Fundamentally, did the Palmer Raids occur with the consent of the people in US?

Answer 1

Hi Samuel,

The Palmer Raids were conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1919 and 1920 in an attempt to arrest foreign anarchists, communists, and radical leftists, many of whom were then deported. The raids were led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and are viewed as the climax of that era’s so-called Red Scare.The raids were fueled by social unrest following World War I, as there still was inflation, unemployment, labor strikes, and race riots. The country was still reeling, and despite the fact that the war had ended, things weren't calm yet, and everyone was on edge. Due to the recent Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the fact there there were two bomb plots to go off in 1919, it was greatly feared that the Russians were trying to overthrow the US and its democracy.

For Palmer, this was what made the most sense in order to snuff out any 'radicals'. When the federal authorities did raid the headquarters of the Union of Russian Workers in New York City and found a bomb factory on Nov. 25 1919, it's no surprise that other local agencies around the country began searching for other possible radicals as well. In this way, I do believe that Americans were occurring with the consent of many US citizens. It wasn't until these raids grew so rapidly that Palmer was arresting thousands of people at a time, often just for having a foreign accent, and that Americans were learning of how people were brutally treated that many Americans shifted their perspective and began questioning the constitutionality of such actions. From here, it was the National Civil Liberties Union that made it clear that people were being treated unfairly and Palmer lost all credibility, ending the raids.



Hope this is helpful! 

Answer 2

Attorney General A. Mitchel Palmer even deported anarchist Emma Goldman to Russia. She had never been to Russia. She was an American born citizen. That was illegal. But she at the time, admired Russia & Lenin, so she wasn't that upset at going, Palmer waived good bye to her as she boarded the Russia bound ship. Sometimes our laws seem to be more suggestions than something effectively enforced. Goldman did support the anarchist who killed McKinley.

Anarchists were engaged in acts of violence, such as assassinating President McKinley and an attempted assassination of Wilson's vice president. The Palmer raids were a reaction to the violence, anarchists and communist activities. A major portion of the US people probably supported the raids. Many workers, labor groups, civil rights groups, legal groups and more left wing anti-corporation types probably opposed the raids

the Palmer raids were initially approved by the public, scared by the Russian Revolution. It was the "First Red Scare." Palmer worked for President Wilson, during WW1. It seemed to be part of the general crackdown on dissent to the war, criminalizing political dissent, such as imprisoning Eugene Debs. As the disillusionment over the war set it, so did public disenchantment with the Palmer raids. Palmer remained active in Democrat Party politics and even tried to run for president, but Cox got the Democrat Party nomination instead. Harding's return to "normalcy" included releasing Debs and ending Palmer type raids and hysteria.