U.S.

History
Period 3
1/21/15

Red Scare

Amy T.
Bernie N.
Arijhan Y.

Attorney General Mitchell

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Who is this?

Mitchell Palmer was born May 4th, 1872. In the early year of 1901 he started a private law practice. A few years
later in 1908 he was elected U.S congressman. He did this duty for a number of years. In the year 1919 he was
awarded placement of attorney general and started the Palmer Raids.

What are the Palmer Raids?

In the 20th century there were many people immigrating from different places and coming to America. This
created a clash of different feelings throughout citizens. America then started to see a rise in discrimination. One
of the most persecuted groups were the anarchists. Anarchists were seen as violent outsiders that wanted to
overthrow government. People in America began to be frightened of foreigners and grow a hatred for anarchists.
In the Palmer Raids many radicals were jailed or even deported back to their countries on insane charges.
These raids took place in the year 1919 and 1920. Palmer sought all radicals living in the US and arrested and
deported them. A number of the citizens published were anarchists but a large amount were just regular citizens
that were part of immigration organizations. It was an unjust way to purge out immigrants.

Zacco & Vanzetti trial

What is this trial?
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There were many trials in the 20th century that caused excitement. One of the first that caught widespread
attention was the case against Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. These two men were accused of a double
murder. A paymaster and a payroll guard were shot to death on April 15, 1920. The two victims had over 15,000
dollars in their possession at the time of the murder. A few weeks later Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested for the
crime. There was a great amount of controversy over this trial because it was said that the evidence against them
wasn't substantial. People believed they were being prosecuted for having an Italian immigrant background.
This was believed because during this time law officials had it in for radicals and Sacco and Vanzetti were big
supporters in the radical party. Police got a bogus link to Saccos gun and the double murder. The statement was
overstated said the defense. There had also been a number of robberies by gangs during this time. In 1921 the
two men were convicted in a trial that was purely based on stereotypes and prejudice views. In 1927 Sacco and
Vanzetti were electrocuted.

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Labor Unrest
Boston Police
strike

In the Boston Police Strike, Boston police officers went on strike on

September 9, 1919. They sought recognition for their trade union and
improvements in wages and working conditions. Police
Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis denied that police officers had
any right to form a union, much less one affiliated with a larger
organization like the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Attempts at
reconciliation between the Commissioner and the police officers,
particularly on the part of Boston's Mayor Andrew James Peters,
failed.

Labor Unrest

Samuel Gompers of the AFL recognized that the strike was damaging
the cause of labor in the public mind and advised the strikers to
return to work. The Commissioner Curtis refused to rehire the
striking policemen. He was supported by Massachusetts Governor
Calvin Coolidge, whose rebuke of Gompers earned him a national
reputation. The strike proved a setback for labor, and the AFL
discontinued its attempts to organize police officers for another two
decades. Coolidge won the Republican nomination for vice-president
of the U.S. in the 1920 presidential election.

Labor Unrest
Steel Mill Strike
In 1892, the AA had lost a bitter strike at the Carnegie Steel Company steel mill in
Homestead, Pennsylvania. The Homestead Strike, which culminated with a day-long
gun battle on July 6 that left 12 dead and dozens wounded, led to a wave of deunionization. From a high of more than 24,000 members in 1892, union membership
had sunk to less than 8,000 by 1900.
The union attempted to organize workers in the tin industry, but a sudden wave of
industry consolidations left the union facing the gigantic U.S. Steel corporation. In
the U.S. Steel Recognition Strike of 1901, the union struck the fledgling company and
won nearly all its demands. But the union's executive board wanted more and
rejected the pact. U.S. Steel was able to muster its resources and break the strike.By
the end of World War I, the AA was a shell of its former self

Labor Unrest
Coal Miners
Strike

John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 June 11, 1969) was
an American leader of organized labor who served as president
of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to
1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the
driving force behind the founding of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which established
the United Steelworkers of America and helped organize
millions of other industrial workers in the 1930s. After resigning
as head of the CIO in 1941, he took the Mine Workers out of the
CIO in 1942 and in 1944 took the union into the
American Federation of Labor (AFL).

1925 KKK March in Washington

-What was the march for?
In August of 1925, over 60 thousand KKK members marched in Washington DC. This event was established by the
second wave of the Klu Klux Klan. In the 1920s the second generation of KKK members arose. They changed their
hatred from being just towards African Americans and included Jews, Catholics, and foreigners. They sided with people
that were uncomfortable with the new way of America. The march was a way to dominate politics and make a
statement that the new immigration laws were unwanted by them. They also wanted a way to recruit a greater number
of supporters. The march succeeded in catching attention of people in America. When the people of America saw how
many were marching they became frightened. The main reason the KKK marched was to show citizens that their
population was forever getting larger and larger. There was much controversy over Washington letting them march.
Since other politically charged groups were allowed to march, they had to be fair.