Topic > History of the Emergence of the Red Scare in the United States

The emergence of a communist government after the Russian Revolution in November 1917 introduced a communist threat to the United States, which increased in 1919 when the Soviet Union established the International Communist, whose aim is to inspire revolution and spread communism. The fear intensified when a series of bombings occurred in the spring of 1919 that included bombings in cities and explosive packages delivered to businessmen and politicians. The American Communist Party, formed in 1919, and other radical groups were allegedly responsible for the bombings. During the height of the Red Scare in 1919 and 1920, there was paranoia about a communist revolution in the United States and the government took measures that suppressed civil liberties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay During the Red Scare, the government and people of the United States began to view any form of instability or protest as a sign of radical threat. One of the events that started the Red Scare was a series of bombings in 1919. A report from The Morning Tulsa world newspaper shows bombings occurred in eight cities around the same time (D). This event suggested a national conspiracy, and people had imagined that there were large numbers of radicals in the United States, but in reality there were only a modest number of true radicals. Anti-radical newspapers described union activism and strikes as the working class seeking to overthrow capitalism in the United States. For example, the 1919 steel strike was depicted in a New York World cartoon that showed a striker holding a flag labeled “Red” symbolizing communism (A). In another cartoon from the New York Evening Telegram, labor activism is shown creating unrest and riots that will lead to Bolshevism, and Bolshevism will lead society into chaos (B). The large number of immigrant workers justified their views only because immigrants were seen as those who supported communism. The Red Scare also led the government to enact laws that suppressed civil liberties. Many states had enacted peacetime sedition laws that restricted free speech and imposed harsh penalties on people who promoted communism. One such law in Kansas prohibited carrying and displaying “any red flag, banner, or banner distinctive of Bolshevism, anarchy, or radical socialism” (C). In a speech, Jane Addams, a prominent social activist, expresses her dissent about how "hundreds of poor working men and women" were being arrested for demanding the "right to freedom of speech and thought" (F). The US government has also carried out injustices by arresting and convicting people. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer orchestrated a series of raids against alleged radical centers known as the Palmer Raids. A report in the Ogden Standard reports that more than 200 people were arrested in one night and all would be deported (E). More than 6,000 people were arrested during the raids, although most were later released. During Palmer's raids it was also intended to discover a large number of weapons and explosives, but only three guns and no dynamite were found. Palmer's raids violated people's personal privacy and made false arrests based on suspected radicalism. Fear of communism had also led to two people being unjustly tried and sentenced to death in the Sacco and Vanzetti case. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and self-confessed anarchists accused of murder. The evidence against them was.