Palmer Raids Primary Sources 1
Palmer Raids Primary Sources 1
Palmer Raids Primary Sources 1
In 1917, Russia became a communist country. Also, right after WWI, the country
experienced high inflation, high unemployment, and a number of labor strikes.
Against this backdrop, the United States began arresting and deporting anyone
suspected of radical thinking (e.g., communism, socialism, anarchism, pro-
labor). These arrests became known as the Palmer Raids after the Attorney
General of the United States, A. Mitchell Palmer.
Vocabulary
Aliens: Foreigners
Usurp: take over
Distort: Twist out of shape
Source: Excerpt from an essay written by A. Mitchell Palmer called "The Case
Against the Reds,' 1920.
The free expression of the hopes of a people is the greatest and only
safety in a sane society. The object of the deportations and of the
anti-anarchist law is to stifle the voice of the people, to muzzle every
aspiration of labor. That is the real and terrible menace of these
proceedings. Their goal is to exile and banish every one who does
not agree with the lies that our leaders of industry continue to spread.
Emma Goldman
New York, October 27, 1919
Vocabulary
Banish= Exile= Deported= Kicked out of the country
Aspiration: hope or ambition
Menace: danger, threat
Source: Excerpt from the statement Emma Goldman gave at her deportation
hearings. Goldman was an anarchist and socialist who sympathized with the
working poor. She was deported during the Palmer Raids.