THE PALMER RAIDS

Anti-Radical Mentality

 

The General Intelligence (or antiradical) Division of Bureau of Investigation was created, under the influence of Palmer, and J. Edgar Hoover as its head.  Its main goal was to uncover Bolshevik conspiracies, and to find and incarcerate or deport conspirators.  Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer began a series of showy and well publicized raids against radicals. These efforts resulted in the imprisonment or deportation of thousands of supposed radicals.  These arrests were often made at the expense of civil liberties as they were often made without warrants. Palmer's men smashed union offices and the headquarters' of Communist and Socialist organizations.They concentrated whenever possible on aliens rather than citizens, because aliens had fewer rights. In December of 1919, in their most famous act, Palmer's agents seized 249 resident aliens. Those seized were placed on board a ship, the Buford, bound for the Soviet Union.