1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Today's Saturday Classic is the conclusion of last 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,039 Speaker 1: Saturday's episode on the Palmer Raids, which we are running 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: after getting a request from our listener Amy. Last week 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: part one covered some of the historical context, including a 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: series of bombings that took place in nineteen nineteen, and 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: today's episode is about the series of raids, arrests, incarcerations, 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: and deportations that followed those bombings. This originally came out 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: on December seventh, twenty sixteen. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome 10 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. 11 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: So in our last episode, we talked about the fear 12 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: and unrest that gripped the United States at the conclusion 13 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: of World War One. Armistice certainly did not put an 14 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: end to the stresses of financial problems and racial divide 15 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: and labor strikes that were happening throughout the country, and 16 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: there was a growing fear that a revolution incited by 17 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: foreign anarchists or communists was going to change America forever. 18 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: And after rising through the political ranks to become Attorney General, 19 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: and after a series of coordinated bomb attacks on prominent 20 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: US citizens. A. Mitchell Palmer made it his mission to 21 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: root out what he believed to be a revolutionary threat 22 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: to national security. So we highly recommend you listen to 23 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: part one of this two part episode before this one 24 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: so that you have a fuller context for the events 25 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,839 Speaker 1: that we're about to talk about. Because while there were 26 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: some legitimate concerning events that happened, this quickly spread and 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: became about one man's hunt to basically get rid of 28 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: as many immigrants as he could. Starting on November seventh, 29 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, two years after Russia's Bolshevik Revolution, locations in 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: twelve different sets danes and towns were raided by Palmer's 31 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: assembled forces in a coordinated effort. One of the rated 32 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,839 Speaker 1: locations was the Russian People's House at one thirty three 33 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: East fifteenth Street in New York, and this building housed 34 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: the office of the Federated Unions of Russian Workers, as 35 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: well as a cafeteria and classrooms. When the agents from 36 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,359 Speaker 1: the Department of Justice arrived, they had warrants for a 37 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: few suspects, but they launched a full scale attack on 38 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: the entire building and everyone in it. Furniture and property 39 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: were destroyed, and students from classrooms were violently herded into 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: stairwells and in many cases shoves so that they fell downstairs. 41 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: Several hundred people in total were beaten with quote blackjacks 42 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: and stair rails. Those same several hundred people were taken 43 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: to a nearby Department of Justice office and questioned. Only 44 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: an estimated one fifth of those initially taken into custody 45 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: were held. The rest were released, but many of them 46 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: were seriously injured. The treatment of the group at the 47 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: hands of the Department of Justice led to a protest 48 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden the following night, led by attorney 49 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: and activist Dudley Field Malone, and a letter was written 50 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,679 Speaker 1: to the Attorney General by the New York Bar Association 51 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: that demanded to know if the raid had indeed been 52 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: under the direction of the Department of Justice, and also 53 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: requested an investigation into the events. That letter was never 54 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: acknowledged by Palmer's office. The same night of that protest, 55 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: on November eighth, a group of men had gathered to 56 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: discuss purchasing a vehicle so that everyone in the community 57 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: to learn how to drive. That meeting in Bridgeport, Connecticut 58 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: was raided and sixty three arrests were made. Sixteen people 59 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: were released over the following two days, but after three 60 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: days of being held in cramped quarters at the local 61 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: police station with little to no food, the remaining forty 62 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: seven were moved to the Hartford Jail under the direction 63 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: of the Department of Justice, and while they were in 64 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: the heart for jail, there were additional arrests being made 65 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: and those individuals were added to the numbers, and people 66 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: who applied for visitation to the arrested men were also 67 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: often jailed until the Hertford group number ninety seven. They 68 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: were questioned, they were threatened with suffocation and hanging, and 69 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: they were beaten. The Department of Labor and the Department 70 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: of Justice worked in conjunction to file arrest warrants after 71 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,679 Speaker 1: the fact for all of the men that were held there. 