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patreon.com/history that doesn't suck. It's

0:53

about 11 o'clock at night, Monday, June 2nd,

0:55

1919. Alexander

0:58

Mitchell Palmer, or Mitchell, as

1:01

he's known to his friends, or even just Mitch, is

1:03

reading in the library of his DC row home

1:05

located at 2132 R Street in northwest Washington,

1:09

DC. Whether the book

1:11

is business or pleasure, I can't say. Either

1:14

would make sense, though. The

1:16

husky, handsome, 47-year-old with a full

1:19

set of salt-and-peppered hair is currently

1:21

serving as President Woodrow Wilson's U.S.

1:23

Attorney General, but still waiting

1:25

for Senate approval of his recess appointment, which

1:28

is questionable considering that a congressional

1:30

investigation has Mitchell under a microscope

1:33

for his role as the alien

1:35

property custodian. Will

1:37

Congress conclude that he used this position

1:39

to give plush jobs to Democrat friends

1:41

while selling German trusts on the cheap?

1:45

Or will they find the fighting Quaker, as

1:47

he's known, an honorable public servant? Even

1:50

if exonerated and confirmed as Attorney General, how might

1:52

this impact his 1920 presidential ambitions?

1:56

Yes, Mitchell has every reason to

1:58

be reading tonight. the

2:00

law or something to distract him soon. But

2:03

now it's time for bed. Turning

2:06

off the lights in the library, Mitchell heads to

2:08

the spares and slowly makes his way up.

2:11

Once at the top, he takes a moment to

2:14

check on his curly haired daughter, Mary, already

2:16

nine years old. Oh, they

2:19

grow up so quickly. It's

2:21

now 1115. Entering

2:23

his own room, the acting attorney general is

2:26

ready for a good night's sleep, just

2:28

like his wife, Roberta. He changes

2:30

out of his suit and tie and puts on some

2:32

pajamas. And walks when it

2:34

happens. Never

2:37

one can give into his fears behind his waker

2:39

heads downstairs to investigate the loud trash and

2:41

the sound. The light

2:43

is ghastly. His windows are

2:45

blown in. Every photo and

2:48

painting is on the glass-strewn floor. His

2:50

front door has been blown off its hinges and crashed

2:53

into the door to his library. Reality

2:55

strikes as Mitchell thinks about how much worse

2:57

this could have been. But

3:00

Roberta or Mary had been downstairs. What

3:03

if he was only five minutes slower going to

3:05

bed tonight? Mitchell's heart pounds out

3:07

of his chest as it dawns on him. Someone

3:10

wants him dead. Just

3:14

across the street, the blue eyed brown

3:16

haired 37 year old Assistant Secretary of

3:18

the Navy reacts to the blast. Having

3:21

just walked in the door minutes ago with his

3:23

wife, he leaps and bounds up the stairs, flying

3:25

as fast as his strong and capable legs will

3:27

carry him. Well, strong

3:30

at this point in his life, that is. This

3:33

is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He

3:37

finds his son, little 11 year old James,

3:39

at the window, staring at the Palmer's

3:41

wrecked home and the debris scattered street. It

3:45

leaves father Seizes James and holds him so

3:47

tightly that the young Roosevelt will later recall,

3:49

he grabbed me in an embrace that almost cracked

3:52

my ribs. And now that

3:54

he knows his family is safe, Franklin's mind

3:56

turns to his neighbor across the street. Stepping

4:00

over shards of glass, strewn papers,

4:02

and more, Franklin enters Mitchell's doorless

4:04

home. He follows the

4:06

same path as the now-rough front door toward

4:08

the library. Here Franklin

4:11

finds his fellow Democrat and public servant,

4:13

Mitchell Palmer. The fighting Quaker

4:16

is putting on a strong front. Still

4:19

he can't hide just how shaken he

4:21

is and grateful to see a familiar

4:23

face. His Quaker roots

4:25

come out strong as these endows fly

4:27

from his lips. Thank thee

4:29

Franklin! The two

4:32

men surveyed the damage and as they do,

4:34

they find body parts. Was

4:36

this an innocent victim walking in the wrong place

4:39

at the wrong time? Or

4:41

did the perpetrator make a fatal error? The

4:46

police soon arrive, roping off the

4:48

street and bringing in searchlights. They find

4:50

more clues. Besides the

4:52

chunks of human flesh lying on Franklin

4:54

D. Roosevelt's doorstep and at

4:57

the homes of other neighbors, like

4:59

Senator Claude Swanson and Norway's envoy,

5:01

Plenipotentiary Helmer Brin, the street

5:03

is covered in some 50 6x10

5:06

inch pamphlets with the following message.

5:09

Plain words. The

5:11

powers that be make no secret of

5:13

their will to stop here in America

5:15

the worldwide spread of revolution. Class

5:19

war is on and cannot cease

5:21

but with a complete victory for

5:23

the international proletariat. There

5:25

will have to be bloodshed. There will

5:27

have to be murder. We will

5:29

kill because it is necessary. We

5:32

will destroy to rid the world of

5:34

your tyrannical institutions. Long

5:37

live social revolution. Down

5:39

with tyranny. The

5:41

anarchist fighters. That's

5:43

right. It appears that this is

5:46

the work of violent radicals. Of

5:48

anarchists. And as Senators and

5:50

Congressmen alike gather at Mitchell Palmer's home that

5:52

morning, they let the yet to be confirmed

5:54

Attorney General know that they stand with him.

5:57

As one congressman from Massachusetts says. Palmer,

6:01

ask for what you want and you will get it. The

6:04

government is behind you in whatever you do

6:06

to root out this kind of revolutionary organization

6:08

in this country. As

6:10

Mitchell looks at his destroyed home,

6:12

he does indeed intend to root

6:14

these rad revolutionaries out. Every

6:17

root and branch will help him die.

6:35

Welcome to history that doesn't stop me. I'm

6:38

your professor, Ray Jack, and

6:40

I'd like to tell you a story. This

6:56

wasn't the first time anarchists tried to bomb

6:59

Mitchell Palmer. A month and

7:01

a half prior, in late April, 1919, anarchist

7:04

immigrant Luigi Galiani's followers,

7:07

known as Galianists, mailed bombs

7:09

to 36 eminent leaders across

7:11

the United States. That

7:13

list included acting AG Mitchell Palmer.

7:16

Only one bomb was delivered and

7:18

exploded, sadly obliterating a maid's hands

7:20

at Senator Thomas Hardwick's Georgia home

7:22

and perhaps not experiencing an explosion

7:24

himself kept that one from rattling

7:26

Mitch. But this one, and

7:29

again part of a multi-victim anarchist

7:31

attack, oh, it rattled him.

7:34

With the remains of his failed assassin,

7:37

Carlo Valdinozzi, all over the street, this

7:40

attack also left its mark on Mitch's mind.

7:44

Today our tale is that of America's

7:46

first red scare, a moment

7:48

when very real radical violence on the

7:50

heels of Russia's Bolshevik or communist revolution

7:53

gave rise to a fear of leftist

7:55

radicals that grew into a witch hunt.

7:58

We'll start by backing up the clock. The Tree

8:00

for a broad history and breakdown of

8:02

the ideologies up play. Socialism.

8:05

Specifically from utopian socialism

8:07

through Karl Marx, his

8:09

Scientific Socialism aka Marxism

8:11

to other terms like

8:13

Bolshevism communism and Anarchism.

8:16

With. His background or return to the

8:18

post World War One us to

8:20

find a nation seen foreign influence

8:22

in red. Everywhere. So

8:25

much so that even non radical

8:27

democracy loving American working men in

8:29

trade unions feel the heat. Will

8:32

Bear witness. As A. D. Mitchell Palmer

8:34

and his young protege at the Bureau

8:36

of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover go on

8:38

the hunt. Their. Palmer

8:41

rates will sweep up radicals, but

8:43

also a lot of innocence as

8:45

a use a very broad, unconstitutionally

8:47

questionable net. Will. Listen to

8:50

seemed American socialist Eugene Debs. test the

8:52

limits of the First Amendment while on

8:54

trial. And. Experience a clash of

8:56

views as Assistant Secretary of Labor.

