On this day in history, January 2, 1920, the Justice Department launched a shocking and often violent unconstitutional nationwide drug network, arresting as many as 10,000 people.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who was appointed attorney general by President Woodrow Wilson ten months earlier, led a sweep against suspected communists, anarchists, and their sympathizers.
This action soon became known as the “Palmer Raid”.
On this day in history, January. Country music legend Hank Williams dies on 1, 1953.
“The attack was a horrific and shameful event in American history, and one of the lowest moments for freedom since King George III stationed troops in people's homes,” the Foundation for Economic Education wrote.
The foundation called the efforts under President Wilson “American Reign of Terror.”
Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer launched a series of unconstitutional raids on January 2, 1920, arresting as many as 10,000 people suspected of being communists or anarchists. (Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG, Getty Images)
The Wilson administration also targeted its political opponents.
“Even simple criticism of the government was enough to send you to prison,” said Christopher Finnan, author of the 2007 book “From the Palmer Attack to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.” It has said.
“Simple criticism of the government was enough to send someone to prison.”
The Palmer Raid marked the height of the country's first Red Scare, a reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist takeover of Russia.
After the tectonic shifts caused by World War I, this radical ideology quickly spread to Europe and the United States.
The era of fear was further exacerbated by widespread postwar worker discontent and the deadly influenza pandemic of 1919, which killed about 675,000 Americans, many of them children, in just a year and a half. Ta.
The National Constitution Center said last year: “On this day in 1920, the Constitution faced a major test when thousands of people were detained without warrants on common charges in raids ordered by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer.” wrote.
“Led by J. Edgar Hoover, a young Justice Department official, the events that became known as the Palmer Raid peaked on the night of January 2, 1920, with between 3,000 and 10,000 people in 35 cities. was detained.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover sits at his desk at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., 1928. Hoover played a key role in the Palmer raid. He was appointed FBI director in his 1924 year. (Getty Images)
Much of the media praised the attack.
The Washington Post wrote on January 4: “We don't have time to spend shearing wool over freedom violations.”
Alexander Mitchell Palmer was a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania when Wilson chose him to head the Department of Justice.
“I don’t have time to spend shearing because it violates my freedom.” — Washington Post, January 4, 1920
The Wilson administration described the new attorney general as “young, combative, progressive and fearless.”
The Justice Department was accused of recklessly employing warrantless searches, illegal wiretaps, and aggressive interrogation techniques that today could be considered torture.
Palmer's motive may have been personal revenge.
“On June 2, 1919, a militant anarchist named Carlo Valdinoci bombed the front of newly appointed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home in Washington, D.C. The bomb detonated too quickly; He also killed himself in the process,” the FBI reported. Station online history.
Anti-Bolshevik political cartoon published in the Literary Digest of July 5, 1919. (Photo 12/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images)
“Young Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived across the street, were also shaken by the explosion. The bombing was one of a series of coordinated attacks on judges, politicians, law enforcement officers and others in eight cities across the country that day. It was nothing more than.”
Palmer was also motivated by personal ambition.
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He began his raids at the same time he began his bid for the White House.
He lost to James M. Cox for the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in July.
His “reign of terror” and White House ambitions ran out at the same time.
The Palmer attack was deemed “lawless and subversive of the constitutional liberties of citizens and aliens alike.”
According to the National Constitution Center, “On April 30, 1920, Palmer warned of an assassination attempt on 'more than a dozen' government officials the next day. However, nothing happened on May Day, and Palmer lost momentum as a presidential candidate. lost” .
He resigned when Warren G. Harding became president in March 1921.
The Palmer attack was deemed “unlawful and subversive of the constitutional liberties of citizens and aliens alike” at Senate Judiciary hearings in February 1921.
(Original caption) Texas Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark in a 1964 file photo. He published the infamous “Blacklist,” officially known as the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations. (Getty Images)
The unconstitutionality of the Palmer attack was revived in 1938 under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with the establishment of the House Un-American Activities Committee under its chairman, Texas Democrat Martin Dees.
After World War II and the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a new Red Scare plagued the government.
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The Truman administration and HUAC will be accused of many of the same unconstitutional tactics used in the Palmer attack.
“It has its origins in President Truman's Executive Order 9835 of March 21, 1947, which required all federal employees to undergo a 'loyalty' test,” Robert Justin Goldstein wrote in 2006. I wrote about it in the National Archives' Prologue magazine.
“All federal civil servants [had to] You will be tested for “loyalty''. ”
The following December, Attorney General Tom C. Clark issued the infamous “Blacklist,” officially known as the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations.
Goldstein said the highly publicized list “casts an overall shadow on freedom of association and speech in the United States.”
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According to the FBI's online history, “The Palmer attack certainly did not bode well for the young bureau.”
“However, I gained valuable experience in terrorism investigations and intelligence operations, and learned important lessons about the need to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights.”
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