The Red Scare

The 1920s are best described as a decade of conflict,

and the conflict did not get any more blunt and
violent than the Red Scare.

It was a time of widespread pandemonium in the

United States, as neighbor turned on neighbor and
the country as a whole turned on the immigrant
classes who continued to migrate into the country.

Today we will be analyzing the Red Scare, to

determine both its origins AND what it says about
American sensibilities.
Key Terms
Bolshevik (aka “Red”):

Trotsky:

Anarchism:

As you read Palmer's argument against Communists, answer the following three questions. We
will be using them in a few minutes to determine the portrait of America's Most Wanted.

1. Why does Palmer have no choice but to deport Communists? What is his reasoning?

2. What are some of the characteristics of a Communist? What do they do to a society that
requires them to be eliminated?

3. Why does Palmer not worry about being seen as “Bolshevik” himself by forcibly
deporting those with whom he disagrees? Is his argument reasonable?
 A. Mitchell Palmer Justifies his Raids
By stealing, murder and lies, Bolshevism has looted Russia not only of its material strength but of
its moral force. A small clique of outcasts from the East Side of New York has attempted this, with
what success we all know. Because a disreputable alien Leon Bronstein, the man who now calls
himself Trotzky, can inaugurate a reign of terror from his throne room in the Kremlin, because this
lowest of all types known to New York can sleep in the Czar's bed, while hundreds of thousands in
Russia are without food or shelter, should Americans be swayed by such doctrines?

Such a question, it would seem, should receive but one answer from America.

My information showed that communism in this country was an organization of thousands of aliens
who were direct allies of Trotzky. Aliens of the same misshapen caste of mind and indecencies of
character, and it showed that they were making the same glittering promises of lawlessness, of
criminal autocracy to Americans, that they had made to the Russian peasants.

Behind, and underneath, my own determination to drive from our midst the agents of Bolshevism
with increasing vigor and with greater speed, until there are no more of them left among us, so long
as I have the responsible duty of that task, I have discovered the hysterical methods of these
revolutionary humans with increasing amazement and suspicion. In the confused information that
sometimes reaches the people they are compelled to ask questions which involve the reasons for
my acts against the "Reds." I have been asked, for instance, to what extent deportation will check
radicalism in this country. Why not ask what will become of the United States Government if these
alien radicals are permitted to carry out the principles of the Communist Party as embodied in its
so-called laws, aims and regulations?

There wouldn't be any such thing left. In place of the United States Government we should have
the horror and terrorism of bolsheviki tyranny such as is destroying Russia now. Every scrap of
radical literature demands the overthrow of our existing government. All of it demands obedience
to the instincts of criminal minds, that is, to the lower appetites, material and moral. The whole
purpose of communism appears to be a mass formation of the criminals of the world to overthrow
the decencies of private life, to usurp property that they have not earned, to disrupt the present
order of life regardless of health, sex or religious rights. By a literature that promises the wildest
dreams of such low aspirations, that can occur to only the criminal minds, communism distorts our
social law

...

It has been inferred by the "Reds" that the United States Government, by arresting and deporting
them, is returning to the autocracy of Czardom, adopting the system that created the severity of
Siberian banishment. My reply to such charges is that in our determination to maintain our
government we are treating our alien enemies with extreme consideration. To deny them the
privilege of remaining in a country which they have openly deplored as an unenlightened
community, unfit for those who prefer the privileges of Bolshevism, should be no hardship. It
strikes me as an odd form of reasoning that these Russian Bolsheviks who extol the Bolshevik rule
should be so unwilling to return to Russia. The nationality of most of the alien "Reds" is Russian
and German and Italian. There is almost no other nationality represented among them.
 CHICAGOANS CHEER TAR WHO SHOT MAN
Sailor Wounds Pageant Spectator Disrespectful to Flag.

Universal Service
Chicago, May 6 - Disrespect for the American flag and a show of resentment toward the thousands
who participated in a victory loan pageant here tonight may cost George Goddard his life. He was
shot down by a sailor of the United States navy when he did not stand and remove his hat while the
band was playing the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Goddard had a seat of vantage in the open amphitheater. When he failed to stand he was the most
conspicuous figure among the throng. When he fell at the report of the "sailor's" gun the crowd
burst into cheers and hand-clapping. When Goddard failed to respond to the first strains of the
national anthem Samuel Hagerman, sailor in the guard of honor asked him to get up.

"What for?" demanded Goddard.

"Hagerman touched him with his bayonet.

"Get up. Off with your hat."

Goddard muttered and drew a pistol.

With military precision Hagerman stepped back a pace and slipped a shell into his gun.

Goddard started away. As the last notes of the anthem sounded the sailor commanded him to halt.
Then he fired into the air.

"Halt!"

Goddard paid no attention.

The sailor aimed and fired three times. Goddard fell wounded. Each shot found its mark.

When he [Goddard] was searched, an automatic pistol, in addition to the one he had drawn, was
found. Another pistol and fifty cartridges were found in a bag he carried. He said he was a tinsmith,
out of work. Papers showed he had been at Vancouver and Seattle and it was believed by the
authorities he had come here for the I.W.W. convention.

Washington Post, May 7, 1919, p. 2.

The Criticism of the United States by
the Bolsheviks and Communists

“Every war destroys a formidable amount of all sorts of goods, including not only
the so-called war material, but also things most necessary to everyday life and to
society as a whole: bread, meat, vegetables, food of all kind, beasts of burden,
leather, coal, metal, clothing, and so on. This represents the useful labor of
millions of men during decades; and all this is wasted, burnt, gutted in a few
months. Even in time of peace it is wasted, in anticipation of coming wars. As this
war material, these metals, and these stores must be prepared beforehand, the mere
possibility of a new war brings about in all our industries shocks and crises that
every one of us feels. You, I, all of us, we feel their effect in the smallest details of
our life. The bread we eat, the coal we burn, the railway ticket we buy, the price of
each article depends on rumors relating to the likelihood of war at an early date --
rumors propagated by speculators on a rise in the prices of all this produce.”

Mother Earth, February, 1915

As we have seen, during the 1920s American authorities began to crack
down on those perceived as anarchists, Communists, or others opposed to
the principles of the American government. Fear and paranoia began to
spread fromperson to person, and suddenly everyone was a suspect (well, a
specific group of people were suspects...).

The American government needs your help in rooting out these individuals
who seek to do harm to the American way of life. Your task is to design,
using the readings from Palmer and from the Washington Post article, the
stereotypical Communist/Bolshevik/Anarchist.

In designing your character, you need to include the following things:

1) A picture
2) A name
3) Their nationality
4) The ideology of your character; what are three things in which
your character believes?
5) Their ultimate goal; what do they want to happen to the United
States?
6) A reward for capture
7) What will be done with them once they are caught?