72 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,919 Speaker 1: They were all kept alone in their cells with agents 73 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: of the Department of Justice as their only visitors. They 74 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: were allowed no reading materials. Many of the men had 75 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: no idea what they were even being held for, and 76 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 1: when they questioned that their jailers got no information. Most 77 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: had no idea if there was bail set for them, 78 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: and if there was how much it was. They were 79 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: given two to five minutes per day at a sink 80 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: outside of their cells to wash their face and hands, 81 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: and they were allowed five minutes of tubb time per 82 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: month to wash their bodies. Food was often insufficient and 83 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: also foul, and family and friends were not allowed any 84 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: contact with these men in the prison. Punishment in the 85 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: Heart for Jail took place in four identical rooms. Each 86 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: of them were fifty one inches by one hundred and 87 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: six inches that's about one point three meters by two 88 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: point seven meters in their floor size, and these rooms 89 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: were situated over a boiler room, and consequently they would 90 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: become unbearably hot. Men suspected of holding anarchist or communist 91 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: ideologies were put into such rooms for thirty six to 92 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: sixty hours at a time, with one glass of water 93 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: and one piece of bread given to them every twelve hours. 94 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: Most were unconscious when their time in a punishment room 95 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: had ended. According to a later investigation, only one person 96 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: in the five months that they were using these rooms 97 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: was actually able to walk back to his regular cell 98 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: without help. The situation in Hartford lasted, as we just mentioned, 99 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: for five months until April nineteen twenty. At that point 100 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: a lawyer finally managed to get into the jail and 101 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: the conditions were immediately deemed unacceptable, which we will talk 102 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: about more in a moment. In December, a number of 103 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: the detainees were deported to Russia by ship, which was 104 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: nicknamed the Red Arc and Soviet Arc in press reports. 105 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: Although this really was done rather quietly and quickly. It's 106 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: unclear if there was sufficient paperwork for all of the 107 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: people put on that boat. Yeah. Often with an event 108 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: as old as this one is, like, it is old 109 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: enough that typically I can find a lot of photos 110 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: that might be in the public domain, and it's recent 111 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: enough that there are a lot of photos. It's not 112 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: so old that there are no pictures, not a lot 113 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: of pictures of this. No. The response to these initial 114 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: raids had been largely positive. Emboldened by the November successes, 115 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: A Mitchel Palmer made even plans. On January second, nineteen twenty, 116 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: a second mass raid effort was launched, and approximately three 117 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: thousand people were arrested over the course of several days 118 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: in thirty different cities and towns. On the second, a 119 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: chief agent to the Department of Justice in Detroit named 120 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: Arthur L. Barkie received an order from Palmer to raid 121 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: the suspected headquarters of the Communist Party. Eight hundred men 122 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: were captured as they attended classes and dances in the building, 123 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: and then they were held for three to six days 124 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: in a corridor in the city's federal building in the dark. 125 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: The captive men had no beds, They slept on the floor. 126 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: All eight hundred of them had to wait in lines 127 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: for access to the one drinking fountain and one toilet available. 128 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: No food was given to them until family members started 129 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: showing up with provisions about twenty hours into their captivity. 