On this day, Nov. 7, in 1919, thousands of suspected communists and anarchists are arrested across the United States in what became known as the Palmer Raids. Six months earlier, a militant anarchist blew up the front of the D.C. home of newly appointed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer at 2132 R St. NW. It was one of a series of bombings by radicals across the country.
Palmer placed 24-year-old J. Edgar Hoover in charge of gathering evidence. The date of the first raid was chosen because it was the second anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution.
More than 10,000 suspected radicals were arrested in the raids, most without proper arrest warrants and held without trial for up to four months. The constitutionality of the entire operation was questioned, and the raids became a political nightmare and lowlight for the fledgling FBI.
-- Scott McCabe
