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121-653: In 1919, during the First Red Scare , William J. Flynn of the Bureau of Investigation appointed J. Edgar Hoover chief of the General Intelligence Division (GID). Hoover used his experience working as a library clerk at the Library of Congress to create an index tracking system which used extensive cross-referencing . The GID took files from the Bureau of Investigations (later renamed

242-513: A Galleanist radical who died in spectacular fashion when the bomb he placed at the home of Attorney General Palmer exploded in his face. Though not seriously injured, Attorney General Palmer and his family were thoroughly shaken by the blast, and their home was largely demolished. All of the bombs were delivered with pink flyers bearing the title "Plain Words" that accused the intended victims of waging class war and promised: "We will destroy to rid

363-577: A Wobbly and syndicalist , and claimed this was evidence that the steelworker strike was being masterminded by radicals and revolutionaries. The steel companies played on nativist fears by noting that a large number of steelworkers were immigrants. Public opinion quickly turned against the striking workers. State and local authorities backed the steel companies. They prohibited mass meetings, had their police attack pickets and jailed thousands. After strikebreakers and police clashed with unionists in Gary, Indiana ,

484-703: A New York attorney with ties to the Justice Department , probably as a "volunteer spy", testified on January 22, 1919, during the German phase of the subcommittee's work. He established that anti-war and anti-draft activism during World War I, which he described as pro-German activity, had now transformed itself into propaganda "developing sympathy for the Bolshevik movement". America's wartime enemy, though defeated, had exported an ideology that now ruled Russia and threatened America anew. "The Bolshevik movement

605-420: A designated area. (The lack of a specific mention of Japanese or Japanese Americans also characterized Public Law 77-503, which Roosevelt signed on March 21, 1942, to enforce the order. ) Nevertheless, EO 9066 was intended to be applied almost solely to persons of Japanese descent. Notably, in a 1943 letter, Attorney General Francis Biddle reminded Roosevelt that "You signed the original Executive Order permitting

726-633: A huge New York City parade celebrated the return of General John J. Pershing , the hero of the American Expeditionary Force . A report from Washington, D.C., included this headline: "Senators Think Effort to Sovietize the Government Is Started". Senator Henry Cabot Lodge saw in the strike the dangers of the national labor movement: "If the American Federation of Labor succeeds in getting hold of

847-587: A march that lacked a permit. In the ensuing melee both sides fought for possession of the Socialists' red flags. One policeman was shot and died of his wounds; a second officer died of a heart attack. William Sidis was arrested. Later a mob attacked the Socialist headquarters. Police arrested 114, all from the Socialist side. Each side's newspapers provided uncritical support to their own the next day. In New York, soldiers in uniform burned printed materials at

968-521: A mass uprising were commonly invoked by political officials at the time. Repression by the government was also prevalent; two examples include the Palmer Raids and Lusk Committee raids . The period was also marked by anti-Semitic rhetoric. In 1920, the five Socialist members of the New York state assembly were expelled from it by a vote of 140 to 6, partially in response to their support for

1089-539: A minimizing of the trauma that the Japanese community endured during the WWII incarceration. Managing the wrongs committed to their community, Japanese Americans slowly managed to overcome their community's criminalization and incarceration and came to recognize February 19, the day President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, as a National Day of Remembrance for Americans to reflect on the events that took place. After

1210-618: A one-year prison sentence. Yasui appealed his case up to the Supreme Court, where it was held that the curfew was constitutional based on military necessity . In 1983, Peter Irons and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga discovered crucial evidence that allowed for them to petition to reopen the Korematsu case. The evidence was a copy of Lieutenant Commander K.D. Ringle's original report by the US Navy, which had not been destroyed. The report

1331-594: A pamphlet called Americanism versus Bolshevism . The Overman Committee was a special five-man subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee Slater Overman . First charged with investigating German subversion during World War I, its mandate was extended on February 4, 1919, just a day after the announcement of the Seattle General Strike, to study "any efforts being made to propagate in this country

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1452-598: A potentially close election. In December 1944, Roosevelt suspended the Executive Order after the Supreme Court decision Ex parte Endo . Detainees were released, often to resettlement facilities and temporary housing, and the camps were shut down by 1946. On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation formally terminating Executive Order 9066 and apologizing for the internment, stated: "We now know what we should have known then—not only

1573-599: A protest rally to protest serious indictments against Father Berrigan and other members of the East Coast Conspiracy in the Summer of 1971 It is recommended that subject be included in ADEX, Category III, because he has participated in activities of revolutionary organizations within the last five years as evidenced by overt acts and statements established through reliable informants Singer Paul Robeson 's name

1694-732: A repository of FBI files obtained under FOIA request, including the Rabble Rouser Index, is maintained at the National Archives . Notable people include: Notable categories listed on FBI form FD-307 include: ADEX, or Administrative Index, lasted from 1971 to January 1978. It integrated the Security Index, the Agitator Index, and the Reserve Index. It was used to track people "considered to be