130 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: They were not allowed to speak to family or legal counsel, 131 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: and enforcement eventually started moving them in groups to precinct 132 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: police stations with actual holding cells. Between one hundred thirty 133 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: and one hundred forty of these men were moved to 134 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: the police bullpen, which was intended for keeping people arrested 135 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: for petty crimes for a few hours at a time. 136 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: It was a cellar room with one window twenty four 137 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: by thirty feet that's seven point three by nine point 138 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: one meters in length and width, and those men, again 139 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty men 140 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: were held in that cramped space for a week with 141 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: no beds, relying primarily on food that was brought in 142 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: by relatives to survive. Tallies of the men estimated that 143 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: approximately three hundred and fifty of them were American citizens 144 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: or aliens who could prove that they were in no 145 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: way connected to any sort of radicalism. Of the eight 146 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: hundred men initially seized, there were eventually warrants issued for 147 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: four hundred forty of them ten days after they had 148 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: actually been arrested. One hundred and forty of them got 149 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: out on bond, and the other three hundred were moved 150 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: to an army fort for longer term holding, and they 151 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: remained there for several months. We're actually going to discuss 152 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: something you might not expect in just a moment, which 153 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: is paperwork. But before we do, let's pause for just 154 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: a moment, take a break from the palmer rades because 155 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: it is a little bit heavy, and talk about one 156 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,319 Speaker 1: of our sponsors that keeps the lights on in the 157 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: studios so we could talk about these heavy topics. So 158 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: if you're wondering how in the world they got the 159 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: man power to issue all these warrants for all these arrests. 160 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: The answer is they didn't. Most of the people were 161 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: rounded up without warrants and with no formal paperwork to 162 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 1: document the arrests. About five thousand people were taking into custody, 163 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 1: most of these people being completely innocent. And when you 164 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: consider that these conditions that we talked about in these 165 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: two in instances, there were many more than those two 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: instances that we just talked about. They were being kept 167 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: in similar conditions, completely innocent, for weeks and sometimes months 168 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: at a time. But the other thing that was interesting 169 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: was that not all of the people who were accused 170 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: of anti American sentiment during this time were captured in raids. 171 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: Some had their lives ruined in more subtle, but no 172 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: less damning ways. And one of these was an art 173 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: teacher named Julia Pratt, and she had been suspended from 174 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: her teaching job abruptly, and when the school board held 175 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: a hearing to review her case, a man showed up 176 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: named Hermann Bernard, and he testified that he had been 177 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: an undercover agent of the Department of Justice and that 178 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: in his undercover role he became a secretary of the 179 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: Buffalo Communist Party, and he then said that he knew 180 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: and had records of Miss Pratt as a member of 181 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: that party and the dates on which she paid her dues. 182 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: But that art teacher told a very different story in 183 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: her testimony. She said, on July eighteenth, nineteen nine, team 184 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: Miss Harris invited me into her home to meet some 185 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: quote interesting intellectual friends of hers. As she put it, 186 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: I went out to Kenmore. Herman Bernard came in with 187 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: two women friends of his. He constantly injected over drawn 188 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: statements against the government into the conversation and outline in 189 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: glowing terms the work the Communist Party would perform and 190 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: emancipating the oppressed and exploited. Bernard later came to my 191 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: house with others of the same group, ate at my table, 192 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: and I played the harp for him. It is only 193 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: on the testimony of this agent provocateur that the board 194 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:38,719 Speaker 1: has dismissed me. And again that's one example, but there 195 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: were others where people had basically sort of like baited 196 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: a situation where they would go in and talk about 197 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: communism and people would sort of politely nod, and then 198 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: they would be like, that's a communist. There were some 199 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: very squirrely things going on pretty sure that's called entrapment. 200 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: It is indeed. Still other people from Hoover's list were 201 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:02,719 Speaker 1: apprehended at Palmer's orders, often beaten and sometimes taken from 202 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: their homes, so where they weren't raiding like big group gatherings, 203 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:10,079 Speaker 1: but they were just going to individual people's homes and 204 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: taking them out, often without warrant and with no cause 205 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: that they stated. In at least some cases, fake testimonies 206 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: were typed up and signed with forged signatures. There's a 207 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: report we're going to talk about in a moment that 208 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: has one of these instances where it is clearly a 209 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: forged signature. There were many, many instances of poor treatment 210 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: at the hands of Palmer's agents. So, as I've said 211 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: a couple times now, what we have selected here to 212 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: detail is just a sampling. While there had been some 213 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: unease about the November raids by the public, the January 214 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: raids caused real concern, not fear of communists or anarchists, 215 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: but fear that the Attorney General had far overstepped his bounds. 