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A. Mitchell Palmer: The Palmer Raids
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Palmer Raids Facts for kids: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Palmer Raids.
What were the Palmer Raids? The Palmer
Raids were instigated by United States
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer from
1919 to 1920. The raids were conducted by
Federal Agents and involved mass arrests and
deportation of immigrant political radicals
at the height of the WW1 Red Scare.
What Caused the Palmer Raids?
The Palmer Raids were caused by the Red
Scare which was the anti-radical and and
anti-immigrant hysteria and fear that
anarchists, socialists and communists were
conspiring to start a workers revolution in
America. A bomb damaged the home of Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer who instigated
the 'Palmer Raids'.
What was the purpose of the Palmer Raids? The
purpose of
Palmer Raids was to launch rapid surprise
searches of various radical organizations
and the homes of immigrants
Who did the Palmer Raids target?
The Palmer Raids targeted immigrants who
were suspected of being anarchists,
communists or other political radicals.
Palmer Raids
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on the Palmer Raids
and the Red Scare for kids.
Facts
about the Palmer Raids for kids
Palmer Raids Fact 1:
Causes: During the Red Scare the nation became
increasingly intolerant of immigrants and there
was a strong belief that Anarchists, Communists and other radical
groups were conspiring to start a a worker's revolution
in America
Palmer Raids Fact
2: Causes: The 'New
Immigrants' from southern and eastern Europe were accused of
bringing radical socialist and communist ideas into the
United States and were blamed for the strikes, violence
and civil unrest that plagued America in 1919.
Palmer Raids Fact 3:
Causes: The 1911
Dillingham
Commission Report had had given credibility to this
belief by concluding that the 'New
Immigrants' from countries such as Italy, Greece, Poland and Croatia, were "inferior, uneducated and posed a serious threat to
American society".
Palmer Raids Fact 4:
Causes: The wave of
Nativism (the preference for established US residents, as
opposed to foreigners) was reinforced by the Eugenics movement,
a pseudo scientific philosophy that claimed the superiority of the
original American stock of the "Old Immigrants" from northern and
western Europe.
Palmer Raids Fact 5:
Causes: The massive number of strikes (more than 3600)
in 1919, called the 'Red Summer' led Americans to associate all
foreign radicals with
being unpatriotic.
Palmer Raids Fact 6:
Causes: In April 1919, attempts were made to mail 36
booby trap bombs to politicians, judges and leading industrialists including John
D. Rockefeller. The mail bombs were timed to arrive on May Day, the
day of celebration of organized labor and the working class, but the
mail bombs were
discovered by diligent mail workers.
Palmer Raids Fact 7:
A. Mitchell Palmer had been a target of one of the mail
bombs. The anarchists had twice attempted to mutilate or assassinate
the U.S. Attorney General.
Palmer Raids Fact
8: The mail bomb attacks were
master-minded by Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani. Luigi
Galleani and his followers had published a leaflet
stating:
"Deportation
will not stop the storm from reaching these shores. The
storm is within and very soon will leap and crash and
annihilate you in blood and fire…We will dynamite you!".
Palmer Raids Fact 9:
In June 1919 eight bombs in eight different American
cities exploded in minutes of each other. One of the
bombs damaged the home of United States Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer.
● The bomb exploded on the
porch of his house in Philadelphia
● The bomber, Carlo Valdinoci,
was killed in the blast
●
The Attorney General and his family narrowly escaped
death
● The young Franklin Roosevelt
and Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived across the street,
were also shaken by the blast
Palmer Raids Fact 10:
Outraged at the bombing attack on his home and family
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer led a campaign
against foreign radicals. By August of 1919, the
Department of Justice had created a Division of
Intelligence, closely aligned with the Bureau of
Investigation. It was headed by future FBI Director John
Edgar Hoover.
Continued...
Facts
about the Palmer Raids for kids
Palmer Raids for kids
The info about the Palmer Raids provides interesting facts and
important information about this important event that occured during the presidency of the 28th President of the United States of America.
Facts
about the Palmer Raids for kids
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sheet continues with facts about Palmer Raids for kids.
Facts
about Palmer Raids for kids
Palmer Raids Fact 11:
J. Edgar Hoover utilized nearly 600 Federal agents from
the Bureau of Investigation together with vigilantes from the
American Protective League to orchestrate massive raids against
foreign immigrants who were suspected of being radicals, anarchists
and communists in 33 cities across twenty-three states.