1815-571: A result, approximately 112,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were evicted from the West Coast of the continental United States and held in American relocation camps and other confinement sites across the country. Roosevelt hoped to establish concentration camps for Japanese Americans in Hawaii even after he signed Executive Order 9066. On February 26, 1942, he informed Secretary of

1936-506: A threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland—resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans ." Two-thirds of the 125,000 people displaced were U.S. citizens. Notably, far more Americans of Asian descent were forcibly interned than Americans of European descent, both in total and as a share of their relative populations. German and Italian Americans who were sent to internment camps during

2057-638: A threat to the security of the country". ADEX had four 'categories'. An illustrative example of these files and the rationale for categorization is the case of historian Howard Zinn , a noted government critic. In his FBI files, there are two separate pages in which an agent says he should be in category III: He has been a member of the Communist Party, 1949–1953. A chief critic of the United States Government policies. A familiar figure at anti-war demonstrations up to 1972. Organized

2178-520: A union, much less one affiliated with a larger organization like the AFL. During the strike, Boston experienced two nights of lawlessness until several thousand members of the State Guard supported by volunteers restored order, though not without causing several deaths. The public, fed by lurid press accounts and hyperbolic political observers, viewed the strike with a degree of alarm out of proportion to

2299-470: A wave of rent strikes occurred across all of New York City and Jersey City from 1918 to 1920. While it is unclear exactly how many tenants were involved, at least tens of thousands and likely hundreds of thousands tenants struck. In response to the strikes, which was marked heavily by the Red Scare, rhetoric accusing tenant leaders of being Bolsheviks and comments that claimed a fear that there would be

2420-424: Is America – not Russia," one said when denouncing the general strike. The non-striking part of Seattle's population imagined the worst and stocked up on food. Hardware stores sold their stock of guns. Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson announced that he had 1500 police and 1500 federal troops on hand to put down any disturbances. He personally oversaw their deployment throughout the city. "The time has come", he said, "for

2541-413: Is a branch of the revolutionary socialism of Germany. It had its origin in the philosophy of Marx and its leaders were Germans." He cited the propaganda efforts of John Reed and gave many examples from the foreign press. He told the senators that "We have found money coming into this country from Russia." The senators were particularly interested in how Bolshevism had united many disparate elements on

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2662-551: Is no right to strike against the public safety, anywhere, anytime." The strike proved another setback for labor and the AFL immediately withdrew its recognition of police unions. Coolidge won the Republican nomination for Vice-President in the 1920 presidential election in part due to his actions during the Boston Police Strike. Following a housing and coal shortage caused by the mobilization for World War I,

2783-764: The American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern. The scare had its origins in the hyper-nationalism of World War I as well as the Russian Revolution. At the war's end, following the October Revolution, American authorities saw the threat of communist revolution in the actions of organized labor , including such disparate cases as the Seattle General Strike and the Boston Police Strike and then in

2904-594: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 , based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan . On November 21, 1989, George H. W. Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology. This bill applied to the Japanese Americans and to members of

3025-541: The FBI , Office of Naval Intelligence and Military Intelligence Division had been conducting surveillance on Japanese-American communities in Hawaii and the continental U.S. from the early 1930s. In early 1941, President Roosevelt secretly commissioned a study to assess the possibility that Japanese Americans would pose a threat to U.S. security. The report, submitted one month before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, found that, "There will be no armed uprising of Japanese" in

3146-624: The Federal Bureau of Investigation ) and 'systematized' them via index cards. The cards covered 150,000 people. By 1939, Hoover had more than 10 million people 'Indexed' in the FBI's domestic file system. Although the GID was terminated in 1924 after objections from people such as William J. Donovan who questioned its constitutionality, Hoover and the FBI continued to expand the Index system for use by

3267-731: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 , which canceled the Immigration Act of 1924 and reinstated the legality of immigration from Japan into the US. Many Japanese Americans hoped they would be going back to their homes, but soon realized that all of their possessions that they could carry with them were seized by the government. In place of their homes, the Federal government provided trailers in some areas for returning Japanese Americans. The populous Asian American community prior to

3388-557: The New York Times with evidence of Bolshevist propaganda targeting America's black communities that was "paralleling the agitation that is being carried on in industrial centres of the North and West, where there are many alien laborers". Vehicles for this propaganda about the "doctrines of Lenin and Trotzky" included newspapers, magazines, and "so-called 'negro betterment' organizations ". Quotations from such publications contrasted

3509-584: The South Side were destroyed by mobs, and a militia force of several thousand was called in to restore order. In mid-summer, in the middle of the Chicago riots, a "federal official" told the New York Times that the violence resulted from "an agitation, which involves the I.W.W., Bolshevism and the worst features of other extreme radical movements". He supported that claim with copies of negro publications that called for alliances with leftist groups, praised

