Shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,
the Red Scare took hold in the United States.
The nation was gripped in fear. Innocent civilians were jailed for expressing their views, civil liberties were ignored, and many Americans feared that a Bolshevik-style revolution was close at hand.
The two main Union and Socialist groups that stood out at the time were the International Workers of the World, which was led by "Big" Bill Haywood, and the Socialist party that was led by Eugene Debs. Both groups were in the minds of many Americans very unpatriotic.
This led them open to attack and any activity that was associated with them was seen as suspicious.
On September 9th, the Boston police force went on strike. A panic that "Reds" were behind a strike took over Boston despite the lack of any radicalism on the part of the striking police officers. Although the city experienced primarily looting and vandalism, newspapers around the country were huge into writing yellow journalism headlines for these policemen. Stories told of massive riots, reigns of terror, and federal troops firing machine guns on a mob.
This was all untrue, people were just filled with so much terror from the red scare that they had no more common sence.
On September 13, Police Commissioner Curtis announced
that the striking policemen would not be allowed to return and that the city would hire a new police force. This effectively ended the strike.
Then, in the early 1920s, the fear seemed to dissipate just as quickly as it had begun, and the Red Scare was over.
The nations mood however, began to shift back to normal in the spring of 1920. In May twelve prominent attorneys issued a report detailing the Justice Department's violations of civil liberties.
The Red Scare quickly ran its course and, by the summer of 1920, it was largely over.
Citations
Burnett, Paul. "The Red Scare." UMKC School of Law. Web. 03 May 2011.
Shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,
the Red Scare took hold in the United States.
The two main Union and Socialist groups that stood out at the time were the International Workers of the World, which was led by "Big" Bill Haywood, and the Socialist party that was led by Eugene Debs. Both groups were in the minds of many Americans very unpatriotic.
This led them open to attack and any activity that was associated with them was seen as suspicious.
On September 9th, the Boston police force went on strike. A panic that "Reds" were behind a strike took over Boston despite the lack of any radicalism on the part of the striking police officers. Although the city experienced primarily looting and vandalism, newspapers around the country were huge into writing yellow journalism headlines for these policemen. Stories told of massive riots, reigns of terror, and federal troops firing machine guns on a mob.
This was all untrue, people were just filled with so much terror from the red scare that they had no more common sence.
On September 13, Police Commissioner Curtis announced
that the striking policemen would not be allowed to return and that the city would hire a new police force. This effectively ended the strike.
Then, in the early 1920s, the fear seemed to dissipate just as quickly as it had begun, and the Red Scare was over.
The nations mood however, began to shift back to normal in the spring of 1920. In May twelve prominent attorneys issued a report detailing the Justice Department's violations of civil liberties.
The Red Scare quickly ran its course and, by the summer of 1920, it was largely over.
Citations
Burnett, Paul. "The Red Scare." UMKC School of Law. Web. 03 May 2011.
<http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/saccov/redscare.html>.
Wikipedia. "Red Scare." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 29 Apr. 2011. Web. 03 May 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare>.
JOHNFITZAMH2020. "YouTube - First Red Scare." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 29 Feb. 2008. Web. 03 May 2011.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zywzzl9AiU>.