8:58

Louis Post pushes back on the

9:00

zealous read hunting eg. Within.

9:03

And this episode with a scene that

9:05

will touch your heart no matter where

9:07

you're political sympathies lie In all this,

9:09

as republican president offers liberty to incarcerated

9:11

Gene that's. The. Only question

9:13

is. Will. The old Socialist

9:16

except this guest. So

9:18

very much to do. So. Let's

9:20

make our way to the early nineteenth

9:22

century and get a beat on the

9:24

historical context and evolution of these several

9:26

leftists Turns. A P

9:28

History students You're welcome. Rewind.

9:35

In our efforts to understand the radical

9:37

last of the early twentieth centuries, we

9:39

begin with an important predecessor. Utopian.

9:41

Socialism. In. the early

9:44

nineteenth century as classical liberalism

9:46

is ideas on individual freedoms

9:48

and free market capitalism mixes

9:50

with industrialization to yield a

9:52

powerful productive but highly disruptive

9:54

impact on the world the

9:56

utopian socialists want to offset

9:58

the worst aspects The

10:00

answer, they assert, is a society less

10:02

focused on the individual and more on

10:04

the whole. They want

10:07

to create a perfect society, hence

10:09

utopian, by restructuring society on a

10:11

communal basis. What

10:13

does that look like? Depends on

10:15

the philosopher, and they have wildly different

10:17

ideas. Henri de

10:20

Saint-Simon still believes in hierarchy, but

10:22

wants one based on productivity, not

10:24

inheritance, valuing those in, say, business

10:27

and farming over kings and priests.

10:30

Charles Rouille, yeah, a lot

10:32

of these guys are French, claims that

10:34

humanity's 810 distinct personalities should

10:38

live in cooperative communities, called

10:40

philanthropies, of exactly 1,620 people. In

10:45

1825, British industrialist Robert Owen

10:47

establishes a community in New

10:50

Harmony, Indiana that rejects personal

10:52

wealth, social status, and organized

10:54

religion. A valiant effort, but

10:56

it bombs after two years. The

10:59

list of utopian socialists is long, but

11:01

by the 1830s and 40s, other socialist

11:03

thinkers are in the fray. This

11:06

includes Karl Marx. Born

11:09

in the Germanic Rhineland, educated at the

11:11

University of Berlin and a former resident

11:13

of Paris, Karl of the 1840s

11:16

finds himself in England. He becomes

11:18

good friends with Friedrich Engels, who, in 1845,

11:20

writes, condition

11:22

of the working class in England. In

11:25

a sentence, this book argues that

11:27

industrialization is more harmful than beneficial

11:29

to workers. Marx digs

11:31

it. Three years later,

11:33

in 1848, Friedrich serves as

11:36

junior author under primarily Karl

11:38

Marx-authored communist manifesto. In

11:40

this and future writings, like

11:43

Das Kapital, Karl explains his

11:45

scientific socialism. We'll call

11:47

it Marxism. Let's wrap our

11:49

heads around it. According

11:51

to Karl's theory on history, which

11:54

he calls historical materialism, history

11:57

moves through stages, and for this brief

11:59

depth of view, definition of Marxism, we have four.

12:02

Stage one was life before the 1789

12:04

French Revolution, a

12:07

feudal world run by nobles as

12:09

a burgeoning business class, that is,

12:11

the bourgeoisie sought to assert itself.

12:15

Stage two began as the French

12:17

Revolution delivered a bourgeois victory over

12:19

the nobles. Now ruling

12:21

an industrializing world, the bourgeoisie

12:23

wield their power by owning

12:25

and thus controlling where people

12:27

work, factories, and the raw

12:29

materials used to work. Carl

12:32

calls all this physical stuff the

12:35

means of production. But the

12:37

bearded German says there's a third

12:39

stage coming, imminently, in fact, where

12:41

the working class, aka the proletariat,

12:44

will unite, revolt, and take down

12:46

the bourgeoisie just as the bourgeoisie

12:49

did the nobles. This

12:51

forthcoming revolution, Carl says, will yield

12:53

a socialist state in which the

12:55

workers control the means of production.

12:58

A fourth stage will follow. At

13:00

this point, private property ceases to

13:03

exist. In fact,

13:05

government no longer needed ceases to

13:07

exist. This is

13:09

pure communism. Ah,

13:12

yes, our next term, communism. It

13:15

goes further than socialism. Communism

13:18

calls for zero private ownership. Everything

13:20

is communal. Marxism's

13:25

radical ideas are quite attractive to

13:27

19th century workers. Feeling

13:30

they've drawn the short end of the

13:32

liberalism and industrialization stick, overworked

13:34

and underpaid laborers believe it offers a

13:36

better world. Workers do

13:39

unite, they strike, and sometimes clash

13:41

violently with industrialists hired hands or

13:43

government troops. This includes

13:46

the United States. We experienced

13:48

such deadly strikes in episodes 97 and 98. But as

13:50

the 19th century closes, Karl

13:55

Marx's prediction of an imminent workers

13:57

revolution still hasn't occurred. Instead,

13:59

and various takes on Marxism emerge,

14:02

many softer ones, creating a big

14:04

tent on the political left. As

14:07

historian George Brinkley explains, quote,

14:10

Most Marxists had observed that progress

14:12

in expanding democracy and providing a

14:15

broader sharing in the benefits of

14:17

capitalism by the masses, at

14:19

least in the West, had made

14:22

this revolutionary interpretation obsolete and largely

14:24

irrelevant. The compromise between

14:26

liberalism's demand for freedom and the

14:28

socialist demand for using the state

14:31

to correct the injustices of unrestrained

14:33

capitalism had apparently created something Marx's

14:36

laws had held impossible, the

14:39

achievement of a more just society

14:41

through democracy. Close quote,

14:44

we saw such compromises in the Progressive

14:46

Era episodes. It wasn't

14:49

a cakewalk, but corporations and unions

14:51

compromised on wages while the nation's

14:53

representative government responded to the people

14:55

with new laws and regulations to

14:57

protect its working citizens, all while

15:00

not destroying the free market incentives

15:02

that drive innovators and corporations. But

15:05

that doesn't mean revolution seeking radicals

15:08

disappear. For instance,

15:10

anarchists, a group that differs

15:12

from Marxists and not seeing stages as

15:14

much as wanting to jump right to

15:17

a government free world of communism are

15:19

violent enough that Ellis Island rejects immigrants

15:21

who adhere to the philosophy. The

15:24

nation reels when anarchist Leon Cholgosch

15:26

assassinates President William McKinley in Yikes.

15:32

In 1905, the Industrial

15:34

Workers of the World, or the

15:36

IWW, organizes in Chicago. A

15:39

mixture of some 200 radicals,

15:41

they include Marxists, other socialists,

15:44

and anarchists. They seek

15:46

to unite all workers under a single

15:48

union. Some of their

15:50

members, which are called Wobblies, are

15:52

or will be famous, like songwriter

15:54

Joe Hill or our old

15:56

acquaintance from a few past episodes, Indiana

15:59

Native and several times socialist

16:01

candidate for US president, Eugene,

16:03

or just Jean dabs. But

16:06

even with famous Jean in the

16:08

ranks, their radicalism scares many. On

16:11

November 5th, 1916, when

16:14

300 Wobblies head to Everett,

16:16

Washington to support striking shingle

16:18

workers, authorities respond by arming

16:20

and deputizing some 200 men.

