The Palmer Raids In 1919, Woodrow Wilson appointed A. Mitchell Palmer to the position of attorney general. Palmer was extremely paranoid of a possible communist take over in the United States. Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover his “special assistant” (Hoover became the famed leader of the FBI). Palmer and Hoover took their “red scare” to a whole new level.

“The Palmer Raids” The Palmer Raids are literally a series of government backed raids of anarchists, communists and other types of individuals that “threatened the security of the United States”. These individuals were usually simply immigrants being harassed by the U.S. government. This is an example of how the Red Scare truly changed the way people and law inforcement looked at “minorities”.

Mass Exodus On 7th November, 1919, the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists were arrested. Palmer and Hoover found no evidence of a proposed revolution but large number of these suspects were held without trial for a long time. The vast majority were eventually released but 247 other people were deported to Russia.

On January, 2 1920, another 6,000 were arrested and held without trial On January, 2 1920, another 6,000 were arrested and held without trial. These raids took place in several cities and became known as the Palmer Raids When Palmer announced that the communist revolution was likely to take place on May 1, mass panic took place. In New York, five elected Socialists were expelled from the legislature. When the May revolution failed to materialize, attitudes towards Palmer began to change and he was criticized for disregarding people's basic civil liberties.

Questions for Discussion… Pictured to the left: A. Mitchell Palmer and the aftermath of one of his Raids. Questions for Discussion… Can we equate the Palmer Raids to post 9/11 racial profiling or anti-terrorist fears? Why ? Why not? He used the Espionage and Sedition Acts as the basis for his Raids? Can we equate this to the Patriot Act and its infringement on our civil liberties today?

The Teapot Dome Scandal In 1921, during the presidency of Warren G. Harding, Alfred B. Fall was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Interior Once appointed, Fall leased the Navy’s oil reserve located at Teapot Dome, Wyoming to an oil operator. The lease was awarded after NO competitive bidding. The Oil Operator, Harry Sinclair gave Fall interest free “loans” in excess of $100,000. Fall acutally received over $400,000 from other oil operators as well for leasing other oil reserves.

Effects of the Teapot Dome Scandal The Teapot Dome Scandal has gone down in history as one of the biggest political scandals in history The loan piqued suspicion from the federal government. Fall was tried and convicted of accepting bribes and fined $100,000 by the federal government.