Red Scare was a period of anti-Communist fervor (intense emotion) in the United States that reached its height in 1919 and 1920. Authorities raided the offices of labor unions and political groups and arrested thousands of people suspected of radicalism —that is, support for extreme economic and political reform. The term Red Scare is also applied to a period during the Cold War of the mid-1900’s in which many people working in government or entertainment were accused of having Communist sympathies. The use of the color red to refer to Communists comes from the red flag of Russian Communist revolutionaries and, later, the Soviet Union .
Background.
The Red Scare was in part a backlash against (reaction to) the reforms of the Progressive Era , which had begun in the late 1800’s. During the Progressive Era, reformers introduced policies that sought to decrease corruption in government and business and improve conditions for the working classes. At the same time, immigration from southern and eastern Europe greatly increased. After the end of World War I (1914-1918), more than 4 million workers in a range of industries—including steelworkers, mineworkers, textile workers, and police officers—conducted strikes to demand wage increases that had stalled during wartime. Opponents of the Progressive Movement blamed an international Communist conspiracy for stirring up unrest between industrial workers and factory owners. Antiunion politicians and business owners, together with like-minded journalists, spread fears that new European immigrants were promoting radical ideas. For many Americans, the term radical was understood to mean foreigner, and they called for restrictions on immigration.
The anti-Communist sentiment of the late 1910’s also reflected fears of the Communist uprisings that had recently taken place in Russia (see Russian Revolution of 1917 ). The revolution toppled Czar Nicholas II and eventually led to the establishment of a Communist government under V. I. Lenin . In 1919, two small, but outspoken, Communist political parties arose in the United States. Americans concerned about Communist influence in U.S. affairs pointed to the existence of these groups as proof that their fears were justified. Their fears increased when, also in 1919, an international Communist meeting called for worldwide revolution . In the spring of 1919, anarchists sent a series of bombs to prominent businessmen and government officials, including U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Anarchists are people who seek to overthrow the government. Millions of Americans believed the revolution might soon reach their doorstep.
Targeting “un-American” radicals.
The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, passed during World War I, forbade speech that criticized the government or interfered with the war effort. These laws gave law enforcement agents new powers to act against people they saw as radicals. From November 1919 to January 1920, Attorney General Palmer coordinated raids to arrest and detain persons suspected of radicalism. Palmer and his supporters believed that a “red menace” threatened American democratic ideals. Agents raided headquarters of such labor groups as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and jailed suspected radicals with little regard for their constitutional rights. Civil liberties advocates accused Palmer’s agents of using illegal wiretaps, warrantless searches, and brutal interrogation methods. In January 1920, agents arrested more than 6,000 persons suspected of sympathies for Communism, socialism , pacifism , and anarchism. The arrests targeted suspected radicals in more than 30 cities, most of them in the Northeast. Several hundred suspected radicals were deported (forced to leave the country) as a result of the raids.
As vigilance (watchfulness) against radicalism grew, so, too, did broader anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. The Ku Klux Klan , which arose after the American Civil War (1861-1865) to terrorize African Americans exercising their voting rights, gained renewed popularity among white Protestants following World War I. Thousands of African American soldiers had returned from the war with expectations of equal rights. African Americans organized against Jim Crow segregation laws in the South and restrictive, race-based housing rules in the North. Violent race riots took place in dozens of cities. Many whites reacted angrily to the demonstrations and unrest, and Klan membership boomed. The Klan also opposed the advancement of any groups they considered un-American, including immigrants, Jews, and Roman Catholics. A number of influential political groups lobbied (urged lawmakers) to restrict immigration. In the early 1920’s, new laws limited the number of immigrants from any one country. The Immigration Act of 1924 restricted the number of immigrants from outside the Western Hemisphere. Provisions in the act severely limited immigration from southern and eastern Europe.
Not long after the so-called Palmer Raids, anti-Communist fever among the American public began to decline in its intensity. Many Americans came to believe that the threat of radical Communists had been greatly exaggerated. A number of prominent Americans spoke out against Palmer, calling his actions unconstitutional. In politics, the easygoing Republican presidential candidate Warren G. Harding appealed to scandal-scarred Americans with his campaign promise of a “Return to Normalcy.” In November 1920, Harding won an easy victory over Democrat James M. Cox .
The Cold War.
The term Red Scare may also refer to a period in the mid-1900’s, during the Cold War, a period of deep hostility between the Communist countries—notably the Soviet Union and its allies—and such non-Communist nations as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his followers made numerous accusations—often with little or no evidence—against U.S. government officials or others they suspected to have Communist sympathies. See McCarthyism .
