Anarchist

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