1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Today's Classic is a request from listener Amy, 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: who asked us to replay it because of how applicable 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: it is to current events. This is our episode on 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: the Palmer Raids, which originally came out in twenty sixteen. 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: This is a two part episode, and we haven't been 6 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: rerunning two parters of Saturday Classics lately unless the original 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: episodes are so short, like from an earlier time when 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: our episodes tended to run a little shorter that they 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: could add up into one regular length episode today, but 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: that's not really the case with these, so we're running 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: the two parts on separate Saturdays. These episodes also each 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: have their own arc, so today's involves some historical context 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: and a series of bombings that were carried out in 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, and then next week, part two on Saturday 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: will cover the federal response to those bombings. So this 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: first part of the Palmer Raids originally came out December fifth, 17 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class 18 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 19 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. So after 20 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: World War One, the United States was in the midst 21 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: of a lot of social unrest. There were a lot 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: of financial issues facing the nation in the form of 23 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: inflation and unemployment and labor strikes. In nineteen seventeen, the 24 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: Bolshevik Revolution, which established the world's first communist nation, terrified Americans, 25 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: and after the war ended in November of nineteen eighteen, 26 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: there was a very pervasive fear, which came to be 27 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: known as the Red scare, that radicals in the United 28 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: States would try to stage a similar revolution. Additional, the 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: Spanish flu pandemic that had started in nineteen eighteen also 30 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: had people on edge. Additionally, there was a lot of 31 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: racism that was blowing up in the form of violence. 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: In short, the US was in this state of feeling 33 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: helpless and uncertain and uneasy all the time. And this 34 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: is kind of the setting of what we were talking 35 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: about today, which is the Palmer Raids. And this is 36 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: going to be a two part episode, and there are 37 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: a lot of moving parts to it, Like we're kind 38 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: of jumping around a little bit where we'll talk about 39 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: one thing for a moment, and then another thing for 40 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: a moment, and then another they're sort of in separate sections, 41 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: but they eventually all become part of this bigger picture. 42 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: And so the first thing that we're going to talk 43 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: about is actually the Sedition Act of nineteen eighteen. On 44 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: May sixteenth, nineteen eighteen, the Sedition Act was passed by 45 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: the US Congress, and this act expanded on the previously 46 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: existing Espionage Act of nineteen seventeen. The Espionage Act had 47 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: made a crime to traffic and information with the intention 48 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: that that sharing would harm the United States and the 49 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,920 Speaker 1: war effort, or assist any enemies of the United States, 50 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: and the Sedition Act was both more expansive and more focused. 51 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: Anti war activists, pacifists, and socialists were all targeted in 52 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: its wording, and under the Sedition Act, it became illegal 53 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: to make false statements that interfered with the war effort. 54 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: It was illegal to insult or in any way abuse 55 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: the US government or its representative, flag, military, or the Constitution. 56 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: Agitating against the production of war materials was also covered, 57 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: as well as teaching or defending any of the actions 58 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: that were made illegal in the language of the Act. 59 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: The punishments outlined in the Sedition Act were the same 60 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: as those described in the Espionage Act. If anyone was 61 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: found guilty of the crimes described, they could be fined 62 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: up to ten thousand dollars jailed for twenty years, and 63 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: both of these punishments could be sentenced at the same time. 64 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: So keep the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act in mind. 65 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: But next we are going to hop to a different thing, 66 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: and we are going to talk briefly about a postal clerk. 67 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: And that man was named Charles Kaplan, and he was 68 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 1: a postal clerk working in New York City's main post 69 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: office in nineteen nineteen. And on April twenty seventh of 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, over the course of his normal work, he 71 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: encountered sixteen small parcels, and they were all virtually identical, 72 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: both visually and in the fact that they all had 73 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: insufficient postage. And Kaplan set these parcels aside to be 74 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: returned to the sender at the return address on the package, 75 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: which was an address that was Gimbal Brothers, thirty second 76 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: Street in Broadway, New York City, and they were marked 77 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: novelty samples. A few days later, while riding the train 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: home from work in the wee hours of April thirtieth 79 00:04:59,839 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: nightnineteen nineteen, Caplan read the paper and one of the 80 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,720 Speaker 1: stories he read detailed a small parcel, and the description 81 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: of this parcel was almost identical to these he had 82 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: set aside. On the twenty seventh, this parcel was delivered 83 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: to former US Senator Thomas Hardwick in Atlanta, Georgia, and 84 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: when Hardwick's maid open the package, it exploded. Both the 85 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: maid and Hardwick had survived, although the maid had been 86 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: really injured by the blast and there was a lot 87 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: of property damage. Yeah, descriptions of her injuries very a 88 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: little bit. They're pretty brief. Some will say that her 89 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: hands were actually blown off, Others will say that they 90 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: were crippled in some way, but she was very, very injured. 