The Palmer Raids: The History of the Arrests and Deportations of Anarchists and Communists in America during the First Red Scare
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Scott Clem
4/5
()
About this audiobook
While the period from 1945-1955 was the longest and most extensive period of time in American history when a fear of communism gripped the country, it was not the first. World War I was the first major foreign conflict the U.S. was involved in, after being safe behind the Atlantic Ocean, and Americans were now afraid of espionage and sabotage. As a result, people of German descent came under suspicion, and this subjected innocent German-Americans to mob violence, much of it perpetrated by a vigilante group called the American Protective League (APL), which had a quarter of a million members dedicated to rooting out German spies. When they did not find enough, they turned their sights on homegrown subversives, namely the International Workers of the World, the “Wobblies.”
With the end of the war, concern over German subversives was replaced with concerns over communist subversives. By 1919, the Bolshevik Revolution had spread throughout Central Europe and seemed to threaten the rest of the world. In America, newspaper stories openly worried about a similar revolution in the country. A rash of strikes fed fears that class warfare, fomented by foreign communist forces, would break out at any moment.
In this powder keg, all that was needed was a spark to create full-blown hysteria, and the spark came on June 2, 1919, when the home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer was bombed, injuring Palmer and killing the bomber. The anarchist leaflets he was carrying were scattered in the bomb debris, and this attack on his home prompted Palmer, who had been a reformist Quaker, to launch an all-out war against left-wing radicals. In the process, the Attorney General, who had already been impressed with a self-confident and energetic young man named J. Edgar Hoover, put him in charge of the battle against radicalism. The Red Scare had begun in earnest.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame de Pompadour: The Life and Legacy of French King Louis XV’s Chief Mistress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Culper Ring: The History and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Spy Ring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patrice Lumumba: The Life and Legacy of the Pan-African Politician Who Became Congo's First Prime Minister Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pleistocene Era: The History of the Ice Age and the Dawn of Modern Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fermi Paradox: The History and Legacy of the Famous Debate over the Existence of Aliens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Palmer Raids
Related audiobooks
The Know Nothing Party: The History and Legacy of America’s Most Notorious Nativist Political Party Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's American Friends: The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nixon's War at Home: The FBI, Leftist Guerrillas, and the Origins of Counterterrorism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNegro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51968: The Rise and Fall of the New American Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Name of the Father: Washington's Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To Purge This Land with Blood: A Biography of John Brown Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Occupation and Liberation of France during World War II: The History of the Decisive Campaigns in 1940 and 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolution and Counter-Revolution, or: Germany in 1848 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Days that Shook the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tonight We Bombed The U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America's First Female Terrorist Group Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Begin the World Over Again: How the American Revolution Devastated the Globe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wall Street Bombing of 1920: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Anarchist Attack on New York City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revenants of the German Empire: Colonial Germans, Imperialism, and the League of Nations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fall of the Russian Empire: The Russian Revolution and Civil War, Lenin the Bolsheviks, and Stalin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Communism / Socialism: Social Democracy Wage Labor & Capital State & Revolution Communist Manifesto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of the Thirty Years War, Volume 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wobblies: The History of the Industrial Workers of the World in the Early 20th Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imperialism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1917: Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada's First War on Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalin as Revolutionary 1879-1929: A Study in History and Personality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exodus from the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
United States History For You
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Palmer Raids
1 rating0 reviews