216 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: In part in response to this rash of raids that 217 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: were happening without cause, on January nineteenth, nineteen twenty, the 218 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: American Civil Liberties Union was formed, and this was an 219 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: effort on the part of a number of concerned citizens, 220 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,079 Speaker 1: many of which had already been working in the National 221 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: Civil Liberties Bureau, to shift the focus away from that 222 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: group's litigation only approach to one that was more action 223 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: oriented and focused on education as well as fighting legal battles. 224 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: In the spring of nineteen twenty, the tide continued to 225 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: turn against Palmer. Assistant Secretary of Labor Lewis F. Post 226 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,959 Speaker 1: saw the Palmer raids as one man's ambition spinning rapidly 227 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,199 Speaker 1: out of control, with nothing limiting the actions that were 228 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: being taken. When Posts found out about the men being 229 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: held at Hartford Prison in April of that year, he 230 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: had them all transferred immediately to the Immigration station at 231 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: Deer Island, Boston, where their conditions were better and their 232 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 1: cases could be evaluated and properly documented. Post went on 233 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,559 Speaker 1: to cancel more than fifteen hundred deportations, which was a 234 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: slap in the face to Palmer and an act fact 235 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: that some people that were really behind Palmer's moves thought 236 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 1: were was treasonous. There was actually an attempt to impeach 237 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: Lewis Post, but the Assistant Secretary gave extremely persuasive and 238 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,679 Speaker 1: powerful testimony during his appearance before Congress, which caused the 239 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: various politicians that had been calling for his impeachment to 240 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: back off, and some of them actually started to see 241 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: that civil liberties had been outright abused during these raids. 242 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: One of the truly heartbreaking effects of the Palmer raids 243 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: were the very real, immediate and long lasting effects that 244 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: they had in the lives of innocent people who were 245 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: taking into custody. Often, they struggled to find work after 246 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: their confinement because even if they were released without charges, 247 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: there was still a shadow of Bolshevism on them and 248 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: employers were unwilling to hire them. And Palmer continued to 249 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: warn the public that terrorist attacks were coming. He was 250 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: making predictions about like, on this day, this will happen. 251 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: It's my intelligence tells me this. But none of those 252 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: preictions were materializing, and his credibility really suffered for it. 253 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: On May twenty eighth, nineteen twenty twelve, lawyers issued a 254 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: report on the Palmer raids. They were R. G. Brown 255 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 1: of Memphis, Tennessee, Zechariah Chaffee Junior of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Felix 256 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: Frankfurter of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ernst Freud of Chicago, Illinois, Swinburne 257 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: Hail of New York City, Francis Fisher Kane of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 258 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: Alfred S. Niles of Baltimore, Maryland, Roscoe Pound of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 259 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: Jackson H. Ralston of Washington, d C. David Wallerstein of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 260 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: Frank P. Walsh of New York City, and Sorell Williams 261 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: of Saint Louis, Missouri. In this report detailed all of 262 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: these instances of the Palmer raids, how literally thousands of 263 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: alleged radicals had been arrested with no warrants, held in 264 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: substandard conditions, and had been denied contact with family member 265 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: and legal counsel. And this document was jointly published by 266 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: the ACLU and the National Popular Government League. This report was, 267 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 1: I mean, perhaps surprisingly, based on the political climate that 268 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: we've been talking about in these two episodes, well received. 