16:23

This only escalates things. We

16:25

don't know who fired first, but scores are

16:27

injured while two civilian deputies and five or

16:29

more Wobblies end up dead. 74 Wobblies

16:33

are also arrested. They're all

16:35

acquitted, but the blood spilled in

16:38

Everett only further solidifies the IWW

16:40

image not just as radicals, but

16:42

violent radicals. Meanwhile,

16:45

the Great War is exacerbating America's

16:47

concerns about radicals overall. First

16:49

off, the war proves a catalyst for

16:52

an actual workers revolution in Russia. We

16:54

got the broad strokes of this

16:57

in episode 130, but briefly the

16:59

war enables balding exiled Russian radical

17:01

Vladimir Lenin to return in 1917

17:03

and emerge as the revolutionary leader

17:06

of a socialist state. In

17:08

his take on Marxism, stage three

17:11

doesn't have to be initiated by

17:13

a swelling of class conscious workers

17:15

in an industrialized nation. A

17:18

minority like his brilliantly

17:20

if disingenuously named party,

17:22

the Bolsheviks or majoritarians

17:25

will do nicely. Nor

17:27

does the state have to be fully industrialized. Lenin

17:30

says a state dictatorship can step in

17:32

and plan the economy. The

17:34

success of Russia's Bolsheviks or communists

17:37

as after the war, the term

17:39

communist is used to describe Marxism's

17:41

full on revolutionaries as opposed to

17:43

more democratically inclined socialists increases America's

17:46

fear of the far left. To

17:48

pull from episode 133, these fears contribute to Congress

17:52

clamping down on possible dissent with

17:54

the espionage, sabotage and sedition acts.

17:58

They make even speaking against the war. effort

18:00

or the US government a crime. It

18:03

doesn't take long for outspoken socialist Gene Debs

18:05

to run afoul of laws like that. Speaking

18:08

in Canton, Ohio, on June 16,

18:12

1918, he tells his audience that war is

18:14

wrong, that it forces workers to kill each

18:16

other in the name of nationalism. He

18:18

states his solidarity with Russia's radical

18:21

Bolsheviks. Gene is soon

18:23

arrested. The Hoosiers trial will

18:25

have a far reaching impact. It's

18:31

a cloudy afternoon, September 11, 1918. We're

18:35

in Cleveland, Ohio, inside the white

18:37

granite federal building's two story oak

18:40

and marble courtroom, where America's famed

18:42

socialist Eugene Debs is on trial,

18:44

charged with violating the Espionage Act

18:46

while speaking in Canton. Currently

18:49

in the middle of a 10 minute recess, the

18:52

room is relatively quiet. Jowled

18:54

the spectacle judge David Westenhaver sits

18:56

at the bench. The packed

18:58

courtroom spectators sit on the gallery's

19:01

creaking wooden benches. All

19:03

are anxious. While the

19:05

prosecution is struggling to prove Gene's

19:07

speech had malicious intent or made

19:09

any in the crowd turn anti-draft,

19:11

the defense is entirely focused on

19:13

one thing, the First Amendment's

19:15

guarantee to the right of free speech. Gene

19:19

is determined to challenge the Espionage and

19:21

Sedition Acts themselves. He

19:23

insists that they have nothing to take

19:25

back. So what

19:27

will happen? Well

19:30

the recess is up. Let's find

19:32

out. Gene

19:34

rises. Though here with

19:36

counsel, the 62 year old famed orator

19:38

and former presidential candidate is ready to

19:40

speak on his own behalf. He

19:43

walks toward the judge. They stare

19:45

at each other for a full minute before

19:47

the socialist turns toward the jury. The

19:50

thunder cracking in the distance. Gene

19:52

begins. For the first time in

19:54

my life, I appear before

19:56

a jury in a court of law to

19:59

answer to an indictment for crime.

20:02

I am not a lawyer. I know

20:04

only that you gentlemen are to hear the

20:07

evidence brought against me. I

20:10

would not retract a word. I

20:12

have been accused of having obstructed the war.

20:15

I admit it. Gentlemen, I

20:18

abhor war. I

20:20

would oppose the war if I stood alone. I believe

20:24

in the right of free speech in war as

20:26

well as in peace. I

20:28

would not under any circumstances gag

20:31

the lips of my bitterest enemy.

20:34

I have told you that I am no lawyer, but

20:37

it seems to me that I know

20:39

enough to know that if Congress enacts

20:41

any law that conflicts with this provision

20:43

in the Constitution, that law is void.

20:47

If the espionage law finally stands,

20:49

then the Constitution of the United

20:51

States is dead. Gentlemen,

20:54

I am the smallest part of this trial. There

20:57

is an infinitely greater issue that is being

21:00

tried today in this court, though you may

21:02

not be conscious of it. American

21:05

institutions are on trial here before

21:07

a court of American citizens. My

21:10

fate is in your hands. I

21:13

am prepared for the verdict. Responding

21:16

to this speech, prosecutor Edwin Wertz

21:18

makes an analogy that will forever

21:20

impact America's understanding of free speech.

21:22

He tells the jury,

21:25

a man could go into a crowded

21:27

theater and yell fire when there was

21:29

no fire and people trampled to death

21:31

and he would not be punished for

21:33

it because the Constitution says he has

21:36

the right of free speech. The

21:40

next day, the jury finds Jean guilty.

21:43

He sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jean's

21:50

sentencing, which he's appealing, doesn't

21:52

end the nation's concern over the Reds. That

21:55

same September, 1918, as

21:58

American doughboys prepare for the Muzogona offensive,

22:00

North Carolina Democrat, Senator Lee Slater

22:03

Overman sets up a committee to

22:05

investigate claims of Russian Bolshevik and

22:07

German influence in the US. Their

22:10

investigation of foreign radical influence will go well

22:12

into next year. And as

22:15

the Overman committee investigates, dock workers

22:17

in Seattle strike to end wage

22:19

controls put in place during the

22:21

Great War and still in place

22:23

despite the armistice. They're greeted with

22:25

threats rather than negotiation. So the

22:28

Seattle Central Labor Council calls for

22:30

a general strike. More than

22:32

60,000 workers respond on February

22:34

5, 1919. Seattle grinds to a stop. Sounds

22:40

effective, but not in the current

22:42

political climate. Three days

22:44

later, the Los Angeles Times front

22:46

page headline screams. Reds

22:48

directing Seattle strike. Indeed,

22:51

newspapers the nation over are blaming

22:53

the strike on Bolshevism. Ooh,

22:56

that's not what these unions want.

22:58

But between this national narrative and

23:00

Mayor ol Hansen upping the city's

23:02

police force, Seattle workers decide this

23:04

strike isn't helping. It's only

23:07

making them look like radicals. They

23:09

end the strike on February 11. Seattle workers

23:12

folding doesn't slow the nation's growing fears

23:15

of Bolshevik influence though. As

23:17

we learned in the last episode, doughboys

23:19

returning from France are met with little

23:21

work, low wages and inflation. Some

23:24

do as American workers have done for generations. They

23:26

turned to the unions. Now,

23:29

as was the case in Seattle, most

23:31

of these veterans in unions are thinking

23:33

about wages, not seizing the means of

23:36

production. But as Vladimir Lenin and his

23:38

crew found the Communist International, aka

23:41

the third international in March

23:43

1919. And as the US

23:45

sees hundreds of strikes that same month and

23:47

in April, newspapers blame

23:49

the strikes on Russia and

23:51

radicals. America is

23:53

seen red. And

23:55

sadly, actual radical revolutionaries

23:58

like the anarchist immigrant Luigi

24:00

Galiani and his followers, the

24:02

Galianists, see opportunity within this

24:05

growing red hysteria. Yes,

24:07

as I mentioned earlier, the

24:09

Galianists mail their largely unsuccessful

24:12

bonds in late April for

24:14

a May Day, that is,

24:16

an International Workers Day, delivery.

