Why was there a 'Red Scare'?
1. Anti-immigrant sentiment, NATIVISM, & isolationism:
WWI → rise in nationalism & hatred of ideologies seen as un-American. Immigrants (esp. from S & E Europe) were feared as communists & anarchists.
2. Labour unrest:
Economic problems post-WWI → 3,600 strikes in 1919 (eg SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE & Boston Police Strike).
3. Anarchist bombings:
1919: Bombings inc. one on WALL STREET & attempts on govt officials' lives → fear of radical violence.
4. Russian Revolution & communism:
1917 Bolshevik Revolution & 1919 COMINTERN (aimed to spread global communism) → fears of similar US revolution.
5. Media sensationalism:
Exaggerated reports & propaganda reinforced public fears of radicals.
Sacco and Vanzetti
Italian immigrants & anarchists, arrested 5 May 1920 for armed robbery/murder at a Massachusetts shoe factory.
May 1921 trial: 61 identified them, but 107 testified they were elsewhere (ignored b/c Italian).
Ballistics showed Saccos gun fired bullets, but evidence was tampered with. No direct evidence against either man.
1925: Another man confessed to murders; Judge THAYER refused retrial.
Global protests (eg Mussolini intervened; IWW union called 3-day strike) rejected; both executed Aug 1927.
Results of the Red Scare
1. Govt surveillance: FBI infiltrated radical groups.
2. PALMER RAIDS (1919-20): Arrested 6,000 (Jews, Catholics, trade unionists, black people) w/o warrants across 36 cities.
3. Treason laws: ESPIONAGE ACT (1917) & Sedition Act (1918) → prosecution of 'threats' to national security.
4. Deportations: 1918 Immigration Act → anarchists like Emma Goldman deported.
5. High-profile trials: Cases like CENTRALIA MASSACRE, Sacco & Vanzetti → increased anti-radical sentiment.
6. Immigration quotas: Emergency Quota Act (1921) & Reed-Johnson Act (1924) restricted immigrants from certain countries.
7. Americanisation: Govt programme to assimilate immigrants.
8. Employers & landlords: Exploited Red Scare to fire/evict immigrant troublemakers.
9. Civil liberties: AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU, formed 1920) fought for rights but had limited success in 1920s.
The Scopes 'Monkey Trial', 1925
1. Fundamentalism
Early 20C: Fundamentalist movement (eg Virgin birth, Genesis creation story).
1925: Tennessee passed BUTLER ACT banning teaching evolution in schools.
2. The Scopes Trial
John Scopes (high school teacher) → agreed to be tried for breaking Act.
Defended by CLARENCE DARROW (ACLU lawyer); prosecution led by WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
Trial gained national attention: Darrow called Bryan as a witness, arguing about Bible's historicity.
Judge told jury the only issue was whether the law had been broken.
Scopes found guilty; fined $100 (later overturned b/c jury didnt set fine).
3. Results
Butler Act stayed law in Tennessee until 1967. Other states (Mississippi, Arkansas) passed anti-evolution laws.
US school textbooks avoided evolution until Supreme Court (1968) ruled such bans unconstitutional.
Urban areas rejected fundamentalism; rural areas remained suspicious of modernism.
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