Palmer Raids Fact 12:
Luigi Galleani and
eight of his followers were deported in June of 1919,
three weeks after the June 2nd wave of bombings.
Palmer Raids Fact 13:
More than 10,000 suspects were detained without a hearing and nearly 600 were deported.
Palmer Raids Fact 14:
The agents frequently disregarded
the civil liberties of the suspects, entering homes and offices
without search warrants. People were often ill treated and jailed
for indefinite periods of time and were not allowed to talk to their
lawyers.
Palmer Raids Fact 15:
Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer encouraged the Palmer raids in the hope
that they would advance his presidential ambitions. For
a time he became a national hero, and enjoyed
nation-wide support in his hunt for the radicals. He
declared that a “blaze of revolution”was “burning up the
foundations of society”.
Palmer Raids Fact 16:
He
courted publicity and spread various rumors to the press
about the dangers of the Red Scare. He announced that
undercover federal agents had discovered vast
conspiracies aimed at overthrowing the United States
government.
Headlines screamed: ''Huge Red Plot of Destruction is
Uncovered'' or '''No Mercy for Reds behind Gigantic Bomb
Plot to Main and Kill''.
An
October 1919 Philadelphia Inquirer cartoon illustrates
American feelings towards bombing suspects with the
words:
“PUT
THEM OUT AND KEEP THEM OUT.”.
Palmer Raids Fact 17:
The outrageous rumors
and subsequent press reports, the conduct of agents and
the treatment of 'suspects' were getting totally out of
hand.
Palmer Raids Fact 18:
Assistant Secretary
of Labor, Louis Freedland Post, who had responsibility
for the Bureau of Immigration, intervened.
Palmer Raids Fact 19:
Aware of Post's
opposition the Federal Bureau of Investigation had even
began compiling a file on Post and his political
leanings - but failed to find substantive evidence of
radical connections on his part.
Palmer Raids Fact 20:
Louis Freedland Post
was appalled by the Palmer Raids which he believed
"trampled on the Constitution". Federal Agents were
marking immigrants for deportation without legal counsel
or in some cases, without evidence of any wrong-doing.
Post reviewed the pending deportation orders and
cancelled most of them.
Palmer Raids Fact
21: The House Committee
on Immigration and Naturalization compiled a sensational
report of Post's deportation decisions. On April 15,
1920, Kansas Congressman Homer Hoch accused Post of
having abused his power and called for his impeachment.
Palmer Raids Fact
22: Post was granted a
chance to testify. He successfully defended his actions
and attacked Attorney General Palmer and the raids.
Palmer Raids Fact
23: Labor Secretary
Wilson subsequently endorsed Post's actions stating that
he was satisfied that Post ranked among the ablest and
best administrative officers in the Government service
Palmer Raids Fact 24:
Abuses during the
Palmer Raids were documented by the American Civil
Liberties Union and prominent attorneys such as
Zechariah Chafee Jr., Roscoe Pound, and Felix
Frankfurter. Abuses of due process, illegal search and
seizure, indiscriminate arrests, the use of agents
provocateurs and instances of torture were all reported.
Palmer Raids Fact 25:
Palmer's dire
prediction that violence would rock the nation on May
Day 1920 had come to nothing.
There had been no arrests. The reports of massive bomb
plots and acts of terrorism has not materialized. The US
government had not been brought down. Post had called
the entire effort "a stupendous and cruel fake".
Palmer Raids Fact
26: Palmer's political
career was destroyed. He was viewed as a threat to the
civil rights and liberties of all Americans. J. Edgar
Hoover, who actually organized the raids, went on to
spend a 48 year career as director of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation.
Palmer Raids Fact
27: The First Red Scare came to an end.
The American nation wanted to return to 'normalcy'.
Facts
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Facts
about
Palmer Raids for kids: Prohibition
For visitors interested in the history of
the first Red Scare refer to the following articles:
Palmer Raids for kids - President Woodrow Wilson Video
The article on the Palmer Raids provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Woodrow Wilson video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 28th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1913 to March 4, 1921.
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Woodrow Wilson Presidency from March 4, 1913 to March 4, 1921
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