3630-429: The U.S. Army took over the city on October 6, 1919, and martial law was declared. National Guardsmen, leaving Gary after federal troops had taken over, turned their anger on strikers in nearby Indiana Harbor, Indiana . Steel companies also turned toward strikebreaking and rumor-mongering to demoralize the picketers. They brought in between 30,000 and 40,000 African-American and Mexican-American workers to work in

3751-603: The US Communist party . Although the detention provisions of the Internal Security Act were repealed in 1971, the index was still reportedly being maintained by the FBI, in anticipation of possible reinstatement of the detention provisions. The Security Index pertained to the FBI list of dangerous people who might commit acts inimical to the national defense and public safety of the United States, in

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3872-405: The bombing campaign directed by anarchist groups at political and business leaders. Fueled by labor unrest and the anarchist bombings, and then spurred on by the Palmer Raids and attempts by United States Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to suppress radical organizations, it was characterized by exaggerated rhetoric, illegal searches and seizures , unwarranted arrests and detentions, and

3993-410: The deportation of several hundred suspected radicals and anarchists. In addition, the growing anti- immigration nativist movement among Americans viewed increasing immigration from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe as a threat to American political and social stability. Bolshevism and the threat of a communist -inspired revolution in the U.S. became the overriding explanation for challenges to

4114-476: The social order , even for such largely unrelated events as incidents of interracial violence during the Red Summer of 1919. Fear of radicalism was used to explain the suppression of freedom of expression in the form of display of certain flags and banners. In April 1920, concerns peaked with J. Edgar Hoover telling the nation to prepare for a bloody uprising on May Day . Police and militias prepared for

4235-619: The 1960s and 1970s, as well as Vietnam War protesters and some other college students. The Custodial Detention Index ( CDI ), or Custodial Detention List was formed in 1939–1941, as part of a program named variously the "Custodial Detention Program" or "Alien Enemy Control". J. Edgar Hoover described it as having come from his resurrected General Intelligence Division in Washington. According to Hoover, it created large numbers of files on "individuals, groups, and organizations engaged in subversive activities", including espionage, and enabled

4356-466: The AFL recognized that the strike was damaging labor in the public mind and advised the strikers to return to work. The Police Commissioner, however, remained adamant and refused to re-hire the striking policemen. He was supported by Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge , whose rebuke of Gompers earned him a national reputation. Famous as a man of few words, he put the anti-union position simply: "There

4477-811: The Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104); Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or

4598-496: The Administrative Index (ADEX) in 1971 and discontinued during 1978, the records are still kept as inactive at FBI headquarters and 29 field offices. Records of names added to the Rabble Rouser Index are available online from The Vault, which hosts the FBI's FOIA Library, as part of FBI case file 157-HQ-7782. The Internet Archive maintains a copy of this information with additional explanatory material. In addition,

4719-658: The Aleut people inhabiting the strategic Aleutian islands in Alaska who had also been relocated. In the years after the war, the interned Japanese Americans had to rebuild their lives after having suffered heavy personal losses. United States citizens and long-time residents who had been incarcerated lost their personal liberties. Many also lost their homes, businesses, property, and savings. Individuals born in Japan were not allowed to become naturalized US citizens until after passage of

4840-480: The Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas. I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area here in above authorized to be designated, including

4961-550: The Bureau to immediately identify potential threats. Congressman Vito Marcantonio called it "terror by index cards". Senator George W. Norris complained as well. The Custodial Detention Index was a list of suspects and potential subversives, classified as "A", "B" and "C"; the ones classified as "A" were destined to be arrested immediately and interned at the beginning of war. Category A were officials of Axis-related organizations, category B were members deemed "less dangerous" and category C were sympathizers. The actual assignment of

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5082-415: The FBI created the list from which 110,000 people were interned, 70,000 of which were American-born. Attorney General Francis Biddle , upon learning of the Index in 1941, termed it "dangerous, illegal" and ordered its end. However, J. Edgar Hoover simply renamed it the Security Index, and told his people not to mention it. Internal Security Act of 1950 contained an emergency detention statute, giving

5203-483: The Machinery Sold to Them for a Song On the release of the final report, newspapers printed sensational articles with headlines in capital letters: "Red Peril Here", "Plan Bloody Revolution", and "Want Washington Government Overturned". There were several anarchist bombings in 1919. In late April 1919, approximately 36 booby trap bombs were mailed to prominent politicians, including the Attorney General of

5324-529: The May Day marchers for provoking the nationalists' response. The Salt Lake City Tribune did not think anyone had a right to march. It said: "Free speech has been carried to the point where it is an unrestrained menace." A few, however, thought the marches were harmless and that the marchers' enthusiasm would die down on its own if they were left unmolested. More than two dozen American communities, mostly urban areas or industrial centers, saw racial violence in

5445-561: The Navy Knox that he had "long felt most of the Japanese should be removed from Oahu to one of the other islands." Nevertheless, the tremendous cost, including the diversion of ships from the front lines, as well as the quiet resistance of the local military commander General Delos Emmons , made this proposal impractical and Japanese Americans in Hawaii were never incarcerated. Although the Japanese-American population in Hawaii

