1919 by Martin W. Sandler

Author:Martin W. Sandler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781547605767
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Eager to launch the assault as quickly as possible, Palmer asked the secretary of labor, who in 1919 had much broader powers than he or she would have today, to change the part of the deportation rules that allowed aliens to obtain legal help. He also asked the secretary to give him a warrant that would let him arrest any alien he wished to once a raid began, even if he had no proof that person had done anything wrong. The secretary, however, convinced that both requests were violations of the nation’s Bill of Rights, to whose protection even aliens were entitled, refused to grant Palmer’s requests.

Furious at the secretary, Palmer began seeking ways to get around the denial. Then fortune smiled on him. In mid-December the secretary became ill and was forced to go on sick leave. His replacement, a man in tune with Palmer’s beliefs, wasted no time in granting him a warrant for the arrest of three thousand aliens, most of whom Palmer suspected of being Communists.

On January 2, 1920, Palmer authorized raids across the country in which over four thousand people were arrested. In the same raid, more than two thousand other persons were taken into custody and held for a period of time without any charges being filed against them.

As far as public opinion was concerned, the result of the raids was far more positive than even Palmer could have hoped for. Praised throughout the country, particularly in the nation’s newspapers, his approval rating reached an all-time high. The Washington Post, which had been highly critical of the November raids, called for the deportation of the new suspects as quickly as possible, stating, “There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over infringement of liberty.” The Philadelphia Inquirer agreed, endowing one of its editions with the headline, “ALL ABOARD FOR THE NEXT SOVIET ARK.”

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