what was attorney general mitchell palmer (palmer raids) known for doing?

by Johan Gusikowski Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 9 min read

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, mostly Italian immigrants and Eastern European immigrants and especially anarchists and ...

What did Attorney General Palmer promise in June 1919?

Dec 10, 2019 · Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer is well-known for the events known as the “Palmer Raids.” These were a series of violent and abusive raids that were intended to target leftists radicals and anarchists in 1919 and 1920.

What did Attorney General Palmer do during the Red Scare?

Jan 20, 2019 · Alexander Mitchell Palmer (May 4, 1872 – May 11, 1936), best known as A. Mitchell Palmer, was Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921. He is best known for overseeing the “Palmer Raids” during the Red Scare of 1919-20. an American post-Civil War secret society advocating white supremacy.

How did the public react to the Palmer Raids?

The Red Scare was a widespread fear of Communism in the United States. The Palmer Raids were a series of government raids on suspected radicals in the U.S. led by the U.S. Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. The Palmer Raids were highly unsuccessful in finding radical communists.

Why did the President issue an admonition against Attorney General Palmer?

Palmer Raids. On June 2, 1919, a militant anarchist named Carlo Valdinoci blew up the front of newly appointed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home in Washington, D.C.—and himself up in ...

What was Attorney General Mitchell Palmer known for doing?

He is best known for overseeing the Palmer Raids during the Red Scare of 1919–20. ... Palmer became attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. In reaction to domestic unrest, Palmer created the General Intelligence Unit and recruited J. Edgar Hoover to head the new organization.

What was Attorney General Mitchell Palmer Palmer Raids known for doing quizlet?

The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States.

What were Palmer Raids quizlet?

The Palmer Raids were a series of government raids on suspected radicals in the U.S. led by the U.S. Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. The Palmer Raids were highly unsuccessful in finding radical communists. Palmer believed that on May 1, 1920 would be the day of communist rioting.

Who did the Palmer Raids target?

The raids particularly targeted Italian immigrants and Eastern European Jewish immigrants with alleged leftist ties, with particular focus on Italian anarchists and immigrant leftist labor activists. The raids and arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with 3,000 arrested.

Who was a Mitchell Palmer quizlet?

Mitchell Palmer, was Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921. He is best known for overseeing the "Palmer Raids" during the Red Scare of 1919-20. an American post-Civil War secret society advocating white supremacy.

Do you think that the Palmer Raids were justified explain your answer?

Explanation: Palmer faced significant opposition, especially from Congress, but the raids were justified as necessary in the face of a larger American panic over communists and other perceived subversives supposedly embedded in parts of the American government.Jan 24, 2018

What were the Palmer Raids Apush?

The Palmers Raids were a series of government actions against suspected radicals, anarchists, and communists commenced in 1919 by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. The raids ignored the constitutional safeguards guaranteed citizens by the Constitution and jailed many people innocent of any crime or intent.Feb 22, 2019

Which of the following resulted from the Palmer Raids of 1919 and 1920?

What was the main reason Americans were upset by the Palmer Raids of 1919 and 1920? The raids ignored people's civil liberties. The raids protected the civil liberties of immigrants.

What was the purpose of the Palmer Raids?

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 during the First Red Scare by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected leftists, mostly Italian immigrants and Eastern European immigrants and especially anarchists ...

How many people were arrested in the Palmer raids?

The raids and arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with 3,000 arrested. Though 556 foreign citizens were deported, including a number of prominent leftist leaders, Palmer's efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor, which had authority for deportations ...

Who organized the next raids?

As Attorney General Palmer struggled with exhaustion and devoted all his energies to the United Mine Workers coal strike in November and December 1919, Hoover organized the next raids. He successfully persuaded the Department of Labor to ease its insistence on promptly alerting those arrested of their right to an attorney. Instead, Labor issued instructions that its representatives could wait until after the case against the defendant was established, "in order to protect government interests." Less openly, Hoover decided to interpret Labor's agreement to act against the Communist Party to include a different organization, the Communist Labor Party. Finally, despite the fact that Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson insisted that more than membership in an organization was required for a warrant, Hoover worked with more compliant Labor officials and overwhelmed Labor staff to get the warrants he wanted. Justice Department officials, including Palmer and Hoover , later claimed ignorance of such details.

How many cities were bombed in 1919?

There were strikes that garnered national attention, and prompted race riots in more than 30 cities, as well as two sets of bombings in April and June 1919, including one bomb mailed to Palmer's home.

How many warrants were canceled in Palmer?

In a few weeks, after changes in personnel at the Department of Labor, Palmer faced a new and very independent-minded Acting Secretary of Labor in Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis Freeland Post, who canceled more than 2,000 warrants as being illegal. Of the 10,000 arrested, 3,500 were held by authorities in detention; 556 resident aliens were eventually deported under the Immigration Act of 1918.

What was the cause of the Seattle strike?

The general strike in Seattle in February 1919 represented a new development in labor unrest. The fears of Wilson and other government officials were confirmed when Galleanists —Italian immigrant followers of the anarchist Luigi Galleani —carried out a series of bombings in April and June 1919.

