«The Palmer raids» – reaction to «The Red Scare» and Edgar Hoover’s role in the actions of the U.S. Department of Justice

Abstract

The paper is devoted to reaction of the U.S. Department of Justice to the October revolution of 1917 in Russia and the process which received the name The Red Scare in the historiography. The basic changes which happened in Russia, the ideas of radical social justice, the dictatorship of the proletariat and the world revolution during the last stages of the World War I led to an extremely negative perception of the Bolshevik party and its policy in the USA. The general unfriendly spirit was warmed up by various publications accusing V.I. Lenin and his colleagues of communications with Germany (well-known Sissons documents) as well as by various publications in the press. At the same time, the revolution in Russia became an ideological beacon for anarchists and socialists worldwide including America. A special activity was shown by the galleanists organization (followers of the revolutionary and the ideologist of anarchism Luigi Galleani). From April to June 1919 they organized a series of explosions as well as attempts on the life of prominent politicians, businessmen and even the staff of intelligence agencies of the USA. In response to it the Attorney-General Alexander Mitchell Palmer initiated a series of military actions directed against all left-wing parties and groups in the country. The Bureau of investigations became the main body that was occupied in these actions. The paper analyzes the raids that were carried out by BI, their features and effects as well as the career of John Edgar Hoover, who was Palmers personal assistant at that time and later became a director of FBI.