91 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: Kaplan immediately exited the train. He jumped off at the 92 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: next stop, and he ran back to the post office 93 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: and those sixteen brown paper wrapped parcels that were in 94 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: the storeroom that he had set aside. The parcels, which 95 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: indeed matched the description that Kaplan had just read in 96 00:05:57,279 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: the paper, had not moved on to their next step 97 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: in the of being returned, so Caplan notified Postal Inspector W. E. Cochran, 98 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: and the authorities were immediately called. The New York City 99 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: Bureau of Combustibles, which is sort of a fabulous name 100 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: and no longer exists in that particular nomenclature, opened some 101 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: of the parcels along with Cochrane because he was extremely 102 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: good at this. Apparently, upon examination by the Combustibles Bureau, 103 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: these parcels were deemed infernal machines, another kind of great 104 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: name for something really terrible they were. Today they would 105 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: be labeled as incendiary devices. They were addressed to J. P. 106 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: Morgan Junior, John D. Rockefeller, Mayor John F. Hyland, Police 107 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: Commissioner Richard Enwright, and a number of other well known businessmen, 108 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: politician and judges. So Caplan had unwittingly discovered a serial bombing. 109 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: So after receiving all of this information, Postmaster General Albert 110 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: Burlison's out an alert to all postal offices describing these 111 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: bomb parcels with instructions to be on the lookout for 112 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: similar packages. The next day, one turned up in Salisbury, 113 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: North Carolina, addressed to State Senator Lee Slater Overman. Additional 114 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: parcels that all were identical, were identified in Nebraska and Utah. 115 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: In total, three dozen mail bombs were eventually found and identified. 116 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: When the bombs are taken apart. They were all identical 117 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: in construction, and experts were unable to find a single 118 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: fingerprint on any of the components. Manufacturers of the type 119 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: of paper that was used to wrap the boxes shared 120 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: a list of all the dealers who had been sold 121 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: that type of paper in the preceding twelve months, and 122 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: the government authorities followed up on all of those leads 123 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: in an effort to identify who ultimately bought the paper 124 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: from the dealers, and it was determined as well that 125 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: an Oliver brand typewriter with a misaligned lowercase W key 126 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: and a defective lowercase K key was used to type 127 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: the address labels on the boxes. The labels with the 128 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: Novelty samples Gimbal Brothers Return Address were determined to be 129 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: forgeries and not the actual stationery of that company. The 130 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: investigation next led to a house on West forty fifth Street, 131 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: where a number of other explosives were cached, but what 132 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: wasn't clear was who was collecting all this material, Although 133 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: investigations continued. We'll talk more about the mail bombs and 134 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: they're coverage in the press in just a moment, but 135 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: first we are going to pause for a word from 136 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: a sponsor. The discovery of those bomb parcels, which came 137 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: to be known as the May Day bomb plot, led 138 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: to a panic. A front page story in the New 139 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: York Times on May fourth read quote, there are more 140 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: than two thousand radical agitators in New York City who 141 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: have been preaching bullism and the overthrow of the United 142 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: States government, and every one of these persons is now 143 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: under investigation by federal and local authorities. According to that 144 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: same news article, more than seventy five percent of those 145 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: two thousand people were quote, citizens or subjects of foreign nations. 146 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: Many were expected to be deported with the process described 147 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: in the following manner. Quote. It is generally understood that 148 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: a large number of them are now being considered for 149 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: deportation as persons whose presence in this country is undesirable. 150 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: All persons recommended for deportation have to be passed upon 151 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: by the Attorney General and Secretary of Labor in Washington 152 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: before the recommendation can be carried into effect. An official 153 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: from the Department of Justice gave statements to the press 154 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,839 Speaker 1: that it was believed that Bolshevik and Industrial Workers in 155 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:55,079 Speaker 1: the World IWW papers were not only circulating in abundance 156 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: in the United States, but that the Bolshevik movement in 157 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: North America was being funded directly from the Lenin Trotsky government. 