Red Raids, Communist Fears
- Artist/Author/Producer: 4,000 Russian, Finnish, Polish,German, Italian workers in U.S.
- Confronting Bodies: Woodrow Wilson's Administration
- Dates of action: 1920
- Location: United States
- Description of the Art Work
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The "Red Raids" or "Palmer Raids", named after their director Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer, were made on innocent alien workers in the
United States including; Russians, Finnish, Polish, Germans and Italians.
- Description of incident
- American uneasiness about the threat of Communism initiated a series of
raids on those people suspected to be a threat to American democracy. "On
January 2, 1920, one minute after midnight, about 500 FBI agents and
police swooped down on (alien workmen), looking for Communists to
deport. The victims were hustled off to jail and arrested without
warrants, homes were ransacked without legal authorization, and all
literature and letters were seized." The First Freedom Today, Robert
Downs, ALA, Chicago, 1984, pg. 6-7
- Results of incident
- Two-hundred and forty people were deported.
Source: New York Public Library, New York City