269 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: It appeared that in the face of the brutal and 270 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: illegal behavior of the Department of Justice under the guidance 271 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, public attitudes were shifting 272 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: away from this fervent blinding fear of the other. And 273 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: we're going to go into details about the contents of 274 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: that report, but before we do, this is probably a 275 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: good place to pause and have a word from one 276 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: of our sponsors. So this opening of the report that 277 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: we talked about before we went to break is a 278 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: letter to the people of the United States, and it 279 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: is lengthy, but I want to read a significant portion 280 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: of this introductory letter here. It reads to the American people. 281 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: For more than six months, we, the undersigned lawyers, whose 282 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: sworn duty it is to uphold the Constitution and laws 283 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: of the United States, have seen with growing apprehension the 284 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:14,399 Speaker 1: continued violation of that constitution and breaking of those laws 285 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: by the Department of Justice of the United States Government. 286 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: Under the guise of a campaign for the suppression of 287 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: radical activities. The Office of the Attorney General, acting by 288 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: its local agents throughout the country and giving express instructions 289 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: from Washington, has committed continued illegal acts. Quote. Wholesale arrests 290 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: of both aliens and citizens have been made without warrant 291 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,479 Speaker 1: or any process of law. Men and women have been 292 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: jailed and held in communicado without access of friends or counsel. 293 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: Homes have been entered without search warrant, and property seized 294 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: and removed. Other property has been wantonly destroyed. Working men 295 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 1: and working women suspected of radical views have been shamefully 296 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: abused and maltreated. The Department of Justice have been introduced 297 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: into radical organizations for the purpose of informing upon their 298 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: members or inciting them to activities. These agents have even 299 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: been instructed from Washington to arrange meetings upon certain dates 300 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: for the express object of facilitating wholesale raids and arrests 301 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: in support of these illegal acts, and to create sentiment 302 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: in its favor. The Department of Justice has also constituted 303 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: itself a propaganda bureau, and has sent to newspapers and 304 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: magazines of this country quantities of material designed to excite 305 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 1: public opinion against radicals, all at the expense of the 306 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: government and outside the scope of the Attorney General's duties. 307 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: We make no argument in favor of any radical doctrine 308 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 1: as such, whether socialist, communist, or anarchists. No one of 309 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,400 Speaker 1: us belongs to any of those schools of thought. Nor 310 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: do we now raise any questions as to the constitutional 311 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: protection of free speech and a free press. We are 312 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 1: concerned solely with bringing to the attention of the American 313 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: people the utterly illegal acts which have been committed by 314 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: those charged with the highest duty of enforcing the laws. 315 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: Acts which have caused widespread suffering and unrest, have struck 316 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: at the foundation of American free institutions, and have brought 317 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: the name of our country into disrepute. The report grouped 318 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: the various acts of Palmer's efforts into six categories. Cruel 319 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: and unusual punishments, arrests without warrant, unreasonable searches and seizures, 320 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: provocative agents basically entrapment operatives compelling persons to witness against themselves, 321 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,959 Speaker 1: and propaganda by the Department of Justice and by the Numbers. 322 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: The report offers a pretty damning assessment of the effectiveness 323 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: of Palmer's methods. As of November fourteenth, nineteen nineteen, the 324 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: Attorney General had assembled a list of sixty thousand people 325 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: by name that were suspected of radicalism of one kind 326 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: or another. As of January first, nineteen twenty, two hundred 327 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: sixty three of these sixty thousand people had been deported. 328 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: From January first to the report's release in late May, 329 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: there had been eighteen more people deported, with another five 330 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty nine ordered to deport by Palmer. Another 331 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: one thousand, five hundred forty seven warrants for deportation were 332 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: canceled during that time. By post. Of those sixty thousand suspects, 333 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,120 Speaker 1: the Attorney General had only deported eight hundred and ten, 334 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: and as the report points out, that left more than 335 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: fifty one thousand people to be dealt with by Palmer's 336 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: own records. So in inflating the numbers of potential dangers, 337 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: he basically stacked the deck against his own forces because 338 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: they wound up looking pretty unineffective. And in concluding that 339 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: introduction to the report, the lawyers who worked on it wrote, quote, 340 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: it