24:19

But unrelated to those bombings, April is

24:21

also when the Supreme Court rules on

24:23

Jean Debs' appeal upholding his

24:26

verdict as guilty. American

24:28

leftists and unionists are outraged

24:30

and in blue collar immigrant

24:32

Cleveland, this means protest. And

24:35

what better day than May Day? The

24:38

plan is to crave, but in this

24:40

current political climate, that's a recipe

24:43

for blood. It's

24:47

about 2.30pm, May 1st or

24:50

May Day, 1919. In Cleveland,

24:53

Ohio, where some 30,000 are in the

24:56

streets creating, or rather,

24:58

protesting. Threads, clothes

25:00

and flags abound. Some

25:02

are uniformed vets. The

25:05

throngs carry signs with various slogans. Workers

25:08

unite, freedom for Debs. And

25:11

they run the less political spectrum. Some

25:14

are Wobblies, others are socialists,

25:17

while some are just union workers marching

25:19

under the American Federation of Labor's banner.

25:22

But many spectating Clevelanders, some of

25:24

whom are booing, see no differences.

25:27

With the newspapers reporting anarchists are nailing

25:29

bonds, a union man might as well

25:32

be a Bolshevik, a Communist.

25:35

All they see are a bunch of red. Still,

25:38

things are peaceful until the

25:40

parade reaches superior avenues colonial theater,

25:42

that is. It's

25:45

here that a group of disapproving Great War

25:47

veterans confront the parade. The

25:49

former Doboys grab at the red flag. Mounted

25:52

police ride forward as a struggle ensues, but

25:55

in the blink of an eye, all turns

25:57

riotous. The play lot becomes

25:59

a mirror. Knives slash

26:01

guns discharged in the air fists

26:03

and clubs fly. Thousands

26:05

of nearby victory loan workers, vets

26:08

and marchers, including others that, clash

26:10

while hundreds of police try to keep order.

26:14

On Woodland Avenue, Detective Charles Woodland

26:16

charges in with his revolver drawn.

26:19

He shouts, Stand back! By

26:22

adding man charges forward, the detective

26:24

fires, hitting the rioter in the

26:26

chin, including an instant air. Meanwhile,

26:29

Sergeant Robert Barrett is shot in the

26:31

leg at the corner of Euclid in none. At

26:34

Elstwall, a protester strikes police lieutenant

26:36

Nelson Neifer on the head, fracturing

26:38

his skull. When

26:40

the parade route is finally cleared, hundreds

26:43

are injured or arrested. Two

26:45

or three are dead. Meanwhile,

26:47

the red flags are gathered and burned

26:49

as the Socialist Party headquarters on Prospect

26:52

Avenue is crashed. Cleveland

26:54

goes to sleep that night to the sound of

26:56

breaking glass. Typewriters crashing

26:58

onto the pavement and

27:00

crackling clean. Our

27:08

lives are filled with assumptions. Some

27:10

are small, like what we might think of

27:13

the importance, or lack thereof, of mosquitoes. Others

27:15

are bigger, like how the courts interpret the Bill

27:18

of Rights. But be it big

27:20

or small, tracing the history of these events

27:22

and things all around us right up to

27:24

and through our present, is what NPR's

27:26

Throughline is all about. Hosts

27:29

Rond of the Fala and Ramtin Ira Bluey take

27:31

us into the past and place us in the

27:33

middle of it, putting us inside

27:35

the stories from then that shape the world we live

27:37

in now. By revisiting

27:39

well-known historical events from new angles and

27:41

introducing you to historical figures that have

27:44

long been ignored, Throughline

27:46

tells a different story. At a

27:48

time when information continues to come at us

27:50

faster and faster, sometimes you need to hit

27:52

pause. NPR's Throughline takes you

27:54

back in time to the sources of the

27:56

new stories filling your feed. Listen

27:58

now to Throughline from... and PR wherever you

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slash htds. Cleveland's

29:17

experience isn't an outlier to labor-related

29:19

violence on May Day, 1919. That

29:23

same day, Boston and New York City

29:25

both see blood-soaked riots. This

29:28

violence, on top of the anarchist mail bombings

29:30

intended to strike 36 American

29:32

leaders, drives a national

29:34

call for retribution against these violent

29:36

radicals, particularly as many fearfully though

29:39

incorrectly assume that foreign Bolsheviks are

29:41

now leading the whole American left

29:43

in a revolutionary effort to turn

29:45

the United States red. Yet,

29:48

despite being among the targets of the

29:50

largely failed anarchist bombings, acting

29:52

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer refuses to cast

29:55

such a broad net. Indeed,

29:57

among his first actions as AG, is

30:00

releasing thousands of detained German descent

30:02

immigrants. That

30:04

disposition shifts on June 2nd, as Mitch

30:07

stands in the smoldering ruins of his

30:09

library, knowing that luck alone saved him,

30:11

his wife, and his daughter from dying

30:13

at the hands of an anarchist bomber.

30:16

And further, as he learns that his home

30:18

was but one in a coordinated bombing with

30:21

targets in eight cities. This

30:23

second round of anarchist bombings in 1919 only

30:26

kills two people, nightwatchman

30:28

William Vayner and, as we know,

30:30

Mitchell's assailant. But the

30:32

combination of these bombings and riots paint

30:34

a powerful red picture. Thus,

30:37

our soon Senate confirmed Attorney General is ready

30:39

to fight the Red Menace. To

30:42

do so, he looks to his Department

30:44

of Justice's Bureau of Investigation. Now

30:47

you might be thinking I meant the

30:50

Federal Bureau of Investigation. That's

30:52

a future name. This

30:55

federal force, founded in 1908 by

30:57

then President Theodore Roosevelt to investigate

31:00

government corruption, is called the Bureau

31:02

of Investigation, or the BOI. And

31:05

like other federal offices, the Great War expanded

31:07

its power, particularly its power

31:09

to push for the deportation of

31:11

radical immigrants. October

31:13

1918's immigration bill empowered the

31:15

executive, and thus the AG-run

31:18

Department of Justice and the

31:20

BOI, to deport non-citizens

31:22

who are members of or

31:24

affiliated with any organization, association,

31:26

society, or group that supports

31:28

sabotage or violence against the

31:30

United States. In

31:32

fact, this law leads directly to

31:35

the deportation of anarchist Luigi Galleoni.

31:38

Well, given this law, Attorney General Mitchell

31:40

Palmer sees a path to ridding the

31:42

United States of what he now believes

31:45

to be a largely foreign radical attempt

31:47

to destroy his nation, and frankly, to

31:50

make a name for himself and national headlines while he's

31:52

at it. Like New

31:54

York State's Lusk Committee, Mitchell wants

31:56

to carry out sweeping raids on leftist

31:58

organizations. To that end, he

32:01

and his two right-hand men, Director

32:03

at the BOI, Mustacheo and Heavy

32:05

Set, William Flynn, aka Big Bill,

32:08

and Assistant Attorney General Francis

32:10

Garvin, craft a plan on June 17th.

32:14

It's twofold. One, foreign

32:16

radicals picked up in these raids will be sent

32:18

packing. To quote Mitch, the

32:20

deportation statute ought to be

32:22

used liberally against these alien

32:24

anarchists, these alien troublemakers.

