Red Menace redirects here. For the 2007 Wildstorm Productions comic book series see Red Menace (comics). Red Menace is a six issue American comic book Limited series published in 2007 by Wildstorm Productions. For the record label, see Red Scare Industries.

Political cartoon of 1919 depicting a "European anarchist" attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Enlightening the World (La liberté éclairant le monde commonly known as the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté was presented

The term "Red Scare" has been retroactively applied to two distinct periods of strong anti-Communism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and The United States of America —commonly referred to as the These periods were characterized by heightened suspicion of Communists and other radicals, and the fear of widespread infiltration of Communists in U.S. government. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution.

'First Red Scare' (1917–1920)

Main article: First Red Scare

The 'First Red Scare' began during World War I in which the United States fought from 1917-1918. In American history, the First Red Scare took place in the period 1917–1920 and was marked by a widespread fear of Anarchism, as well as the effects of radical In American history, the First Red Scare took place in the period 1917–1920 and was marked by a widespread fear of Anarchism, as well as the effects of radical World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Tensions were further elevated during this time frame owing to a widespread campaign of violence by various groups inspired by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the ensuing Russian Civil War (1917-1923). See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed Historian Levin B. Murray described the First Red Scare as "a nation-wide anti-radical hysteria provoked by a mounting fear and anxiety that a Bolshevik revolution in America was imminent--a revolution that would destroy property, church, home, marriage, civility, and the American way of life. "^[1]

In April 1919, a large-scale plot to mail thirty-six bombs to a variety of prominent Americans was uncovered. The intended recipients included immigration officials, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the chairman of a Senate committee investigating Bolsheviks, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr ( March 8, 1841 &ndash March 6, 1935) was an American Jurist who served on the Supreme The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Alexander Mitchell Palmer (May 4 1872 - May 11 1936 was the Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921 John Pierpont Morgan ( April 17, 1837 &ndash March 31, 1913) was an American financier banker and art collector who John Davison Rockefeller ( July 8, 1839 &ndash May 23, 1937) was an American Industrialist and philanthropist On June 2 of the same year, bombs exploded in eight different cities within the same hour. Events 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks One of the intended targets was again Attorney General Palmer, whose Washington, D. C. home was bombed. The man planting the bomb at Palmer's home was killed in the explosion, and evidence indicated that he was an Italian alien living in Philadelphia.

This occurred during a time of heightened xenophobia in America. Xenophobia is an intense and/or irrational dislike and sometimes fear of people from other countries Various brands of radical anarchism were acquiring some notoriety, and their advocates were often recent immigrants to the U. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i S. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was responsible for several prominent strikes in 1916 and 1917, and this too was seen as a threatening form of radicalism largely inspired by foreign born "agitators". The Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati Ohio, USA By 1919, hundreds of strikes were occurring every month nation-wide, and the conservative press was commonly referring to strikes as "crimes against society," "conspiracies against the government," and "plots to establish communism. "^[2]

As a result, even before the bomb plots of 1919, a series of immigration, anti-anarchist, and sedition laws (including the Sedition Act of 1918) were passed and widely exercised as a means to remove undesirable elements from the country. The Sedition Act of 1918 was an amendment to the Espionage Act of 1917 passed at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, who was concerned that dissent In the words of David D. Cole, "the federal government consistently targeted alien radicals, deporting them[…] for their speech or associations, making little effort to distinguish true threats from ideological dissidents. For other David Cole's see David Cole (disambiguation David D "^[3]

After the bombings, Attorney General Palmer initiated what came to be known as the Palmer Raids. The Palmer Raids were a series of controversial raids by the U These were a series of mass arrests and deportations of immigrants who were suspected of being leftists or radicals. A total of between 4,000 and 10,000 individuals were arrested over two years. Palmer placed J. Edgar Hoover, then 24 years old, in charge of this operation. WikipediaManual of Style (biographies#Postnominal initials At Hoover's specific direction, prisoners were questioned without access to attorneys and their bail was set prohibitively high. ^[4] Many were beaten during their arrest or questioning.

The raids were initially highly praised by the public and press. The Washington Post proclaimed "There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over infringement of liberty," and the New York Times referred to the injuries inflicted on a group of suspects as "souvenirs of the new attitude of aggressiveness which had been assumed by the Federal agents against Reds and suspected Reds"^[5] Eventually there was criticism of the raids. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D A group of twelve prominent lawyers that included future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter published "A Report on the Illegal Practices of The United States Department of Justice," citing violations of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution and accusing Palmer of "illegal acts" and "wanton violence. Felix Frankfurter ( November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court The Fourth Amendment' ( Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is a part of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amendment ( Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions in federal courts The Eighth Amendment ( Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights which took effect in 1791 The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. " Palmer then issued a series of warnings that a revolutionary plot to overthrow the government was to be launched on May 1, 1920. Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar When the date passed without incident, Palmer was widely ridiculed. Adding to the criticism was the fact that evidence sufficient for deportation could be found for less than six hundred of the thousands who were arrested. In July 1920, Palmer's once-promising bid for presidential office was squelched when he failed to win the Democratic nomination. The United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the Aftermath of World War I and the hostile reaction to Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ^[6]

As a result of the fear and oppression around the First Red Scare, membership in the Communist Party of the United States and similar Marxist/Communist groups was reduced by some 80 percent. The Communist Party of the United States of America ( CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist Political party in the United States. ^[7]