158 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: The IWW for Information was and still is a labor 159 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: union that was founded in nineteen oh six in Chicago, 160 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: and the IWW was believed by the Department of Justice 161 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: to have a large reserve fund of its own to 162 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: promote an agenda of government sabotage. This brings us around 163 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: to the Attorney General at the time, Attorney General Alexander 164 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 1: Mitchell Palmer or A. Mitchell Palmer, and He was born 165 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: on May fourth, eighteen seventy two in Moosehead, Pennsylvania. He 166 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 1: grew up a Quaker, first attending public schools and then 167 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: Moravian Parochial School before moving on to Swathmore College in Pennsylvania. 168 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: He graduated summa cum laude in eighteen ninety one and 169 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: went on to study law at Lafayette College and George 170 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: Washington University. Although he didn't finish his law degree, he 171 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: did pass the bar exam in Pennsylvania and started his 172 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: law career in eighteen ninety three in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Early 173 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: on in his professional career, he also became involved in politics. 174 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: Palmer was elected to the US House of Representatives in 175 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: nineteen oh five, and he held that role for a 176 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: number of years. His last reelection bid that he won 177 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: was nineteen twelve, and during that period that he served 178 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: as a representative, he was instrumental as a steady supporter 179 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: and campaigner in securing the nineteen twelve Democratic presidential nomination 180 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: for Woodrow Wilson. Once Wilson was in office, Palmer made 181 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: the move to run for a seat in the Senate 182 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen, but he lost the election. Although he 183 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: lost that race, he was soon given a different sort 184 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,959 Speaker 1: of promotion by appointment, because Woodrow Wilson appointed him to 185 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: the US Court of Claims as a judge. But only 186 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: a few months into that appointment, Palmer changed his mind 187 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: about the job and decided that instead he wanted to 188 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: go back into private law practice. Later, Woodrow Wilson offered 189 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: him another position, that of Secretary of War, but Palmer 190 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: turned it down, citing his Quaker beliefs is the reason 191 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,679 Speaker 1: that he could not take that job. Since the United 192 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 1: States entered World War One, Palmer was named Alien Property 193 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: Custodian by President Wilson and he did take that job. 194 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: That office was established on October twelfth, nineteen seventeen, under 195 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act to assume 196 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: control and dispose of enemy owned property in the United 197 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: States and its possessions. So President Wilson ultimately put Palmer 198 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,199 Speaker 1: into an even higher position in nineteen nineteen when he 199 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: named him Attorney General of the United States, and Palmer 200 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: started that job on March fifth of nineteen nineteen. And 201 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: initially there was criticism from Republicans that Palmer wasn't aggressive 202 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,439 Speaker 1: enough in pursuing subversives who might wish to take down 203 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: the US government, But Palmer, eager to gain favor as 204 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: he had plans for a presidential bid, would eventually earn 205 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: the nickname the Fighting Quaker for the fervor with which 206 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: he carried out his duties. On the night of June second, 207 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, just a few months into Palmer's time as 208 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: a turney in General, a man named Carlo Valdinocci approached 209 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: Attorney General Palmer's Washington, d c. Home. He had a 210 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,679 Speaker 1: parcel with him, and the parcel contained a bomb. Palmer 211 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: himself had gone upstairs to retire for the evening about 212 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes earlier, but Valdenochi's in sundiary device went off 213 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,560 Speaker 1: while he was carrying it, and the front and a 214 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: significant portion of the bottom level of Palmer's home was damaged. 215 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: This also killed Valdinocci. Yeah, Palmer had been in office 216 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: during that made a plot uncovery, but people thought he 217 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:38,319 Speaker 1: was not very strong about it about following up on it. However, 218 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: this suddenly came to his own door and things changed significantly. 219 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: That bomb had been quite powerful, so it had, in 220 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:46,839 Speaker 1: addition to blowing up the bottom floor of his house, 221 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: it had blown out the windows of the home across 222 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: the street as well, which was where Franklin and Eleanor 223 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: Roosevelt were living at the time. And it was Roosevelt 224 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: who had run across the street to offer assistance and 225 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 1: Palmer who had run downstairs who found the remains of 226 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: Valdanocci's body and anarchist literature that he had been carrying, 227 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: which led to the conclusion that this had been a 228 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: terrorist plot gone wrong. Also, this bomb at Palmer's home 229 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 1: was not an isolated incident. In the ninety minutes that 230 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: followed Valdinoci's explosions. Seven other bombs exploded in New York, Pittsburgh, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, 231 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: and Patterson, New Jersey, and among the targets were three judges, 232 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: a mayor, a state legislator, legislator, a Catholic priest, and 233 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: a prominent police officer, along with two businessmen. The coordinated 234 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: bombings had resulted in the death of a night watchman 235 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: named William Bayner in New York, although he had not 236 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: been one of the targets. Yeah, none of the actual 237 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 1: targets were killed in those bombings. There are also some 238 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: