what was the series of arrests conducted by attorney general mitchell palmer

by Prof. Chadd Ondricka 10 min read

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, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States.

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

On January 2, 1920, the most spectacular of the Palmer Raids took place, when thousands of individuals (estimates vary between 3,000 and 10,000) were arrested in more than 30 cities. The following day, federal, state, and local agents conducted further raids.

What did Attorney General Palmer promise in June 1919?

Jan 31, 2018 · SECOND WAVE OF PALMER 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...

Who was Attorney General during the Red Scare?

The Palmer Raids (1919-1920) 1919 - 1920 The U.S. Department of Justice conducted a series of raids to round up, arrest, and deport suspected anarchists and left-wing radicals.

Who was the Attorney General in 1919?

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 ...

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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 the 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.

What event provoked the Palmer Raids quizlet?

Significance: 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.

What was the main reason Americans were upset by 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. Which event contributed to the rise of anti-immigrant, anti-socialist, and anti-anarchist feelings in the United States in the years during and just after World War I?

Why were the Palmer Raids conducted?

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, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States.

What was the Red Scare and the Palmer Raids quizlet?

Part of the Red Scare, these were measures to hunt out political radicals and immigrants who were potential threats to American security; led to the arrest of nearly 5,500 people and the deportation of nearly 400 citizens.

Which man was the leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Palmer Raids?

Edgar Hoover, Palmer created the General Intelligence Division in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and secured an increase in funds from Congress to devote to anticommunist activities by the Justice Department.May 7, 2022

What was the Red fear?

A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. It is often characterized as political propaganda.

What caused American workers to suffer during the 1920s?

Why did some businesses not do well in the 1920's? Most of these industries, such as the railroads, just weren't needed anymore, due to new technology. Why did American farmers suffer during the 1920's? They were producing more food than was needed and this drove prices down.

How were victims of the Palmer Raids treated?

How were many victims of the Palmer Raids treated? They were sent to jail without a trial.

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

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

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

The American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU was formed in 1920 as a direct result of the Palmer Raids. It was suggested in a meeting which took place in January to reorganize the National Civil Liberties Bureau as the ACLU. It is an unwavering voice of freedom, fairness and equality for all Americans.Dec 9, 2018

What was the purpose of the Palmer Raids?

Department of Justice in 1919 and 1920 in an attempt to arrest foreign anarchists, communists, and radical leftists, many of whom were subsequently deported.

What is the Department of Justice?

U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Department of Justice, executive division of the U.S. federal government responsible for law enforcement. Headed by the U.S. attorney general, it investigates and prosecutes cases under federal antitrust, civil-rights, criminal, tax, and environmental laws. It controls the Federal Bureau ...

Who were the Palmer raids?

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 ...

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 was the name of the raids in 1919?

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 and sparked a vigorous debate about constitutional rights.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ...

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.

Was Palmer a Democrat?

Palmer was elected as a Democrat to the 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Congresses and served from March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1915. From the start he won important party assignments, serving as vice-chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in his first term and managing the assignment of office space in his second term.

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.

Who was Palmer's wife?

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

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.

Summary

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer spearheaded efforts to round up anarchists, communists, and other political radicals and then deport them when possible. World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution inflamed American fears of the spread of radicalism and immigration from Europe, contributing to the first “red scare” in the United States.

Source

The Ogden standard. (Ogden City, Utah), 08 Nov. 1919. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058396/1919-11-08/ed-1/seq-1/>

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Palmer Served in Woodrow Wilson's Administration

  • Born in Moosehead, Pennsylvania, Palmer graduated summa cum laude in 1891 from Swarthmore College. After studying law for two years, he was admitted to the practice of law in 1893 and became a prominent lawyer and a leader of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party. He was elected to Congress in 1908 and served three terms in the House of Representatives. He supported wome…
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Repression of Radicals, First Amendment Rights Began During World War I

  • The repression of radicals and dissenters had begun during World War I, before Palmer became attorney general. The Department of Justice and its Bureau of Investigation, an agency that later developed into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, began to conduct surveillance on immigrant anarchist groupssuspected of bombings that had occurred throughout the country. The surveilla…
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Palmer Became Zealous Opponent, Deporter of Radicals as Attorney General

  • He wrote articles and gave speeches warning of dangers posed by leftists. Armed with supplementary congressional appropriations earmarked for matters of internal security and relying on recently passed laws, such as the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, Palmer’s agents raided headquarters of communist, socialist, and anarchist org...
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Palmer Mass Arrests Were Criticized, Led to Founding of ACLU

  • Public support for continuing repression gradually eroded, as the raids increasingly became the subject of public criticism. In May 1920, an influential pamphlet, Report upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice, was written and circulated by 12 prominent lawyers, including Felix Frankfurter and Zechariah Chafee Jr., charging Palmer with conducting illegal sea…
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Overview

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 and won election to the United St…

Early life and education

Palmer was born into a Quaker family near White Haven, Pennsylvania, in the small town of Moosehead, on May 4, 1872. He was educated in the public schools and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's Moravian Parochial School. Palmer graduated from Swarthmore College in 1891. At Swarthmore, he was a member of the Pennsylvania Kappa chapter of the Phi Kappa Psifraternity. After graduation, he was appointed court stenographer of Pennsylvania's 43rd judicial district. He stu…

Career

He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1893, and began to practice in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in partnership with Storm. Palmer also had various business interests, including serving on the board of directors of the Scranton Trust Company, Stroudsburg National Bank, International Boiler Company, Citizens' Gas Company, and Stroudsburg Water Company. He also b…

Death

On May 11, 1936, at Emergency Hospital in Washington, D.C., Palmer died from cardiac complications following an appendectomy two weeks earlier. Upon his death, Attorney General Cummings said "He was a great lawyer, a distinguished public servant and an outstanding citizen. He was my friend of many years' standing and his death brings to me a deep sense of personal loss and sorrow." He was buried at Laurelwood Cemetery (originally a cemetery of the Society of …

Notes

1. ^ Halcyon. Swarthmore, PA: Swarthmore College. 1892. p. 79. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
2. ^ "A. Mitchell Palmer Biography." Biography.com. N.p., n.d. Web. June 28, 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/a-mitchell-palmer-38048>
3. ^ Coben, 23, 47

Sources

• United States Congress. "A. Mitchell Palmer (id: P000035)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.