32:29

Two, the Department of Justice will pressure the

32:31

states to prosecute any citizens they catch as

32:33

well. Now, how

32:35

will these raids operate, and who will run

32:38

point? Again, the

32:40

trio has a plan for both. They

32:42

decide to create a new office

32:44

within the BOI, called the Radical

32:46

Division, which will focus specifically on

32:48

collecting information on radical groups across

32:50

America. As for who will run it,

32:53

well, Assistant AG Francis Garvin

32:55

suggests the Department of Justice's

32:58

sharp, clean-shaven, 24-year-old recent George

33:00

Washington law graduate who's an

33:02

expert on immigration law and

33:04

a full-on workaholic, Jay

33:07

Edgar Hoover. As

33:12

Big Bill's agents conduct surveillance and Edgar

33:14

creates a filing system for all the

33:16

incoming case files, Mitchell's actually

33:19

losing heart. Or perhaps

33:21

having second thoughts? Acting

33:23

on Big Bill's and Francis Garvin's warning,

33:26

New York City has 11,000 policemen ready

33:28

to protect the city from an insurgency on

33:30

the 4th of July. But

33:32

the only explosions are fireworks. How

33:35

come all the information that Edgar is collecting

33:38

is so boring? Intel

33:40

is finding very few groups actually calling

33:42

for violence. While the

33:44

Union of Russian Workers calls for taking up

33:46

arms in its membership agreement, it

33:49

appears most of these Russian immigrant workers are

33:51

there less for radical revolution and more to

33:53

meet Russian women. Mitch

33:55

and his boys are looking for

33:57

a massive, coordinated, underground, Bolshevik socialist

34:00

for anarchist conspiracy, but

34:02

all they're finding is they talk from small

34:04

potatoes. Yet. The

34:07

nation's fears are not diminishing as we enter late 1919.

34:11

Radical unrest is on the rise. Could

34:13

it be, as Edgar wonders, that

34:15

black Americans are going communist? Meanwhile

34:18

Americans take note as famed anarchist

34:20

and immigrant Emma Goldman sent

34:22

to prison for denouncing the draft in 1917 is released. The

34:26

nation's citizens listen earnestly that September as President

34:29

Woodrow Wilson, touring the country to drum up

34:31

support for his league of nations, warns an

34:33

audience in Des Moines, quote,

34:36

that poison Bolshevism

34:38

will steadily spread more and more rapidly

34:40

spread until it may be that even

34:43

this beloved land of ours will be

34:45

distracted and distorted by it. Close

34:48

quote. But the summer

34:50

of apparent inactivity in the radical division

34:52

shouts coming from coast to coast for

34:54

action and news of Woodrow Wilson falling

34:56

sick, making a 1920 presidential bid

34:59

sound more and more possible for

35:01

interested Democrats. Mitchell Palmer

35:03

can't wait any longer. With

35:05

Edgar's help, the attorney general picks a

35:07

target for a big raid. It's

35:13

about eight or nine o'clock on a chilly evening,

35:15

Friday, November 7th, 1919. We're

35:19

at the Russian People's House or

35:21

the Union of Russian Workers headquarters

35:23

located in the four story red

35:25

brick building at 133 East 15th

35:27

Street in Gramercy Park, New York

35:29

City. Longtime educator

35:31

and Russian immigrant, 50 year

35:33

old, bespectacled Mitchell Lavrosky is teaching algebra

35:36

to a group of fellow immigrants from

35:38

his country. Mitchell loves

35:40

teaching here. It's a great way to

35:42

use his time as he waits for his citizenship to

35:44

go through. Finally, a

35:47

police officer pushes through the door, revolver

35:49

at the ready. He barks

35:51

at the startled Russians. Out

35:53

into the hall, everybody line up there and don't

35:55

make any noise. Nobody panics.

35:57

This is the third police raid on the

36:00

the Russian people's house this year. They

36:02

know the drill, but still, one

36:04

of the women present asks what the purpose of the

36:06

raid is. She gets a

36:08

quick reply. Shut up there, you, if you

36:10

know what's good for you. BOI

36:13

agents in collared shirts, ties and winter coats

36:15

mix with the boys in blue as they

36:17

rush into the building. They

36:19

search through every nook and cranny, bagging any writings

36:21

or books they find while others search the men

36:24

and women. It's at this

36:26

point that, according to Mitchell,

36:28

without any provocation, an agent

36:30

struck me on the head

36:32

and simultaneously two others struck and

36:34

beat me, wooshing. It

36:37

tumbles down the staircase to the lobby.

36:40

Did he fall, or was he thrown? He

36:42

and the agents will recall it differently. However,

36:45

it happens, newspaper reports confirm that,

36:47

after Mitchell lands in the building's

36:49

lobby, the police and BOI agents

36:51

continue to beat the Russian math

36:53

teacher. Her BOI director,

36:55

Big Bill Flynn's instructions, who's personally

36:58

overseeing this raid, everyone

37:00

who can't produce citizenship papers or won't

37:02

answer questions is placed in the waiting

37:04

police wagons outside. The

37:06

officers arrest 211 here tonight. Most

37:13

of those arrested at the Russian people's house are

37:15

innocent. As one Russian will

37:17

later tell the newspapers, we were

37:20

attending classes, reading newspapers, talking

37:22

and talking, then the Cossacks.

37:26

They're released by morning. 38,

37:29

however, are identified as actual Reds. They're

37:32

sent straight from BOI headquarters to Ellis Island.

37:35

According to the Chicago Tribune, they're wearing

37:37

bandages and have black eyes. Andy

37:40

Taney yells to the watching crowds, we

37:42

are going back to Russia. That's

37:45

a free country. New

37:47

York isn't the only city to see such raids on November

37:49

7th, 1919. Boston,

37:52

Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, and

37:54

yes, Cleveland. 18

37:56

cities are hit simultaneously, all targeting the Union

37:58

of Russian Workers. resulting in 1,182 arrests. Most

38:00

are ultimately released. Only 249 are deported, leaving

38:03

that December

38:08

aboard the Buford, or

38:10

the Soviet Ark as the Russia-bound vessel

38:12

is dubbed. But even

38:15

though these raids, called the Palmer

38:17

Raids, failed to produce mass

38:19

deportations, AG Mitchell Palmer is a

38:22

hero. Newspapers acknowledge that

38:24

the raids are indeed violent, but that's

38:26

easy to overlook with famous anarchists like

38:28

Emma Goldman shipping out. Furthermore,

38:31

Mitch and his team report that they've captured

38:33

a plan for the overthrow of America as

38:35

well as a counterfeit money press in Newark.

38:39

Meanwhile, the nation's coal strike is suddenly

38:41

ending as unions grow timid not wanting

38:43

to come across as radicals. Things

38:46

are looking good for Mitchell then, who's moving

38:48

to the front of the line for Democratic

38:50

presidential hopefuls. So good, in

38:52

fact, that he has to hand off

38:54

the next big raid to J. Edgar Hoover entirely.

38:57

That raid goes down on January 2, 1920.

39:01

It's massive. Edgar

39:04

hits hard across dozens of cities.

39:07

Over 3,000 people are arrested and at

39:09

least as many taken and held in

39:11

custody, sometimes for hours, sometimes for months

39:13

awaiting charges. Despite the

39:15

pushback against Palmer Raid violence last November

39:18

and orders to the BLI to remain

39:20

peaceful, these January raids are so vast

39:22

that the Bureau has to call on

39:24

local police and citizen groups for help,

39:27

which means these raids are often just as bad, if

39:29

not worth. Anyone without

39:31

citizenship papers could expect to face

39:33

interrogation, and if they refuse to

39:35

confess, well, Edgar is forced

39:37

to admit, quote, there

39:40

had been clear cases of brutality in the

39:42

raids, close quote. But

39:45

even when the rounded up immigrants are

39:47

not beaten, they're often detained in tight,

39:49

overcrowded and ill-prepared jails. Secretary

39:52

of Labor William B. Wilson, who oversees the

39:54

Bureau of Immigration and is not related to

39:56

the president, is frustrated. He

39:59

tells eight- AG Mitchell Palmer that his office

40:01

can't handle all the deportation cases being shoved

40:03

at him. Furthermore, as

40:06

a proud Scottish immigrant, Pennsylvania

40:08

coal miner, and union man,

40:10

Secretary William Wilson is not a fan

40:13

of how Mitchell fails to delineate between

40:15

union workers and radical Marxists or anarchists.

40:19

But while William is willing to write

40:21

angry letters, Mitchell gets his first real

40:23

opponent when William falls ill and is

40:25

forced to hand the reins to Assistant

40:27

Secretary of Labor Lewis Post. This

40:30

71-year-old New Jersey native may look

40:32

like a philosophy professor, picture

40:34

Sigmund Freud but with thick dark hair,

40:37

a full gray beard, and all glowed

40:39

up, but Lewis comes into the

40:41

office armed with an extensive knowledge of immigration

40:43

law and a soft heart for the underdog.