accounts that suggest there were some other bystanders that were injured, 239 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: and some will even say they were killed, but I 240 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: couldn't verify any of those. The night watchmen is the 241 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: only one that consistently comes up over and over. So 242 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: along with each bomb that had been delivered, there were 243 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: also several copies of flyers with the title Plain Words, 244 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: and I'm going to read part of it. It's quite long, 245 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: but I'm taking excerpts, and it reads, the powers that 246 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: be make no secret of their will to stop here 247 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: in America the worldwide spread of revolution. The powers that 248 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: be must reckon that they will have to accept the 249 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: fight that they have provoked. Do not expect us to 250 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: sit down and pray and cry. We accept your challenge 251 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: and mean to stick to our war duties. We know 252 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: that all you do is for your defense as a class. 253 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: We know also that the proletariat has the same right 254 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: to protect itself. Since their press has been suffocated, their 255 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: mouths muzzled, we mean to speak for them the voice 256 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: of dynamite through the mouth of guns. Do not say 257 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: that we are acting cowardly because we keep hiding. Do 258 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: not say it is abominable. It is war, class war, 259 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: and you were the first to wage it under cover 260 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: of the powerful institutions you call order, in the darkness 261 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: of your laws, behind the guns of your boneheaded slave. 262 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: Our mutual position is pretty clear. What has been done 263 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: by us so far is only a warning that there 264 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: are friends of popular liberties still living. Only now are 265 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: we getting into the fight, and you will have a 266 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: chance to see what liberty loving people can do. Do 267 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: not seek to believe that we are the Germans or 268 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: the devil's paid agents. You know well we are class 269 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: conscious men with strong determination and no vulgar liability. And 270 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: never hope that your cops and your hounds will ever 271 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: succeed in ridding the country of the anarchistic germ that 272 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: pulses in our veins. We know how we stand with 273 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: you and how to take care of ourselves. Besides, you 274 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: will never get all of us, and we multiply nowadays. 275 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: Just wait and resign to your fate, since privilege and 276 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: riches have turned your heads. Long live social revolution, Down 277 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: with tyranny, and it is Sun the anarchist fighters. So 278 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: next up we will detail the bombs in the second 279 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 1: attack as compared to those from the earlier incidents we 280 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: talked about, you know, tying those together. And before we do, 281 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: we will take a quick break to talk about one 282 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: of our fantastic sponsors. The June bombs were significantly more 283 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: powerful than the bombs that had been discovered in the 284 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: late Spring. They contained approximately twenty five pounds that's eleven 285 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: point three kilograms of dynamite wrapped in a package, each 286 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 1: of them with metal slugs to create destructive shrapnel. As 287 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: you may recall, one of those springtime bombs maimed but 288 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: did not kill the woman who opened it, whereas this 289 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: bomb that went off while Valdenocci was carrying it killed him. 290 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,479 Speaker 1: Presumably instantly blew out a significant amount of the building 291 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: he was in front of and caused minor damage to 292 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 1: other structures on that same street, so a significant increase 293 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: in power. The pink flyers and the plain words writing 294 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: were traced to a print shop run by two men, 295 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: typesetter Andrea Salcedo and compositor Roberto Alia. Both men were 296 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: followers of an anarchist named Luigi Galliani and Carlo Valdanocci. 297 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,159 Speaker 1: The man who had his bomb go off as he 298 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: approached Palmer's residence, had been an editor of one of 299 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: Galliani's publications, which advocated the use of violence to affect change. 300 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: One of the addresses in the Mayday bomb plot had 301 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: been Raimi Weston Finch, who was an FBI agent who 302 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: had been investigating Galliani and his followers. So at this 303 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: point Galliani was heavily implicated in these bombings. For an 304 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: incredibly brief overview, just to try to contextualize this connection 305 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: to Luigi Galliani's tempestuous life, he was from Vircelli, Italy, 306 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,399 Speaker 1: and studied law at the University of Turin. During his 307 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: time in school, he became increasingly in politics, and eventually 308 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,959 Speaker 1: his anarchist beliefs made him a wanted man in Italy, 309 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: so he fled his home country in eighteen eighty before 310 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: he was able to finish his degree. He ended up 311 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: living in France on and off for the next twenty years. 