5566-481: The Philippine Islands a penal colony to which those convicted of an attempt to overthrow the government could be deported. Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the forced removal of all persons deemed

5687-561: The President the authority to apprehend and detain "each person as to whom there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage in, or probably will conspire with others to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage." Therefore, FBI began in the early 1950s to compile a secret list, known as the “Security Index,” of American citizens who were “targeted for detention” in a national emergency. At its peak it contained about 15,000 names, including virtually all known members of

5808-457: The Reserve Index had 50,000 in the Chicago field office. A person listed in the Reserve Index could be transferred to the Security Index if such individual posed a threat to U.S. interests in a period of national emergency. A difference between these indices involved their color scheme. The files of those of the Security Index were all in white while the Reserve Index varied in colors depending on

5929-649: The Russian People's House and forced immigrants to sing the Star-Spangled Banner . Cleveland, Ohio saw the worst violence. Leftists protesting the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs and promoting the campaign of Charles Ruthenberg , the Socialist candidate for mayor, planned to march through the center of the city. A group of Victory Loan workers, a nationalist organization whose members sold war bonds and thought themselves still at war against all forms of anti-Americanism, tried to block some of

6050-584: The Seattle Central Labor Council for support from other unions and found widespread enthusiasm. Within two weeks, more than 100 local unions joined in a call on February 3 for a general strike to begin on the morning of February 6. The 60,000 total strikers paralyzed the city's normal activities, like streetcar service, schools, and ordinary commerce, while their General Strike Committee maintained order and provided essential services, like trash collection and milk deliveries. Even before

6171-1063: The Seattle General Strike, arrived early and failed to explode as intended. Seattle police in turn notified the Post Office and other police agencies. On April 29, a package sent to U.S. Senator Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia, a sponsor of the Anarchist Exclusion Act , exploded injuring his wife and housekeeper. On April 30, a post office employee in New York City recognized sixteen packages by their wrapping and interrupted their delivery. Another twelve bombs were recovered before reaching their targets. In June 1919, eight bombs, far larger than those mailed in April, exploded almost simultaneously in several U.S. cities. These new bombs were believed to contain up to twenty-five pounds of dynamite, and all were wrapped or packaged with heavy metal slugs designed to act as shrapnel. All of

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6292-425: The Security Index, for influential people to be "arrested and held" in case of a national emergency; The Communist Index; The Agitator Index; Sexual Deviant Index; and The Administrative Index, which compiled several earlier indexes. Even though a complete list of Index titles is currently unavailable, Hoover and the FBI used their Index system to catalog Native American and African American liberation activists during

6413-500: The Security Index. The Security Index itself was merged with the Agitator Index and the Communist Index. Renamed the Reserve Index in 1960, this index included a Section A for teachers, doctors, lawyers, entertainers, and other people considered influential and not politically conservative. Hoover had King added to the Reserve Index, Section A, in retaliation for his civil rights work and worldwide popularity. Renamed again to

6534-475: The Soviet regime, and contrasted the courage of jailed Socialist Eugene V. Debs with the "school boy rhetoric" of traditional black leaders. The Times characterized the publications as "vicious and apparently well financed," mentioned "certain factions of the radical Socialist elements", and reported it all under the headline: "Reds Try to Stir Negroes to Revolt". In mid-October, government sources again provided

6655-582: The US Army but was denied. He was arrested in December 1941 for violating the military curfew, leading to his arrest and freezing of his assets. Looking to test the constitutionality of the curfew, Yasui turned himself into the police station as 11pm, five hours past the curfew. Yasui was found guilty of violating this curfew and was fined $ 5000 for not being a US citizen, despite being born in Oregon. He served

6776-451: The United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism , due to real and imagined events; real events included the Russian 1917 October Revolution , German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and anarchist bombings in the U.S. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of socialism , communism , and anarchism in

6897-401: The United States is no longer a specter. Boston in chaos reveals its sinister substance." President Woodrow Wilson , speaking from Montana, branded the walkout "a crime against civilization" that left the city "at the mercy of an army of thugs". The timing of the strike also happened to present the police union in the worst light. September 10, the first full day of the strike, was also the day

7018-491: The United States, judges, businessmen (including John D. Rockefeller ), and a Bureau of Investigation field agent, R. W. Finch, who happened to be investigating the Galleanist organization. The bombs were mailed in identical packages and were timed to arrive on May Day, the day of celebration of organized labor and the working class. A few of the packages went undelivered because they lacked sufficient postage. One bomb intended for Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson , who had opposed

7139-512: The United States. "For the most part," the Munson Report said, "the local Japanese are loyal to the United States or, at worst, hope that by remaining quiet they can avoid concentration camps or irresponsible mobs." A second investigation started in 1940, written by Naval Intelligence officer Kenneth Ringle and submitted in January 1942, likewise found no evidence of fifth column activity and urged against mass incarceration. Both were ignored by military and political leaders. Over two-thirds of

