Term paper on The Red Scare

The Red Scare (1919–1920)
RESOURCE GUIDE

Fear of radicalism swept across the nation after World War I, largely as the result of the Bolshevik triumph in Russia and the threat of its spread. This fear heightened existing domestic tensions. In 1919, more than 4,000 labor strikes occurred, including a Seattle general strike and a Boston policemen’s strike. Bombs were mailed to prominent figures, and an explosion killed thirty-eight persons on Wall Street. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, whose front porch was bombed, moved to suppress radicalism, arresting 6,000 suspected radicals and ultimately having 556 deported. The Red Scare subsided in mid-1920 after a purported mass uprising of radicals failed to materialize.

Suggestions for Term Papers

1. How real was the threat of bolshevism to the United States ?

2. Were the Boston police justified in striking?

3. Analyze the effect of the Red Scare on American civil liberties.

4. Discuss the long-range consequences of the Red Scare.

5. Should the radicals have been deported?

Suggested Sources : See entries 21 and 58 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

Dictionary of 20th Century History . David M. Brownstone and Irene M. Franck. Paramus , NJ : Prentice-Hall, 1990. Brief historical overview of some 7,500 topics, several related to the Red Scare.

Great Events: The Twentieth Century . Pasadena , CA : Salem , 1992. 10 vols. Large-scale reference set with convenient coverage of nearly 475 important events, some related to the Red Scare. Contains background information, description, and outcomes or consequences.

GENERAL SOURCES

Baker, Nancy V. Conflicting Loyalties: Law and Politics in the Attorney General’s Office, 1789–1990 . Lawrence : University Press of Kansas , 1992. Examines the role of the attorney general in presidential politics. A. Mitchell Palmer is seen as an overly zealous advocate. Good narrative and exposition.

Buhle, Paul. Marxism in the United States : Remapping the History of the American Left . London : Verso/Methuen, 1987. Good general overview of the rise of working-class radicalism in the United States and the obstacles it faced.

Friedman, Lawrence M. Crime and Punishment in American History . New York : Basic Books, 1993. Comprehensive historical treatment of criminal law and justice in the United States , with a good description of the Red Scare.

Jensen, Joan M. Army Surveillance in America , 1775–1980 . New Haven , CT : Yale University Press, 1991. Clearly written history of a little-covered topic. Excellent chapters on the use of the military against organized labor, including the period of the Red Scare.

Klehr, Harvey, and John E. Haynes. The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself . New York : Twayne, 1992. Concise and comprehensive coverage of the communist movement with a good analysis of its beginnings during the period of the Red Scare through its current state.

Morrison, Wilbur H. Twentieth-Century Wars: Their Causes and Their Effects on American Life . New York : Hippocrene, 1993. Narrative description of effects of wars on American life at home both during and after their conduct. Examines and analyzes World War I and the second Red Scare following World War II.

Murphy, Paul L. World War I and the Origin of Civil Liberties in the United States . New York : Norton, 1979. Excellent analysis of the role of wartime policies in developing the concept of civil liberties.

Parrish, Michael E. Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941 . New York : Norton, 1992. Interpretive overview from a liberal perspective, with brief treatments of personalities and events.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Kohn, Stephen M. American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts . Westport , CT : Praeger, 1994. Treatment of protesters and conscientious objectors, 1914–1918.

Murray , Robert K. Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919–1920 . (1955). Reprint. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1980. A modern classic.

Polenberg, Richard. Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech . New York : Viking, 1987. Detailed and carefully crafted examination of this 1919 case involving five anarchist defendants and their denial of civil liberties during the Red Scare period.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Carlson, Peter. Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood . New York : Norton, 1983. Biography of America’s most radical labor union leader of the day and one of Attorney General Palmer’s prime targets.

Powers, Richard G. Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover . New York : Free Press, 1987. Complete story of Hoover ‘s career, beginning with the period of the Red Scare.

Shipman, Charles. It Had to Be Revolution: Memoirs of an American Radical . Ithaca , NY : Cornell University Press, 1993. Good reading and provocative account of the progression of circumstances in the life and activity of an ex-communist.

PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Williams, David. ‘‘The Bureau of Investigation and Its Critics, 1919–1921: The Origins of Federal Political Surveillance.” Journal of American History 68:560–579 (1981). Role of the newly created FBI.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

The Great War . Wynewood , PA : Schlessinger Media/Library Video. Videocassette. 35-minute treatment of the Red Scare and Palmer raids following the war. Volume 16 of the publisher’s twenty-volume set, United States History Video Collection.

WORLD WIDE WEB

MacLaury, Judson. ‘‘History of DOL, 1913–1988.” 1988. U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/programs/history/hs75menu.htm Short recognition of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the department. The first chapter covers the first eight years and briefly treats the Red Scare as one of the major problems following the war.