312 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: He then moved briefly to Switzerland but was deported. He 313 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,360 Speaker 1: once again went to France, but then was deported back 314 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: to Italy and was ultimately imprisoned. After an escape from 315 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:29,159 Speaker 1: confinement on the island pantell Pentelliera, which I may or 316 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: may not be butchering, he went to England and then 317 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,479 Speaker 1: he emigrated from there to the United States, and he 318 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: lived in Patterson, New Jersey, and until an indictment for 319 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: inciting a riot when he tried to flee to Canada, 320 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: but he was refused entry. Allegedly he was literally just 321 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: pushed back across the border. He found a group of 322 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: like minded people eventually in Vermont, and from there he 323 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: began publishing an anarchist periodical in nineteen oh three, which 324 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: ran for fifteen years from various locations before the US 325 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 1: government shut it down. You have probably as a listener, 326 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: heard of the more well known anarchists Sacho and Vanzetti, 327 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: Galiani and his circle had ties to them, as well 328 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: as for the men who had made the flyers. Salsado 329 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: jumped or fell from the window of his cell in 330 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: the DJ's building on Park Row in New York. He 331 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:20,919 Speaker 1: had been held there secretly for eight weeks, and there 332 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: were rumors that he died by suicide. To keep himself 333 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: from giving up names of collaborators, Alio was offered a 334 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: deal where his deportation would be canceled if you testified 335 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: about the anarchists and their organization, but he refused, so 336 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: two days after Salsado's death, Ali was given up to 337 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,719 Speaker 1: the Department of Labor and moved to Ellis Island. The 338 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: Department of Justice contended that the men had both turned 339 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,439 Speaker 1: state's evidence and then had been held secretly for their 340 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:53,760 Speaker 1: own protection. The investigation into this second set of bombings 341 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: was led by Todd Daniel, who was a special Agent 342 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: of the FBI, as well as the acting head of 343 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: the FBI, William Flynn. Flynn, who had been Chief of 344 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: the Secret Service, was lauded by Attorney General Palmer as 345 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,719 Speaker 1: quote the leading organizing detective in America. Flynn is an 346 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: anarchist chaser, the greatest anarchist expert in the United States, 347 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: but just days after the June second bombings, a number 348 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: of people were being tracked as suspects an active participation 349 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: in the attacks. Over the next several months, Palmer invoked 350 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,880 Speaker 1: both the Espionage Act of nineteen seventeen and the Sedition 351 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen eighteen that we talked about at the 352 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: top of the show to assemble a special team led 353 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: by a lawyer from the Justice Department named Jay Edgar Hoover. 354 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: This team would go on to work closely with the 355 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: Immigration Bureau, both to investigate existing suspects and identify others. 356 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 1: Hoover and his team went after every possible scrap of 357 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,719 Speaker 1: intelligence they could find to identify persons that they felt 358 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: were the most likely to take violent action. So at 359 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: this point they were not just tracking who possibly participated 360 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: in this bombing act, but anyone that they thought might 361 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: one day think that doing something similar was a course 362 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: of action they would try so. When all of their 363 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: research was collected, Palmer was utterly convinced that there was 364 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,159 Speaker 1: a communist plot to overthrow the US government and that 365 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: there were tens of thousands of people in the US 366 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 1: working to that end, and he had compiled a list 367 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 1: of them that he was going to go after. In 368 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: the next episode, we will talk about the steps that 369 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,439 Speaker 1: Palmer and his team took to address this perceived communist threat, 370 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: But for now, this is where we are going to 371 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: leave the story. Yeah, so at this point, there's a 372 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: lot of fear that there are communists literally lurking everywhere 373 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: in your neighborhoods, trying to slowly overtake the entire US 374 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: way of life. Like these two bombing plots are legitimately 375 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,680 Speaker 1: casts for concern. To be very clear, we're not saying yes, 376 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: you know, we're not saying they shouldn't have investigated the 377 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: bomb plots. Obviously that was a big deal. But like 378 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: this took on a much much greater scope for sure. 379 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:12,360 Speaker 1: Like I said, it really did transition to I think 380 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: you might be shady onto the list you go. Yeah, 381 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,440 Speaker 1: there's there's an episode in the archive already about McCarthy 382 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: and the Red Scare and how that ties together. I 383 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,440 Speaker 1: feel like this this part is not as well known 384 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 1: as that. Like today, I feel like the McCarthy era 385 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: is a lot better known than the Palmer raids that 386 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about. Yeah, and part of that 387 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: is just a matter of documentation, Like there is a 388 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: lot of documentation on the Palmer Raids, but then the 389 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 1: McCarthy era stuff was later enough that there were more 390 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: forms of communication that were more common, so more people 391 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: knew about it instantly. Yeah, the Palmer Raids are one 392 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: of those points in history that does not often get 393 00:23:55,359 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: a lot of attention. Yes, thanks so much for joining 394 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 1: us on this Saturday. If you'd like to send us 395 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,640 Speaker 1: a note, our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, 396 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,920 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, 397 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.