7260-506: The actions of Japanese Americans in the United States. At this point, Japanese Americans were not allowed to apply for citizenship in the United States, despite having lived in the United States for generations. This proclamation declared all Japanese American adults as the "alien enemy," resulting in strict travel bans and mass xenophobia toward Asian Americans. Tensions rose in the United States, ultimately causing President Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. The Order

7381-420: The agency, by Hoover, and by Hoover's political associates well into the 1970s. Presently, the Index files covering an unknown number of Americans are still accessible by the FBI and its 29 field offices. Titles of the evolving Index catalogs include: the Custodial Index, which included citizens or aliens with German, Italian and Communist sympathies, that could be held in internment camps during World War II ;

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7502-505: The appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in

7623-434: The authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for

7744-409: The basis of government misconduct on November 10, 1983. In 2010, the state of California passed a bill that would name January 30 Fred Korematsu Day , making this the first day to be named after an Asian American. Korematsu v. United States was officially overturned in 2018, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor , describing the case as "gravely wrong the day it was decided." February 19, the anniversary of

7865-536: The categories was, however, based on the perceived individual commitment to the person's native country, rather than the actual potential to cause harm; officers of cultural organizations could be classified as "A". The program involved creation of individual dossiers from information obtained secretly, including unsubstantiated data and in some cases, even hearsay and unsolicited telephone tips, and information acquired without judicial warrants by mail covers and interception of mail , wiretaps and covert searches. While

7986-406: The conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder. Franklin D. Roosevelt The White House, February 19, 1942. Originating from a proclamation that was signed on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941, Executive Order 9066 was enacted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to strictly regulate

8107-404: The country called “relocation centers”. There were two in Arkansas, two in Arizona, two in California, one in Idaho, one in Utah, one in Wyoming, and one in Colorado. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was responsible for assisting relocated people with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations and delegated Colonel Karl Bendetsen to administer the removal of West Coast Japanese. Over

8228-435: The country voluntarily, attacks by remaining members continued until 1932. The American labor movement had been celebrating its May Day holiday since the 1890s and had seen none of the violence associated with the day's events in Europe. On May 1, 1919, the left mounted especially large demonstrations, and violence greeted the normally peaceful parades in Boston , New York , and Cleveland . In Boston, police tried to stop

8349-401: The decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology and redress payments of $ 20,000 to each of the survivors; a public education fund was set up to help ensure that this would not happen again ( Pub. L.   100–383 ). On August 10, 1988,

8470-408: The events, which ultimately produced only about $ 35,000 of property damage. Bolshevism in the United States is no longer a specter. Boston in chaos reveals its sinister substance. — Philadelphia Public Ledger The strikers were called "deserters" and "agents of Lenin." The Philadelphia Public Ledger viewed the Boston violence in the same light as many other of 1919's events: "Bolshevism in

8591-437: The exclusions so the Army could handle the Japs. It was never intended to apply to Italians and Germans." Public Law 77-50 was approved (after only an hour of discussion in the Senate and thirty minutes in the House) in order to provide for the enforcement of the executive order. Authored by War Department official Karl Bendetsen —who would later be promoted to Director of the Wartime Civilian Control Administration and oversee

8712-542: The eyes of the American public and Seattle's middle class. Press and political reaction made the general strike untenable, and they feared Seattle labor would lose gains made during the war if it continued. The national press called the general strike "Marxian" and "a revolutionary movement aimed at existing government". "It is only a middling step", said the Chicago Tribune , "from Petrograd to Seattle." As early as February 8 some unions began to return to work at

8833-553: The eyes of the FBI, in time of emergency. This included such "dangerous" figures as Martin Luther King Jr. The list specified who could be arrested upon the order of a U.S. president invoking the Emergency Detention Program. The Reserve Index, on the other hand, listed all left-wingers and people suspected of being a Communist . By 1950s, for instance, there were 5,000 names on the Security Index, while

8954-793: The final report, referring to the Russians as "assassins and madmen", "human scum", "crime mad", and "beasts". The occasional testimony by some who viewed the Bolshevik Revolution favorably lacked the punch of its critics. One extended headline in February read: Bolshevism Bared by R. E. Simmons; Former Agent in Russia of Commerce Department Concludes his Story to Senators Women are 'Nationalized' Official Decrees Reveal Depths of Degradation to Which They are Subjected by Reds Germans Profit by Chaos Factories and Mills are Closed and

9075-501: The government. Adults were offered "camp jobs" with wages of $ 12 to $ 19 per month, and many camp services such as medical care and education were provided by the camp inmates themselves. In 1943 and 1944, Roosevelt did not release those incarcerated in the camps despite the urgings of Attorney General Francis Biddle , Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes . Ickes blamed the president's failure to act on his need to win California in