40:46

Now, Lewis is not a socialist, and

40:49

he supports deporting violent radicals,

40:52

but the Assistant Labor Secretary is shocked

40:54

at what he finds looking into these

40:56

deportation cases. Some warrants

40:58

were mimeographed copies that weren't even completely

41:00

filled out. Some called

41:02

for the arrest of people that simply attended a

41:05

socialist meeting, even though they weren't members. Working

41:08

day and night through March and April of 1920, he covers

41:10

1,600 cases and scraps 1,141

41:13

of these warrants in the process. Mitchell

41:18

is enraged. His presidential campaign

41:20

is built on the success of these raids,

41:23

and now they're being undermined by this Van

41:25

Dyke bearded bureaucrat? Labor

41:27

Secretary William Wilson is healthy and comes back

41:29

on the job by April, but Lewis has

41:31

already canceled the warrants. And

41:34

so, as President Woodrow Wilson calls for his

41:36

first cabinet meeting since his stroke some six

41:38

months ago, Mitchell is ready to

41:40

have words with Lewis' boss. It's

41:46

about 10 a.m., Wednesday, April 14, 1920.

41:51

President Woodrow Wilson sits at the desk in

41:53

his study at the White House, smiling as

41:55

Chief Usher I. Coover announces each

41:57

member of his cabinet upon entry.

42:00

Aik does so to help

42:02

Woodrow remember their names. This

42:04

is the first meeting since September, before

42:06

Woodrow's collapse in October, and none of

42:08

these men know the full extent of

42:10

what happened. Woodrow's wife,

42:12

Edith, and his doctor, Admiral Carrie Grayson,

42:15

have helped to keep his stroke a

42:17

guarded secret. The

42:19

Cabinet soon gets down to business. Strikes

42:22

have erupted across the country again. Railroad

42:24

workers, truckers, elevator operators, and more.

42:28

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer is certain he knows what's

42:30

behind all of this. Bolsheviks

42:32

and the IWW. Secretary

42:36

of Labor, William Wilson, tries to temper this

42:38

fiery take. The Scottish-born,

42:40

Pennsylvania coal-filled, raised, Union

42:42

supporter answers. They, of

42:44

course, promote it, but economic conditions and the

42:47

high cost of living have some part. Mitchell

42:50

isn't having it, though. The AG

42:52

and Labor Secretary are soon in a heated

42:54

argument. Or rages

42:56

against Assistant Secretary of Labor, Louis

42:58

Post, shouting, If acting

43:01

Secretary Post had deported them, the strike

43:03

would have ended. William

43:05

fires back in defense of his assistant secretary.

43:08

All who committed overt acts or joined

43:10

the Communist Labor Party by signing have

43:12

been deported. If Post were

43:14

removed from office, it would end the strike.

43:17

It might well aggravate it. First

43:20

Lady, Edith Wilson, and Dr. Carrie Grayson push into

43:22

the room. Civil Secretary

43:24

Josephus Daniels will later recall that both

43:26

have, quote, Anxiety

43:29

written on their faces, close

43:31

quote. Woodrow smiles

43:34

at his wife and then his cabinet.

43:37

The men wimp at the professorial

43:39

president's staggers and limps toward his

43:41

wife and doctor. Edith

43:43

tells the gathered cabinet, holding

43:45

this cabinet meeting is an experiment, you know. But

43:49

as he leaves, Woodrow has been so out

43:51

of it since his stroke that he's learning

43:53

much about his attorney general's right to hunt

43:55

in this meeting, stops and looks

43:58

at Mitchell and William. Gently,

44:00

he says to the AG, Palmer,

44:04

do not let this country see right. And

44:07

with that, the President lint

44:09

into his life's arms and

44:11

leaves his camera behind. The

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HCBS is sponsored by BetterHelp. You

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know what surprised me the most as I've

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studied the lives of US presidents? Here they

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are, under pressure and bearing responsibilities few of

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us can even imagine. Yet many

44:29

if not most of them manage to make

44:31

time for themselves every day. Like John Quincy

44:33

Adams, who had an evening ritual of chassem

44:35

billiards with the fam. Or Theodore Roosevelt, who

44:37

basically invented the idea of going for a

44:39

run. If they can do it, you can

44:41

do it. Sometimes we just need a little

44:43

help figuring out how to give ourselves permission.

44:46

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45:22

Being a part of a royal family might seem

45:24

enticing, but more often than not, it

45:26

comes at the expense of everything else. Like

45:28

your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your

45:30

head. Wondery's new podcast, Even

45:33

the Royals, pulls back the curtain on royal

45:35

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45:37

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45:39

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45:44

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45:46

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45:50

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45:53

spent her whole life working toward perfection

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and ultimately cost her her happiness. Or

45:58

King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He

46:00

was only 18 years old when his father died,

46:02

leaving the crown to him and a duty to

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46:33

Let The Country See Red What

46:36

did President Woodrow Wilson mean? Does

46:39

that mean stop the raids or

46:41

to push harder? The phrase

46:43

clearly stuck with A.G. Mitchell Palmer

46:45

as that same day he tells

46:47

reporters, quote, some people

46:50

thought in January when I made my

46:52

statement about the red activities and began

46:54

the raids that I was seeing red,

46:57

close quote. But nevertheless,

47:00

Mitch isn't caving. He

47:02

goes on to assure the reporters that

47:04

more strikes and unrest can be expected.

47:07

Meanwhile, Mitch finds congressional allies ready

47:10

to attack Assistant Labor Secretary Lewis

47:12

Post. Congressman Homer

47:14

Hooch of Kansas moves to impeach Lewis.

47:18

Ohio's Congressman Martin Davie supports this

47:20

using the A.G.'s Cabinet meeting claims

47:22

almost verbatim, saying that the nation's

47:25

current strikes only continue because Lewis

47:27

stopped those deportations. But

47:29

Labor Secretary William Wilson hits back. He

47:32

immediately holds a new hearing on the

47:34

Communist Labor Party, further interrogating whether the

47:36

head of the Bureau of Investigation's radical

47:38

division, J. Edgar Hoover, is in the

47:40

right to deport its immigrant members. On

47:44

April 24th, 1920, Edgar

47:46

makes a great show entering the hearing

47:48

with stacks of seized communist literature. But

47:51

the defense attorneys refuse to be intimidated.

47:54

They put the squeeze on the Department of Justice.

47:57

Who are Edgar's informants? How in the

47:59

world? involved, were they, in setting up meetings

48:02

before the January raids. Young

48:04

and inexperienced, Edgar fails to keep his

48:06

cool. He accuses the

48:08

defense of attacking him personally. This

48:11

emotional outburst only leads to more thinking

48:13

that perhaps Lewis is right. Maybe

48:16

these red raids have gotten out of hand.

48:19

That impression only grows when the radical division

48:21

warns the country that this year's May Day

48:23

will be far worse than last year's. Last

48:27

time, Americans can expect a

48:29

widespread, violent Bolshevik revolution. Even

48:32

with concerns mounting that Mitchell and Edgar

48:34

might be crying wolf, the country prepares.

48:37

Thousands of policemen are ready to meet the

48:39

threat. DC itself is put

48:42

under a lockdown that papers call, quote,

48:44

unequaled in the history of Washington,

48:47

close quote. Then

48:49

it arrives. May Day, 1920.

