MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The Red Scare was an interesting time in our country because fear had consumed the population and let our government commit insidious acts on innocent Americans. The aftermath of World War I in the U.S. caused the American population to fear that a Bolshevik revolution was on their door step. This caused many Americans to fear the leftist parties in the nation the labor parties, and immigrants. For these groups were seen as the culprits who would jump start the revolution in America. However, as many U.S. officials knew, like Attorney A. Mitchell Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover, the Socialist, radicals, Bolsheviks, and anarchists had very little power in the country. Nonetheless, these men saw how immersed in fear the American people were and intended to use this fear to advance themselves politically.
After a series of bomb threats, including one on Palmer’s life, the U.S. government would intervene and round up as many threats to the nation across the U.S. The Palmer Raids, as they were called, would violate several civil liberties. People would be arrested without warrants issued for them, aliens would be deported for having leftist ideologies, and Americans walking in the streets during a raid would be thrown in because they looked suspicious. The bottom line to this time of hysteria, is that America claims to be a free country. However, when the nation’s security and its people are at risk, then it is alright to toss out the Bill of Rights and disregard people’s freedoms. Fear is what allowed these acts to happen and it was the people’s support of their government’s actions that allowed so many innocent people to fear the land of the free.