9196-462: The horrors of the revolution in Russia and the consequences of a comparable revolution in the United States: the imposition of atheism , the seizure of newspapers, assaults on banks, and the abolition of the insurance industry. The senators heard various views of women in Russia, including claims that women had been made the property of the state. The press reveled in the investigation and

9317-507: The incarceration drastically decreased as many felt there was no life to go back to, choosing to start over somewhere else. With the residual effects of being incarcerated without committing a crime, the Japanese American community experienced strong trauma and continuing racism from their fellow Americans. Though they did receive redress of $ 20,000 per surviving incarcerate, many Japanese Americans feared increased Xenophobia and

9438-451: The incarceration of Japanese Americans —the law made violations of military orders a misdemeanor punishable by up to $ 5,000 in fines and one year in prison. Using a broad interpretation of EO 9066, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt issued orders declaring certain areas of the western United States as zones of exclusion under the Executive Order. In contrast to EO 9066, the text of these orders specified "all people of Japanese ancestry." As

9559-402: The intended targets had participated in some way with the investigation of or the opposition to anarchist radicals. Along with Attorney General Palmer, who was targeted a second time, the intended victims included a Massachusetts state representative and a New Jersey silk manufacturer. Fatalities included a New York City night watchman, William Boehner, and one of the bombers, Carlo Valdinoci ,

9680-466: The judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of

9801-441: The left, including anarchists and socialists of many types, "providing a common platform for all these radical groups to stand on". Senator Knute Nelson , Republican of Minnesota, responded by enlarging Bolshevism's embrace to include an even larger segment of political opinion: "Then they have really rendered a service to the various classes of progressives and reformers that we have here in this country." Other witnesses described

9922-472: The local Japanese American population in the event of war, “every Japanese citizen or non-citizen on the Island of Oahu who meets these Japanese ships or has any connection with their officers or men should be secretly but definitely identified and his or her name placed on a special list of those who would be the first to be placed in a concentration camp." In addition, during the crucial period after Pearl Harbor

10043-406: The marchers and a melee ensued . A mob ransacked Ruthenberg's headquarters. Mounted police, army trucks, and tanks restored order. Two people died, forty were injured, and 116 arrested. Local newspapers noted that only 8 of those arrested were born in the United States. The city government immediately passed laws to restrict parades and the display of red flags. With few dissents, newspapers blamed

10164-454: The mills. Company spies also spread rumors that the strike had collapsed elsewhere, and they pointed to the operating steel mills as proof that the strike had been defeated. Congress conducted its own investigation, focused on radical influence upon union activity. In that context, U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar , a member of the Senate committee investigating the strike, proposed making one of

10285-663: The negroes can bring the white bourbon South to its knees. So go to it." The American Federation of Labor (AFL) began granting charters to police unions in June 1919 when pressed to do so by local groups, and in just 5 months had recognized affiliate police unions in 37 cities. The Boston Police rank and file went out on strike on September 9, 1919 in order to achieve recognition for their union and improvements in wages and working conditions. Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis denied that police officers had any right to form

10406-558: The occupation of the subject. Prominent figures listed in the Reserve Index include Martin Luther King . The FBI had been monitoring his activities with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference since 1957 and by 1962, he was finally listed in the FBI index due to the involvement of two of his advisers with the U.S. Communist Party, although he failed to meet the criteria for inclusion in

10527-683: The operation or success of the military, and the Sedition Act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government , flag , or armed forces of the United States during war. The Immigration Act of 1918 targeted anarchists by name and was used to deport Emma Goldman , Alexander Berkman and Luigi Galleani , among others. On January 21, 1919, 35,000 shipyard workers in Seattle went on strike seeking wage increases. They appealed to

10648-550: The outbreak of violence. On July 3, the 10th U.S. Cavalry , a segregated African American unit founded in 1866, was attacked by local police in Bisbee, Arizona . Two of the most violent episodes occurred in Washington, D.C. , and Chicago . In Washington, D.C., white men, many in military uniforms, responded to the rumored arrest of a black man for rape with four days of mob violence, rioting and beatings of random black people on

10769-533: The people in Seattle to show their Americanism  ... The anarchists in this community shall not rule its affairs." He promised to use them to replace striking workers, but never carried out that threat. Meanwhile, the national leadership of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and international leaders of some of the Seattle locals recognized how inflammatory the general strike was proving in

10890-532: The people of Japanese ethnicity who were incarcerated were American citizens. Many of the rest had lived in the country between 20 and 40 years. Most Japanese Americans, particularly the first generation born in the United States (the Nisei ), identified as loyal to the United States of America. No Japanese-American citizen or Japanese national residing in the United States was ever found guilty of sabotage or espionage . There were 10 of these internment camps across

11011-540: The person died. According to the press releases at the beginning of the war, one of the purposes of the program was to demonstrate the diligence and vigilance of the government by following, arresting and isolating a previously identified group of people with allegedly documented sympathies for Axis powers and potential for espionage or fifth column activities. The list was later used for Japanese American internment after Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 . Although some say Hoover actually opposed those measures, Hoover and

