Origins of the cold war beginning in around 1920 - Essay Example

The fear of communism in America in 1920s imposed a great threat to USA because they had overthrown the Royal family in Russia in 1917 and murdered them. The communists were then blamed for several strikes that took place including the police of Boston as well as Steel and Coal workers. This article attempts to analyse the origin of the Cold War in 1920s. The Red Scare of the 1920s saw the headquarters of dissident and communist institutions raided without any warranty and numerous people were arrested but were never neither tried nor allowed to access counsel.

The media stations were shut down, as some legal immigrants were deported and the judicial system turned a blind eye because the Americas national security was dominant. Interestingly the people whose homes were ransacked did not even have weapons as expected and only three guns were found yet the people could not question the legality of their arrests. It is undeniable that numerous of anarchists and communist were rounded up by Palmer with the help of local law enforcement officials (Murray 82-90).

House and the senate debated over the bills that provided draconian sanctions for the people who uttered seditious statements and Palmer believed that responding to public clamour for antiradical action would help in his presidential ambition. A number of sweeping took place in dozens of cities for a very long time as well as smaller raids in different parts of the country. According to Murray many people were arrested and taken into custody without charges and held for long hours (82-90). The Republican district attorney was trying to upstage democratic attorney general even though Palmer got the credit of wholesale assaults on civil liberties rounded up numerous communists both.

Barkey explains that the Justice Department agents and some local police got into homes and meeting places where they comprehensively arrested everybody they found in sight (136-137). Some men arrested in Detroit were imprisoned for three to six days in dark windowless, narrow corridors where they slept on bare stone floors, bullied by police, derived of food and were only allowed one toilet. The people were denied communication link with their relatives or attorneys and were charged for attending a dance, class or that they ate at the House of the Masses.

The Boston Justice Department chained together detainees and matched them along the streets where they were harassed by the hecklings of Americans. There were similar events in Pittsburgh where congregated foreigners were driven away by trucks. Initially, Palmer’s actions were warmly received and the media reported different views such as “Fighting Quaker of the Cabinet” Uncle Sam’s Policeman, the Rooter out of Reds”’ a man who showed a quality of courage for practicing ideas and more other headlines that strongly supported palmer.

Palmer presented lots of case against the Reds by asserting that communism was an alien criminal who put the nation into jeopardy. There were proposals that the US government should restrict immigration and supress extremists and that real Americans were not aliens as the anarchists (Murray 190-195). Barkey explains