Overview of The First Red Scare :: essays research papers

In the early part of the twentieth century, Americans feared and fought against the principles of the Bolsheviks. Few Americans today even know what the â€Å"Red Scare† was, let alone fear these ideas. However, many of the basic Bolshevik ideas are alive and well in the United States. Citizens of the United States are beginning to accept and even believe in many principles that the Bolshevik Revolution was all about, including eminent domain, loss of freedom of speech, loss of privacy, and income redistribution in the form of very high tax rates. The textbook years for the Red Scare were from 1917 to 1920, but there were important events before 1917 that preceded the Bolshevik Revolution. â€Å"The first â€Å"reds† were those Americans who supported the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century.† (Hoyt, 11) The first Marxian socialists to come to the United States were German immigrants who began arriving in 1848. They slowly began to change the labor organization, and over a few years the Socialist and Communist parties were born. In 1901, all Americans were made aware of left-wing radicalism after an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley. â€Å"No more was needed to make Americans fear and hate the very words â€Å"anarchist,† â€Å"radical,† â€Å"red† and â€Å"socialist,† all of which they lumped together†. (Hoyt, 13) All of these events culminated in creating a certain fear in Americans from these groups. The climax of the fear of radicals, and the start of the Red Scare was when in November 1917, when the Russian Revolution took place. Earlier that year, there were only 11,060 Bolsheviks in Russia, yet five months later they managed to seize power. When American began to understand this concept, they were all struck with fear. Americans did not want to go back to a controlling government that they had just escaped by coming to America. The Red Scare began because of several bombs that were mailed to many people. These bombs were constructed so that when the person receiving the bomb opens their package, they will be greatly injured, or killed. There were about thirty bombs sent through the mail, and only about five were actually opened. These bombs were addressed to important people like John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, commissioners of immigration and many others. Bombs were the physical scare to people, but inside, Americans were â€Å"nervous that reds could get into the government and control the people.