Editing Palmer Raids (section)

==Raids and arrests in January 1920==
[[Image: Radicals awaiting deportation.jpg|thumb|right|Men arrested in raids awaiting deportation hearings on Ellis Island, January 13, 1920]]
[[File:Cartoon by Archibald B. Chapin - South Bend News-Times - November 8 1919.jpg|thumb|alt=Newspaper cartoon|Cartoon by Archibald B. Chapin on the ''[[South Bend News-Times]]'' – November 8, 1919]]
Inasmuch as Attorney General Palmer struggled with exhaustion and devoted all his energies to the [[United Mine Workers]] [[A. Mitchell Palmer#Coal strike|coal strike in November and December 1919]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Miners Finally Agree|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/12/11/118243636.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/12/11/118243636.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=June 11, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=December 11, 1919}}</ref> Hoover organized the next raids. He successfully persuaded the Department of Labor to ease its insistence on promptly alerting those arrested of their right to an attorney. Instead, Labor issued instructions that its representatives could wait until after the case against the defendant was established, "in order to protect government interests."{{sfn|Coben|1963|pages=222–3}}  Less openly, Hoover decided to interpret Labor's agreement to act against the Communist Party to include a different organization, the [[Communist Labor Party of America|Communist Labor Party]]. Finally, despite the fact that Secretary of Labor [[William Bauchop Wilson|William B. Wilson]] insisted that more than membership in an organization was required for a warrant, Hoover worked with more compliant Labor officials and overwhelmed Labor staff to get the warrants he wanted. Justice Department officials, including Palmer and Hoover, later claimed ignorance of such details.{{sfn|Murray|1955|pages=223–7}}

The Justice Department launched a series of raids on January 2, 1920, with follow up operations over the next few days. Smaller raids extended over the next 6 weeks. At least 3000 were arrested, and many others were held for various lengths of time. The entire enterprise replicated the November action on a larger scale, including arrests and seizures without search warrants, as well as detention in overcrowded and unsanitary holding facilities. Hoover later admitted "clear cases of brutality."{{sfn|Murray|1955|pages=227–9}} The raids covered more than 30 cities and towns in 23 states, but those west of the [[Mississipp River|Mississippi]] and south of the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] were "publicity gestures" designed to make the effort appear nationwide in scope.{{efn-ua|States (cities where available): California ([[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]]), Colorado ([[Denver]]), Connecticut ([[Ansonia, Connecticut|Ansonia]], [[Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport]], [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], [[Meriden, Connecticut|Meriden]], [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], [[Manchester, Connecticut|South Manchester]], [[Waterbury, Connecticut|Waterbury]]), Florida, Illinois ([[Chicago]], [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], [[East St. Louis, Illinois|East St. Louis]]), Indiana, Iowa ([[Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines]]), Kansas ([[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]]), Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts ([[Boston]], [[Chelsea, Massachusetts|Chelsea]], [[Brockton, Massachusetts|Brockton]], [[Bridgewater, Massachusetts|Bridgewater]], [[Norwood, Massachusetts|Norwood]], [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]], [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]], [[Chicopee, Massachusetts|Chicopee Falls]], [[Holyoke, Massachusetts|Holyoke]], [[Gardner, Massachusetts|Gardner]], [[Fitchburg, Massachusetts|Fitchburg]], [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], [[Haverhill, Massachusetts|Haverhill]]), Michigan ([[Detroit]]), Minnesota ([[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]]), Nebraska ([[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]]), New Hampshire ([[Claremont, New Hampshire|Claremont]], [[Derry, New Hampshire|Derry]], [[Lincoln, New Hampshire|Lincoln]], [[Manchester, New Hampshire|Manchester]], [[Nashua, New Hampshire|Nashua]], [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]]), New Jersey ([[Camden, New Jersey|Camden]]), New York ([[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] and "nearby towns", [[New York City]]), Ohio ([[Cleveland]], [[Toledo, Ohio|Toledo]], [[Youngstown, Ohio|Youngstown]]), Oregon ([[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]), Pennsylvania ([[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]], [[Pittsburgh]]), Washington ([[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]]), Wisconsin ([[Milwaukee]], [[Racine, Wisconsin|Racine]]). Others were arrested in West Virginia by agents working from Pittsburgh. {{sfn|Post|2010|pages=91–2, 96, 104–5, 108, 110, 115–6, 120–1, 124, 126, 131}}}} Because the raids targeted entire organizations, agents arrested everyone found in organization meeting halls, not only arresting non-radical organization members but also visitors who did not belong to a target organization, and sometimes American citizens not eligible for arrest and deportation.{{efn-ua|''Passim''{{sfn|Murray|1955|pages=96–147}}}}

The Department of Justice at one point claimed to have taken possession of several bombs, but after a few iron balls were displayed to the press they were never mentioned again. All the raids netted a total of just four ordinary pistols.{{sfn|Post|2010|pages=91–5, 96–147}}

While most press coverage continued to be positive, with criticism only from [[leftist]] publications like ''[[The Nation]]'' and ''[[The New Republic]]'', one attorney raised the first noteworthy protest. Francis Fisher Kane, the [[U.S. Attorney]] for the Eastern District of [[Pennsylvania]], resigned in protest. In his letter of resignation to the President and the Attorney General he wrote: "It seems to me that the policy of raids against large numbers of individuals is generally unwise and very apt to result in injustice. People not really guilty are likely to be arrested and railroaded through their hearings... We appear to be attempting to repress a political party... By such methods, we drive underground and make dangerous what was not dangerous before." Palmer replied that he could not use individual arrests to treat an "epidemic" and asserted his own fidelity to constitutional principles. He added: "The Government should encourage free political thinking and political action, but it certainly has the right for its own preservation to discourage and prevent the use of force and violence to accomplish that which ought to be accomplished, if at all, by parliamentary or political methods."{{sfn|Coben|1963|page=230}}<ref>''The New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/24/archives/palmer-upholds-red-repression-replies-to-federal-attorney-kane-who.html "Palmer Upholds Red Repression," January 24, 1920], accessed January 15, 2010. {{subscription}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' endorsed Palmer's claim for urgency over legal process: "There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over infringement of liberty."<ref>''[[The Washington Post]]'', "The Red Assassins," January 4, 1920 {{subscription}}</ref>