11132-471: The police in Boston it will go all over the country, and we shall be in measurable distance of Soviet government by labor unions." The Ohio State Journal opposed any sympathetic treatment of the strikers: "When a policeman strikes, he should be debarred not only from resuming his office, but from citizenship as well. He has committed the unpardonable sin; he has forfeited all his rights." Samuel Gompers of

11253-533: The president had failed to speak out for the rights of Japanese Americans despite the urgings of advisors such as John Franklin Carter . During the same period, Roosevelt rejected the recommendations of Attorney General Francis Biddle and other top advisors, who opposed the incarceration of Japanese Americans. The text of Roosevelt's order did not use the terms "Japanese" or "Japanese Americans," instead giving officials broad power to exclude "any or all persons" from

11374-511: The principles of any party exercising or claiming to exercise any authority in Russia" and "any effort to incite the overthrow of the Government of this country". The Committee's hearings into Bolshevik propaganda, conducted from February 11 to March 10, 1919, developed an alarming image of Bolshevism as an imminent threat to the U.S. government and American values. The Committee's final report appeared in June 1919. Archibald E. Stevenson ,

11495-401: The program targeted primarily Japanese, Italian, and German " enemy aliens ", it also included some native-born American citizens. The program was operated without Congress-approved legal authority, without judicial oversight and in excess of the legal authority of the FBI. A person against which an accusation was made was investigated and eventually placed on the index; it was not removed until

11616-492: The recent violence in Chicago and Washington, D.C., with "Soviet Russia, a country in which dozens of racial and lingual types have settled their many differences and found a common meeting ground, a country which no longer oppresses colonies, a country from which the lynch rope is banished and in which racial tolerance and peace now exist." The New York Times cited one publication's call for unionization: "Negroes must form cotton workers' unions. Southern white capitalists know that

11737-517: The signing of Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, all Japanese Americans were required to be removed from their homes and moved into military camps as a matter of national security. Fred Korematsu , 23 at the time, was someone who elected not to comply, unlike his parents who left their home and flower nursery behind. Instead, Korematsu had plastic surgery to alter the appearance of his eyes and changed his name to Clyde Sarah, claiming Spanish and Hawaiian heritage. Six months later, on May 30, Korematsu

11858-520: The signing of Executive Order 9066, is now the Day of Remembrance , an annual commemoration of the unjust incarceration of the Japanese-American community. In 2017, the Smithsonian launched an exhibit about these events with artwork by Roger Shimomura . It provides context and interprets the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In February 2022, for the 80th anniversary of the signing of

11979-400: The spring of 1942, General John L. DeWitt issued Western Defense Command orders for Japanese Americans to present themselves for removal. The "evacuees" were taken first to temporary assembly centers , requisitioned fairgrounds and horse racing tracks where living quarters were often converted livestock stalls. As construction on the more permanent and isolated War Relocation Authority camps

12100-452: The steel industry, including almost all mills in Pueblo, Colorado ; Chicago, Illinois ; Wheeling, West Virginia ; Johnstown, Pennsylvania ; Cleveland, Ohio ; Lackawanna, New York ; and Youngstown, Ohio . The owners quickly turned public opinion against the AFL. As the strike began, they published information exposing AFL National Committee co-chairman William Z. Foster's radical past as

12221-420: The street. When police refused to intervene, the black population fought back. When the violence ended, ten whites were dead, including two police officers, and 5 blacks. Some 150 people had been the victims of attacks. The rioting in Chicago started on July 27. Chicago's beaches along Lake Michigan were segregated in practice, if not by law. A black youth who drifted into the area customarily reserved for whites

12342-399: The strike began, the press tried to persuade the unions to reconsider. In part they were frightened by some of labor's rhetoric, like the labor newspaper editorial that proclaimed: "We are undertaking the most tremendous move ever made by labor in this country  ... We are starting on a road that leads – NO ONE KNOWS WHERE!" Daily newspapers saw the general strike as a foreign import: "This

12463-476: The strike the next day. The original strike in the shipyards continued. Though the general strike collapsed because labor leadership viewed it as a misguided tactic from the start, Mayor Hanson took credit for ending the five-day strike and was hailed for it by the press. He resigned a few months later and toured the country giving lectures on the dangers of "domestic bolshevism". He earned $ 38,000 in seven months, five times his annual salary as mayor. He published

12584-511: The strikes. By its end, the wave of strikes had led to the passage of the first rent laws in the country and fundamentally shifted tenant-landlord relations. However, the more radical tenant groups largely were destroyed by raids or slowly dwindled as a result of the new laws addressing the crisis. Though the leadership of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed a strike in the steel industry, 98% of their union members voted to strike beginning on September 22, 1919. It shut down half