48:54

Nothing happens. It's not

48:56

just less than last year. It's positively

48:58

peaceful. Putting insult to

49:00

injury, one newspaper leads with the headline. Palmer

49:03

riot predictions fail. Nobody

49:06

murdered yet. Ouch. It's

49:09

not long after this that Lewis appears before

49:11

Congress for his impeachment hearing. Speaking

49:14

for 10 hours in his own defense across May 7th

49:16

and 8th, 1920, he

49:18

not only provides legal and technical details,

49:21

he cracks jokes. Where

49:23

Edgar looks like a petulant child, Lewis

49:25

appears as the informed adult. But

49:28

stepping back for a moment, the difference

49:30

between the two men is a matter of

49:33

perspective. To Edgar, membership

49:35

alone in a radical group makes

49:37

a person radical and thus justifies

49:39

deportation or prosecution. But

49:42

not to Lewis. He looks at

49:44

the cases individually, asking if the person

49:46

in question actually shares the group's radical

49:48

beliefs. And even then, has

49:50

this individual pursued those goals with violence?

49:53

While Edgar is quick to look at the numbers,

49:55

Lewis is just as quick to dismiss people as

49:58

not grasping what these groups have to say. stand

50:00

for. These raids

50:03

did capture real, violent, and

50:05

revolutionary radicals, like

50:07

the mail bombing Galianists, but

50:10

these groups were so small and factionalized that

50:12

they would have had a hard time overthrowing the

50:14

Denny's, much less the US government. This

50:17

becomes clearer as the hearing continues.

50:20

Eventually, Congressman Edward Poe asks Lewis

50:23

if he realizes that his high

50:25

bar will make deportations significantly more

50:27

difficult. The assistant labor

50:30

secretary answers, quote, every

50:32

rule in the interest of personal liberty

50:34

makes it more difficult to take personal

50:36

liberty away from a man who is

50:38

entitled to his liberty, close

50:41

quote, damn, showing

50:44

himself to be not a champion of

50:46

the reds, but the values of individual

50:48

liberties upon which the United States stands,

50:51

and which do indeed conflict with Marxism's

50:53

values of heavy state intervention in the

50:55

name of protection, even

50:57

congressman initially hostile to Lewis, start

51:00

to think the man has a point. Following

51:07

this crushing blow and decrease in

51:09

deportations, AG Mitchell Palmer and

51:11

director Edgar Hoover face damning claims from

51:14

groups like the National Popular Government League

51:16

and the National Civil Liberties Bureau or

51:18

the American Civil Liberties Union, as the

51:20

latter will soon be known. They're

51:23

accusing the Justice Department of operating

51:25

aspiring. Edgar responds by

51:28

having his BOI agents steal documents from

51:30

them. This will not be

51:32

the last time that Edgar will use his agents

51:34

to find her on those who criticize him or

51:36

his agencies. Meanwhile, Mitchell

51:38

is trying to find the balance between taking

51:41

the credit for attacking the Red Menace and

51:43

distancing himself from any overreach. Remember,

51:46

he's got a presidential campaign to run and

51:48

it's built on the idea that he's the

51:50

nation's protector. Unable to

51:52

back down, he insists that Lewis Post

51:54

has quote, perverted sympathy for

51:57

the criminal anarchists of the

51:59

country. Close quote even

52:02

as criticism for his raids mount on

52:04

all sides and Mitch has to admit

52:06

that some Suspects were taken without warrants

52:08

and beaten and that some in

52:10

his department acted illegally The

52:12

AG maintains that Lewis

52:15

spared admitted anarchists With

52:18

controversy brewing Congress asks Mitchell to

52:20

testify about his raids before the

52:22

Rules Committee as it decides on

52:24

Lewis's impeachment on June 1st Edgar

52:28

spends the rest of May preparing testimony

52:30

exhibits and talking points for the defense

52:33

For two days the committee listens as

52:35

the gray-haired AG reads the 209

52:37

pages prepared by his young protege

52:40

Mitchell rails against the liberal press and

52:43

their allies in Congress assuring all that

52:45

the red menace is real and only

52:47

waiting to strike I

52:49

wonder as Mitchell reads does

52:51

his mind drift to his wife and

52:53

curly-haired daughter and how radicals nearly killed

52:55

them almost Exactly one year ago Whatever

52:58

his intentions Congress decides to end the

53:00

impeachment inquiry by doing nothing to Lewis

53:02

and going into recess Neither

53:05

Mitchell nor Lewis have definitively won this

53:07

battle Meanwhile the nation seems

53:10

ready to move on from the Red Scare

53:13

But it's easy to move on when the streets are quiet

53:16

How will America respond if there's

53:18

another bomb? It's

53:23

a warm but damp late morning

53:25

Thursday September 16th 1920

53:27

we're at 23 Wall Street in

53:30

New York City just outside the

53:32

four-story tall Tennessee marble headquarters of

53:34

JP Morgan and company this

53:37

world-famous Bank may be progressively surrounded by

53:39

more and more Skyscrapers, but

53:41

even now more than seven years

53:44

since JP's death the house

53:46

of Morgan still stands apart Outside

53:49

this impressive monument to capitalism another

53:51

celebration of the dollar takes place

53:53

as messenger boys dash around cars motor by

53:55

and push cart vendors Jockey for sales all

53:57

in the echo of a constantly growing concrete

54:00

jungle. Just another busy

54:02

day for the Big Apple. As

54:05

all this daily commotion goes on, bells

54:07

at the nearby Trinity Church chime in

54:09

the mower. Nobody notices

54:11

the horse-drawn cart that pulls up

54:13

outside Morgan Bain. The

54:16

driver doesn't stand out, nor does the

54:18

horse or the worn wooden cart. Nobody

54:21

thinks twice as the driver hops off

54:23

the cart and walks away. And

54:25

that's when it happens. The

54:30

mass of the explosion goes

54:33

throughout downtown Manhattan. It

54:35

shatters the windows of the Morgan Bain in

54:37

every building around for half a mile while

54:39

throwing men, women, and children alike to the

54:41

ground and enveloping the whole area under

54:44

an ominous green cloud. Some

54:47

run for safety. Others help those

54:49

around them. Still more lie

54:51

on the ground, unable to even scream. The

54:54

wounded and dead are scattered everywhere

54:56

amidst the shattered glass and debris.

55:00

Inside the bank, shrapnel kills Bill

55:02

Joyce while John Donifue will die

55:04

later from his burn. Ultimately,

55:06

38 die and 300

55:08

are injured, as is the House

55:11

of Morgan. The blast leaves

55:13

deep pockmarks in the bank's marble

55:15

exterior that will remain visible forever.

55:22

Was it a bomb? Was it an

55:25

accident? The Bureau of Investigation

55:27

takes the case, but witnesses can't agree on

55:29

anything. Worse still, albeit for

55:31

good intentions, the Board of Governors for

55:33

the New York Stock Exchange has the

55:35

streets cleaned overnight, unintentionally sweeping away most

55:37

of the evidence. With

55:39

little to go on, the BOI initially decides

55:42

that the explosion was an accident. America's

55:44

radical groups quickly agree. They're quite happy not

55:47

to have the finger pointed at them. Still,

55:50

as the BOI continues its investigation,

55:52

a few threatening flyers surface, bearing

55:55

the same signature as the flyers found

55:57

after the bombing at Mitchell Palmer's home.

56:00

the American anarchist fighters. But

56:03

ultimately, there isn't enough to solve the

56:05

case. Though quite possibly

56:08

an anarchist attack, the

56:10

truth of the 1920 Wall Street bombing

56:12

will forever remain elusive. This

56:16

bombing leaves a deep impact. For

56:18

a generation, New York bankers will ask

56:20

one another where they were when that

56:22

explosion devastated Wall Street. And

56:24

yet, the nation is also exhausted

56:26

with seeing red. It

56:29

seems that Americans just want to

56:31

borrow a phrase from this year's

56:33

Republican presidential nominee, Warren G. Harding,

56:36

a return to normalcy. While

56:39

Warren's presidential run is a story for another

56:41

day, Mitchell's is not. In

56:43

the summer of 1920, he loses

56:46

Epidemicratic National Convention, which instead chooses

56:48

Ohio governor James Cox as its

56:50

candidate for president, and Mitchell's friend

56:52

Franklin D. Roosevelt for vice president.

