2nd Palmer Raids Begin (1920)

Fri Jan 02, 1920

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On this day in 1920, the Department of Justice launched a series of attacks against leftists and labor organizers across more than 23 states, arresting more than 3,000. President Hoover later admitted that there were “clear cases of brutality”.

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 during the First Red Scare by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. The raids targeted suspected leftists and labor activists, mostly Italian and Eastern European immigrants, especially if they were anarchists or communists, and generally sought to deport them from the United States.

The arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with more than 3,000 arrested. Though 556 people were deported, including prominent anti-capitalist thinkers like Emma Goldman, Palmer’s efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor, which had authority for deportations and objected to DOJ methods.

Although the DOJ initially claimed to have taken possession of several bombs, no evidence of the bombs was produced. In their entirety, all of the raids confiscated just four pistols.