What was the Palmer raid?

SOURCES. Palmer raids were a series of violent and abusive law-enforcement raids directed at leftist radicals and anarchists in 1919 and 1920 , beginning during a period of unrest known as the “Red Summer.”. Named after Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with assistance from J. Edgar Hoover, the raids and subsequent deportations proved disastrous ...

How many people were arrested in the Boston raids?

More raids followed on January 2, 1920. Justice Department agents conducted raids in 33 cities, resulting in the arrest of 3,000 people. Over 800 of the arrested suspected radicals were living in the Boston area.

When was the ACLU formed?

ACLU IS CREATED. The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, was created in 1920 as a direct result of the Palmer Raids. It was suggested in a January 13 meeting to reorganize the National Civil Liberties Bureau as the ACLU, which held its first meeting on January 19.

Did Palmer get rebuked for the first raid?

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.

What did the ACLU do?

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.

What was the Red Scare?

RED SCARE. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, America was on high alert, fearing Communist revolutionaries on their own shores. The Sedition Act of 1918, which was an expansion of the 1917 Espionage Act, was a direct result of the paranoia.

What was the Sedition Act?

Targeting those who criticized the government, the Sedition Act set into motion an effort to monitor radicals, especially labor union leaders, with the threat of deportation looming over them. Anyone who was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World union was particularly at risk.

Suggested Sequencing

Use this Primary Source with The Red Scare and Civil Liberties Narrative and the Ellison DuRant Smith, “Shut the Door,” 1924 Primary Source to have students discuss the increased anxiety about radicalism and immigrants during the Red Scare.

Introduction

In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik supporters successfully overthrew the Russian tsar and established a communist regime. The Bolsheviks called for a world revolution in which workers would rise up and overthrow capitalist governments.

Historical Reasoning Questions

Why did Palmer claim he ordered raids on organizations that supported communism and socialism?

What party was Palmer in?

He became a member of the Democratic Party and won election to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1909 to 1915. During World War I, he served as Alien Property Custodian, taking charge of the seizure of enemy property. Palmer became attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

When was Palmer elected?

U.S. House of Representatives. Palmer was elected as a Democrat to the 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Congresses and served from March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1915.

Who was the attorney general of the United States in 1919?

Education. Swarthmore College ( BA) Alexander Mitchell Palmer (May 4, 1872 – May 11, 1936), was an American attorney and politician who served as the 50th United States attorney general from 1919 to 1921. He is best known for overseeing the Palmer Raids during the Red Scare of 1919–20 . He became a member of the Democratic Party ...

Was Palmer a labor leader?

His potential rivals for the presidency in 1920 were not inactive. In September and October 1919, General Leonard Wood led U.S. military forces against striking steel workers in Gary, Indiana. Employers claimed the strikers had revolutionary objectives and military intelligence seconded those charges, so Wood added acclaim as an anti-labor and anti-radical champion to his reputation as a military hero, critic of Wilson, and leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1920.

What was the GID in 1919?

Within Palmer's Justice Department, the General Intelligence Division (GID), headed by J. Edgar Hoover, had become a storehouse of information about radicals in America. It had infiltrated many organizations and, following the raids of November 1919 and January 1920, it had interrogated thousands of those arrested and read through boxes of publications and records seized. Though agents in the GID knew there was a gap between what the radicals promised in their rhetoric and what they were capable of accomplishing, they nevertheless told Palmer they had evidence of plans for an attempted overthrow of the U.S. government on May Day 1920.

Who was Palmer's wife?

Widowed when his wife Roberta Dixon died on January 4, 1922, he married Margaret Fallon Burrall in 1923.

Overview

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, mostly Italian immigrants and Eastern European immigrants and especially anarchists and communists, and deportthem from the United States. …

Background

During the First World War, there was a nationwide campaign in the United States against the real and imagined divided political loyalties of immigrants and ethnic groups, who were feared to have too much loyalty for their nations of origin. In 1915, President Wilson warned against hyphenated Americanswho, he charged, had "poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life." "Such creatures of passion, disloyalty and anarchy", Wilson continued, "must be cru…

Preparations

In June 1919, Attorney General Palmer told the House Appropriations Committee that all evidence promised that radicals would "on a certain day...rise up and destroy the government at one fell swoop." He requested an increase in his budget to $2,000,000 from $1,500,000 to support his investigations of radicals, but Congress limited the increase to $100,000.
An initial raid in July 1919 against an anarchist group in Buffalo, New York, achieved little when …

Raids and arrests in January 1920

As Attorney General Palmer struggled with exhaustion and devoted all his energies to the United Mine Workers coal strike in November and December 1919, Hoover organized the next raids. He successfully persuaded the Department of Labor to ease its insistence on promptly alerting those arrested of their right to an attorney. Instead, Labor issued instructions that its represen…

Aftermath

General bibliography

• Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background (Princeton University Press, 1991)
• Chafee, Zechariah, Freedom of Speech (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Howe, 1920)
• Coben, Stanley, A. Mitchell Palmer: Politician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963)

External links

• Media related to Palmer Raids at Wikimedia Commons