In 1919-1920, a number of states passed criminal syndicalism laws that made the advocacy of violence to secure social change unlawful. Traditional American ideals of free speech were restricted. ^[8]

'Second Red Scare' (1947–1957)

Main article: McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy, from whose name "McCarthyism" is taken. McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14 1908 – May 2 1957 was an American politician who served as a Republican U McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s

In United States history, the Second Red Scare took place in the period of 1947-1957. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The 'Second Red Scare' coincided with increased fears of espionage by Communists and heightened tension from Soviet oppression in Eastern Europe (beginning in 1946), the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), Chinese Civil War (1949), and the Korean War (1950–1953). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 11 May 1949 was one of the first major international crises of the Cold war. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the These fears spurred aggressive investigations and the red-baiting, blacklisting, jailing and deportation of people suspected of following Communist or other left-wing ideology. Red-baiting is the act of accusing someone or some group of being communist, socialist or in a broader sense of being significantly more Leftist

Causes

During the late 1940s several news events caught the public's attention, including the trial, conviction and subsequent execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for espionage (specifically passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union), the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, and the acquisition of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union. Julius Rosenberg (May 12 1918 &ndash June 19 1953 and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28 1915 &ndash June 19 1953 were American Communists who were executed The " Iron Curtain " was the symbolic ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. These events influenced the opinions of many Americans regarding their own security, and connected the fear of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union with a fear of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). The Communist Party of the United States of America ( CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist Political party in the United States. In testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, former CPUSA party members Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers testified that Soviet spies and Communist sympathizers had been successful in penetrating several U. The House Committee on Un-American Activities ( HUAC or HCUA 1938–1975 was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. Elizabeth Terrill Bentley ( January 1 1908 &ndash December 3 1963) was an American spy for the Soviet Union Whittaker Chambers ( April 1, 1901 &ndash July 9, 1961) born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker S. government agencies during and after World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The testimony of Bentley and Chambers was cited as evidence of active Soviet and Communist infiltration of the United States government. Anti-communists also criticized the history of the Soviet Union and China as evidence of Communism's destructiveness, asserting that Stalin's purges, the creation of the gulag system and other examples of oppression were a function of the Communist ideology. Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union.

History

Thanks in part to the privation of the Great Depression, Communism was an attractive ideology to many in the U. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics S. , especially among intellectual and labor circles. At the height of American Communism's popularity in 1939, the party had 50,000 U. S. members. ^[9] After the beginning of the war in Europe, Congress passed the Smith Act in 1940, which made membership in any organization advocating the violent overthrow of the government of the United States illegal and required all foreign nationals to register with the federal government. The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act ( of 1940 is a United States federal statute that makes it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or willfully advocate A political revolution, in the Trotskyist theory is an upheaval in which the government is replaced or the form of government altered but in which property relations are predominantly The Act was aimed not only at Communists, but also at members of the German-American Bund and the general Japanese-American population. The German American Bund or German American Federation (German Amerikadeutscher Bund) was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s are Americans of Japanese heritage Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group After Germany invaded the USSR, the CPUSA shifted from an anti- to a pro-war position. During the war, while the USSR and America were allies, the Communist Party opposed labor strikes as detrimental to the war effort and supported an aggressive U. S. military policy. Under the slogan "Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism", CPUSA Chairman Earl Browder advertised that the party had been integrated into the mainstream of US politics. In contrast, the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party opposed World War II and supported strikes even in war industries. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. The Socialist Workers Party, or SWP, is a Communist Political party in the United States. SWP leaders including James P. Cannon were convicted under the Smith Act, with the approval of the CPUSA, whose members were not prosecuted. James Patrick Cannon (1890–1974 was an American Trotskyist Communist leader

In 1947, Harry S Truman signed Executive Order 9835, creating the Federal Employees Loyalty Program. States]] Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as The Loyalty Order, was signed March 21 1947 by U The program created review boards to investigate federal employees and terminate them if there were doubts as to their loyalty. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and the committees of Senator Joseph McCarthy began investigations of actual or alleged American Communists and their role in espionage, propaganda, and subversive activities, real and imagined. The House Committee on Un-American Activities ( HUAC or HCUA 1938–1975 was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14 1908 – May 2 1957 was an American politician who served as a Republican U

There were also effects on America's way of life as a result of the Red Scare and the nuclear arms race, which contributed to the popularization of fallout shelters in home construction and regular duck and cover drills at schools. The nuclear Arms race was a competition for supremacy in Nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a Nuclear explosion. Duck and Cover was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation which the United States government taught to generations The Red Scare is also cited as one factor that contributed to the rise and popularity of science fiction films during the 1950s and beyond. Many thrillers and science fiction movies of the period used a theme of a sinister, inhuman enemy that was planning to infiltrate society and destroy the American way of life. The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. Even a sports team was affected by the red scare; the Cincinnati Reds temporarily changed their team name to "Redlegs" to avoid the association of "Reds" and Communism. The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA

See also

• Communism
• Cold War
• History of Soviet espionage in the United States
• Hollywood blacklist
• House Committee on Un-American Activities
• Subversive Activities Control Board
• Venona project
• Jencks Act
• Jencks v. United States

Notes and references

Notes

References and further reading