12705-520: The summer and early fall of 1919. Unlike earlier race riots in U.S. history , the 1919 riots were among the first in which blacks responded with resistance to white attacks. Martial law was imposed in Charleston, South Carolina , where men of the U.S. Navy led a race riot on May 10. Five white men and eighteen black men were injured in the riot. An official investigation found that four U.S. sailors and one civilian—all white men—were responsible for

12826-541: The urging of their leaders. Some workers went back to work as individuals, perhaps fearful of losing their jobs if the Mayor acted on his threats or in reaction to the pressure of life under the general strike. The executive committee of the General Strike Committee first recommended ending the general strike on February 8 but lost that vote. Finally on February 10, the General Strike Committee voted to end

12947-593: The use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies. I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services. This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way

13068-762: The war were sent under the provisions of Presidential Proclamation 2526 and the Alien Enemy Act, part of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 . The text of Executive Order 9066 was as follows: Executive Order No. 9066 Executive Order Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by

13189-460: The world of your tyrannical institutions." Police and the Bureau of Investigation tracked the flyer to a print shop owned by an anarchist, Andrea Salcedo , but never obtained sufficient evidence for a prosecution. Evidence from Valdonoci's death, bomb components, and accounts from participants later tied both bomb attacks to the Galleanists. Though some of the Galleanists were deported or left

13310-616: The worst, but May Day passed without incident. Soon, public opinion and the courts turned against Palmer, putting an end to his raids and the first Red Scare. In reaction to subversive and militant leftist actions in the United States, the United States Congress passed the Espionage Act in 1917, the Sedition Act of 1918 , and the Immigration Act of 1918 . The Espionage Act made it a crime to interfere with

13431-400: Was stoned and drowned. Blacks responded violently when the police refused to take action. Violence between mobs and gangs lasted 13 days. The resulting 38 fatalities included 23 blacks and 15 whites. Injuries numbered 537 injured, and 1,000 black families were left homeless. Some 50 people were reported dead. Unofficial numbers were much higher. Hundreds of mostly black homes and businesses on

13552-432: Was a curfew starting at 8pm and ended at 6 am for all those of Japanese descent. University of Washington student, Gordon Hirabayashi , refused to abide by the order in an act of civil disobedience, resulting in his arrest. Similar to Korematsu's case, it was appealed and up to the Supreme Court. It was held by the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision that his arrest was constitutional on the basis of military necessity. He

13673-477: Was also on ADEX as Category III: "because of his long time close contact with CPUSA leaders. He was honored by the CP as recently as 1969". Related topics: First Red Scare Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary Active Defunct Publications Works The first Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of

13794-605: Was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders, and their effects on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands . In December 1982, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied , concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. The report determined that

13915-557: Was arrested for violating the order, leading to a trial in a San Francisco Federal Court. His case was presented by the American Civil Liberties Union, which attempted to challenge whether this order was constitutional or not. After losing the case, Korematsu appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, where in a 6–3 decision, the order remained for reason of "military necessity." Included in FDR's order

14036-442: Was completed, the population was transferred by truck or train. These accommodations consisted of tar paper-walled frame buildings in parts of the country with bitter winters and often hot summers. The camps were guarded by armed soldiers and fenced with barbed wire (security measures not shown in published photographs of the camps). Camps held up to 18,000 people, and were small cities, with medical care, food, and education provided by

14157-525: Was consistent with Roosevelt's long-time racial views toward Japanese Americans. During the 1920s, for example, he had written articles in the Macon Telegraph opposing white-Japanese intermarriage for fostering "the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood" and praising California's ban on land ownership by the first-generation Japanese. In 1936, while president he privately wrote that, in regard to contacts between Japanese sailors and

14278-582: Was in response to the question of Japanese loyalty to the US. It was stated in the report that Japanese Americans did not truly pose a threat to the US government, showing that the passage of Executive Order 9066 was entirely based on the false pretense that Japanese Americans were "enemy aliens." This new found evidence was a document that failed to be destroyed by the US government in which included government intelligence agencies citing that Japanese Americans posed no military threat. The cases of Korematsu , Hirabayashi , and Yasui were reopened and overturned on

14399-626: Was nearly 40% of the population of the territory and Hawaii would have been first in line for a Japanese attack, only a few thousand people were detained there. This fact supported the government's eventual conclusion that the mass removal of ethnic Japanese from the West Coast was motivated by reasons other than "military necessity." Japanese Americans and other Asians in the U.S. had suffered for decades from prejudice and racially motivated fears . Racially discriminatory laws prevented Asian Americans from owning land , voting, testifying against whites in court , and set up other restrictions. Additionally,

14520-468: Was sentenced six months in prison as a result of his civil disobedience. Earning his JD in 1939 from the University of Oregon, Minoru Yasui was the first Japanese American attorney admitted to the state of Oregon's bar. He began working as a consulate in Chicago for the Japanese government, but resigned shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Returning to Oregon, where he was born, he tried to join

14641-523: Was that evacuation wrong but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home the names of Japanese Americans have been and continue to be written in history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and to the security of this, our common Nation." In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC

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