is a fallacy to suppose that, any more than 341 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: in the past, any servant of the people can safely 342 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: arrogate to himself unlimited authority. To proceed upon such a 343 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: supposition is to deny the fundamental American theory of the 344 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: consent of the governed. Here is no question of a vague, 345 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: threatened menace, but a present assault upon the most sacred 346 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: principles of our constitutional liberty. One of the testimonies included 347 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,920 Speaker 1: in this report is from an immigrant named Alexander Bukowetski, 348 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,199 Speaker 1: who had come to the United States from Russia and 349 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: had been captured in the November raids. One section of 350 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: his statement reads quote, when I came to America, I 351 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:29,919 Speaker 1: came with a thought that I was coming to a 352 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: free country, a place of freedom and happiness, and I 353 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: was anxious to come to get away from the Zaristic 354 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 1: form of government. As much as I was anxious to 355 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 1: come here to America, I am a hundred times more 356 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,959 Speaker 1: anxious to run away from Americanism and return to Soviet Russia, 357 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: where I will at least be able to live. Bukowetski's 358 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,400 Speaker 1: testimony also mentions the fact that while he and men 359 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: like him were confined for months on end, their families 360 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: really suffered. Their wives and children often went hungry. They 361 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: had to depend on the kindness of other people in 362 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: their communities just to survive. Another statement included in the 363 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 1: report is from Bukowetski's twelve year old daughter, Violet, who 364 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,159 Speaker 1: witnessed her mother being beaten by prison officials when the 365 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: family attempted to visit her father. Her father jumped in 366 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: front of his wife to shield her and was also 367 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: beaten badly for doing so. Shots were fired by one 368 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 1: of the guards, hitting another imprisoned man in the knee. 369 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: Missus Bukowetski was deeply shaken by this incident and confined 370 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: to her bed for an extended period of time, diagnosed 371 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: by her doctor as having a nervous breakdown. In August 372 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty, the ACLU published an informational pamphlet about 373 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: the Red Scare titled Seeing Red Civil Liberty in the 374 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,680 Speaker 1: Law in the period following the war, and it really 375 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: outlined for people the conditions of fear and governmental overstepping 376 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: that led to the climax of the Red Scare, the 377 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: Palmer Raids, And in the pamphlet's conclusion, it reads, civil 378 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: liberty is more important today than it was in the 379 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: stagnant period when we had it, because no one troubled 380 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: to abridge it. The world is rising upon one of 381 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: the periodic waves which carry it onward towards civilized adjustment 382 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: for human welfare. Despite all of the bad press around 383 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: the raids, Palmer still ran for the Democratic Party's presidential 384 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: nomination of nineteen twenty as he had planned, and he lost. 385 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: In March nineteen twenty one, he returned once again to 386 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: private practice as a lawyer. Palmer, for his part, was 387 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: never remorseful about what had taken place in any public statement, 388 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: at least that he made. In nineteen twenty one, he 389 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: testified to the Investigative Senate Committee on the Raids, and 390 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: he defended the entire enterprise, saying, quote, I apologize for 391 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: nothing the Department of Justice has done. I glory in it. 392 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: I point with pride and enthusiasm to the results of 393 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: that work. And if agents of the Department of Labor 394 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 1: were a little rough and unkind with these alien agitators, 395 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,879 Speaker 1: I think it might well be overlooked in the general 396 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: good to the country. In September nineteen twenty one, FBI 397 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: Director William J. Flynn abruptly resigned, claiming a need to 398 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: attend to a private business matters a very troubling time 399 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: in America's history that we don't talk about very much. 400 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: I had not heard much about it at all before 401 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: you brought up wanting to do it as an episode. Yeah. 402 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: I mean, you see how fear can really like emboldened 403 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: situations like that, and that it is troubling. I want 404 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:36,359 Speaker 1: to say a lot more, but it will not be cool. 405 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: So thanks so much for joining us. On this Saturday. 406 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: If you'd like to send us a note, our email 407 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can 408 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 409 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:03,239 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.