56:56

In the end, it seems the Palmer

56:58

AIDS kill rather than help Mitchell's political

57:00

ambitions. When his tenure as

57:02

attorney general ends on March 4, 1921, so does his political

57:04

career. He

57:08

lives quietly with his wife, remaining friends

57:10

with Franklin D. Roosevelt until a heart

57:12

attack ends the former red hunting AG's

57:14

life on May 11, 1936. As

57:18

for J. Edgar Hoover, he survives the bad press

57:20

that comes from the Palmer AIDS, but he tries

57:22

to distance himself from them as much as possible.

57:25

The radical division gets rebranded with a name

57:28

change to the General Intelligence Division. Edgar

57:31

continues to work there until he's promoted in 1924 as

57:34

director of the Bureau of Investigation. He'll

57:37

hold that position well through its name change

57:39

to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935,

57:43

ultimately leading the Bureau for 48 years until

57:46

he too dies of a heart attack on May 2,

57:49

1972. But

57:52

that's a ways away. This isn't

57:54

the last we'll hear from Edgar. But

57:56

keeping our eye on the early 1920s, President

57:59

Warren Harding's call for a return to

58:01

normalcy starts to sink in. While

58:04

the Espionage Act sticks around, Congress repeals

58:06

the Sedition Act in March of 1921,

58:09

even as Gene Debs continues to rot in

58:11

prison for violating this law. In

58:14

fact, he even made his fifth run for president

58:16

in 1920 from his prison

58:18

cell. Many Americans want

58:20

to see mercy extended to the aging

58:22

socialist. That's something wartime

58:24

President Woodrow Wilson refused to do, but

58:27

Warren is sympathetic. And

58:29

so on Christmas Eve, Gene receives word

58:31

that he's going to get a Christmas

58:33

present from the US president, his

58:36

freedom. It's

58:41

almost noon, Christmas Eve, December

58:43

24, 1921. Just

58:46

like the last three Christmases, Gene Debs

58:48

is in his prison cell at the

58:50

Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. But this

58:52

Christmas could be his last year if

58:55

he accepts the president's offer, that is. He's

58:58

a bit torn about leaving. That

59:00

may sound crazy, but while President Warren

59:02

Harding has commuted his sentence along with

59:05

about 24 others, Gene

59:07

isn't sure it's right to accept his

59:09

freedom while more than 100 of his

59:11

fellow radicals remain behind bars. Further,

59:14

questions about the limits of free speech

59:17

during wartime will remain unanswered if he

59:19

accepts. Then again,

59:21

he's so tired. The

59:23

bald and gaunt First Amendment fighter is

59:25

now 66 years old. With

59:27

friends and family insisting that he can better fight

59:30

his battles as a free man, he

59:32

finally decides he should do it.

59:35

He'll accept his freedom. It's

59:38

now the following day, Christmas

59:40

morning. Having shared a

59:42

nice breakfast with Warden J.E. Deisch and said

59:45

a few goodbyes to inmates who are now

59:47

dear friends, the old, involving socialist

59:49

with $5 in a pocket of

59:52

his cheaply made suit walks down the

59:54

prison's halls. Then

59:56

the moment comes. He

59:58

breathes fresh air. as he

1:00:01

steps outside of the Atlanta Federal

1:00:03

Penitentiary. News real

1:00:05

cameras and prints capture the famous radical

1:00:07

walking toward a car, but

1:00:09

then suddenly he sleeps. Perhaps

1:00:12

this is his real Christmas presents. The

1:00:16

warden has let the prisoners come through the

1:00:18

windows to say goodbye. Three

1:00:20

stories of incarcerated men press against

1:00:22

the barred windows of the heavy,

1:00:25

white-stoned fortress clapping and cheering. Men

1:00:28

turns, waves his hat at them, and

1:00:30

weeps. He'll later call

1:00:33

this, quote, the most

1:00:35

deeply touching and impressive moment

1:00:37

and most profoundly dramatic incident in my

1:00:40

life. Their

1:00:44

cheers are audible for half a mile as Gene

1:00:46

is driven away to the train station. Once

1:00:49

there, he tells the trailing reporters that he

1:00:51

isn't going straight home to his wife over

1:00:53

500 miles away in Terre

1:00:55

Haute, Indiana. First, he's

1:00:58

visiting Washington, D.C. The

1:01:00

old radical will be joining President Warren Harding

1:01:03

for a late Christmas dinner at the White House. The

1:01:07

two men will largely keep this meeting between

1:01:09

themselves, but I can tell

1:01:11

you that when Gene arrives at the White

1:01:13

House the next day, December 26, Warren shakes

1:01:15

the aging troublemaker's hand and says, I have

1:01:19

heard so damn much about you, Mr.

1:01:21

Debs, that I am now very glad

1:01:23

to meet you personally. Harding

1:01:25

offers his classic toothy smile, missing

1:01:28

tooth and all. Gene

1:01:33

Debs spends the next few years thinking and

1:01:35

writing, but in bad health. He'll

1:01:38

die five years later in 1926. But

1:01:41

as we wrap the life of

1:01:44

this high-profile radical in A.G. Mitchell

1:01:46

Palmer's crusade, the close of

1:01:48

America's first red scare feels a bit

1:01:50

inconclusive. Being definitive

1:01:52

comes on the constitutionality of the raids.

1:01:55

J. Edgar Hoover's new General Intelligence Division

1:01:57

will be no more restrained than the

1:02:00

radical division was. Jean's

1:02:02

fight over the limits of free speech end with

1:02:04

little more than the idea that you cannot yell

1:02:06

fire in a crowded theater. Even

1:02:09

as a fatigued nation stops viewing

1:02:11

unions as being completely analogous to

1:02:13

violent revolutionaries, it seems Americans

1:02:15

will have more questions to answer on all of

1:02:17

the above in years ahead. As

1:02:20

for Mitchell Palmer, it's easy to view him

1:02:22

as a man mad with power, seeing red

1:02:24

everywhere, but I see him with some

1:02:27

compassion. He was a

1:02:29

different man before a revolutionary anarchist

1:02:31

literally brought violence to his doorstep.

1:02:34

Small wonder that the Reds loomed so

1:02:36

large in his eyes. At

1:02:38

the same time, Lewis Post's criticisms seem

1:02:40

to have been a necessary check, reminding

1:02:43

us of how fears, even

1:02:45

if well-founded or at least

1:02:47

understandable, can give way to excess.

1:02:50

To a witch hunt. But a

1:02:52

red witch hunt and questions about a

1:02:54

citizen's responsibilities and the limits of free

1:02:56

speech aren't the only challenges the nation

1:02:59

is facing in these early post-war years.

1:03:01

Renewed racial tension, violence, and

1:03:04

cold-blooded murder are sweeping across

1:03:06

the land. Next time,

1:03:08

we'll hear a deadlier story. A

1:03:11

story of a renewed, proof of plan.

1:03:19

History that doesn't seem to be created at all is going to

1:03:21

be a great deal. production

1:03:26

by Airship. Now designed by Molly

1:03:28

Baugh. Seeing music composed by Greg

1:03:30

Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by

1:03:32

Lindsay Blaine or Airship. For

1:03:34

bibliography of all primary and secondary sources,

1:03:37

please visit the playlist episode. It is

1:03:39

the HDDS podcast. History

1:03:48

that doesn't sound as great as the possible means of

1:03:50

great death. Also, research can be written

1:03:52

by Greg Jackson and Will. production

1:03:54

by Airship. Now designed by Molly

1:03:57

Baugh. Seeing music composed by Greg

1:03:59

Jackson. arrangement and additional composition

1:04:01

by Lindsey Graham or Airship. For

1:04:03

bibliography of all primary and secondary sources for such an

1:04:05

enrolled in the test of the

1:04:07

HGDS podcast.