The Red Scares of the early 20th century arose from fears of communism in the United States. The first Red Scare followed World War 1 and was exacerbated by labor strikes by coal miners seeking better conditions. Government officials exaggerated the threat of communism to crack down on unions and reformers. The second Red Scare occurred after World War 2 during the Cold War, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy making unsupported claims about communists in the government. Both Red Scares saw civil liberties infringed through false accusations and brutality, motivated by desires to protect capitalism and quash political dissent rather than actual threats of communist takeover.

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The Red Scare
Krista Kyker
Shepherd University
Author Note
History 202 Monday Wednesday Friday Class 2:10-3:00pm

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Abstract
Communism was feared by the American Government prior to WW1 but did not escalate into a
National crisis until the mine wars of 1919. The surge of Industrialization brought with it an
increased awareness of world political structures. This initiated a heightened level of fear among
the American public that their Christian Republic of Democratic liberties could be threatened by
a communist entity. Labor Unions, Media Outlets, Film Industry, Artist, and Politicians who
sought to create social and political reform, were the scape goats for the first and second “Red
Scares” of the twentieth century.
Keywords: Communism, Labor, social reform, Red Scare

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Background of the Red Scare
Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution and World War 1 there was a growing fear of
communism due to new technological advances which led to a global communication network,
nuclear warfare, and the fear of the immigrant population. Industrialization divided society
between the working class and the rich. Those who sought to create programs that would aid the
labor industry and help to unify workers were labeled socialist. Those who advocated to create
better working conditions and pay for the working class, were used as scape goats by those in
power. Both the Mine Wars of 1919 and the onset of the Cold War after WW11 would prove to
become proponents of the Red Scare. Unforeseen events would wreak havoc on the citizens of
the United States and infringe on the individual liberties that were guaranteed to them by the
Constitution of the United States.
Background of the Mine Wars of 1919
The Mine Wars of 1919 began with a series of miners striking in order to obtain better
pay, improved working conditions, acceptable housing conditions, shorter hours, and better
treatment by the company operators. The miners and their families were exploited and mistreated
during their time in the company towns. Outsiders would ask why the miners would stay and
subject themselves and their families to impoverished conditions? Visitors of the mining towns
understood the conditions surrounding the miner’s reluctance to leave, realizing that these men
were trapped. The miners were given substandard family housing and paid only for the weight of
the coal they could mine each day. However, the scales that measured the weight of the coal were
run by deceitful operators and they were known to short the miner’s production. The money that
the miners did make was paid in the form of script and had to be spent in the company stores.
This enabled the owners of the mines to inflate prices. In turn, miners had to spend more than

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their earnings at these company stores in order to obtain all the necessities they needed to support
their families. Most of the miners were in debt to the company stores so they did not possess the
funds they needed to pack their families up and move them to another town. Worse yet, were the
miners who were in debt to the company store (which was the majority) would be shot if they
left without paying their dues. So the miners and their families were left at the devices of the
Owners and their Operators.
Eventually, mining towns were under the close supervision of hired thugs from the
detective agencies of Baldwin, Felts, and Dobbs. These hired thugs spent their days accusing
miners of Unionization and of stimulating insurrection in the towns. Some miners were killed by
these men and their families were immediately evicted from the company owned homes. They
were left with no choice but to join the growing tent colonies and face unfavorable cold, hunger,
and destitution. In order to insight change in the Industry, Miners began to join together in the
largest labor strike that the United States had ever faced. Unfortunately, what began as a means
to obtain better pay and working conditions, turned into accusations of communist membership
with the intent of taking over the Democratic Republic of the United States of America.
The First and Second Red Scares
Like the first Red Scare that was exaggerated by the Mine Wars and the Palmer Raids,
McCarthyism developed during the second Red Scare as a symptom of the Cold War,
Government control, and public fear. Both of the Red Scares had been exaggerated due to the
manipulation of the public by Government officials in powerful positions. Both the Palmer
Raids and McCarthyism were attempts to impose on individual liberties, protect capitalism, and
promote Americanism in the United States.

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After WW1 President Wilson sought to dismantle war/regulatory commissions. The
manufacturing needs of WW1 had given laborers the power to make demands on their Managers.
Workers were able to strike if they did not feel their working conditions and pay were sufficient.
With the end of the War and the return of the labor force from overseas, the labor party lost their
newly gained power. The onset of the Red Revolution in Russia created a “connection between
labor and violent revolution.”1 After the explosion of pipe bombs in some high ranking leader’s
homes in the United States, the Palmer Raids began and were a direct reflection of the first Red
Scare in the United States. The government and the public alike began to consider any kind of
labor insurrection as the result of socialist behavior and immediately blamed the infiltration of
communism.
President Wilson’s progressive policies began to dwindle along with his support for the
labor unions and empathy for the industrial workers and coal miners. After the Matawan
Massacre the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) pleaded for Wilson’s help on the
premise that they had helped him gain office. Instead, Wilson’s administration’s turned their
backs on labor pleas and turned a blind eye to the violence that was escalating in the mining
industry. Instead of creating policies that would help the working class man, the illegal Palmer
Raids began. Any man or woman who was accused of being part of the communist party,
supportive of the labor unions, or sited for being a trouble maker within the labor industry, was
indicted on charges of treason. Raids ripped through labor party meetings through the use of
brutality and blunt force trauma, members were coerced into admitting guilt of communist
activity. All of the Raids were handled with high degrees of violence. Doors were knocked down,
people were beat to a pulp, and forced to sign confessions of allegiance to the communist party
1 World Press. Red Scare/Blair Mountain

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in fear of losing their lives. There were 1,217 indictments that resulted from the first set of
Palmer Raids within the Washington D.C., West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania areas.
There were also 325 murder charges and 24 charges of Treason. Two local men were actually
convicted in the Jefferson County Courthouse. Bill Blizzard was charged with Treason but the
charge was eventually retracted and Walter Allen was convicted of murder. Allen skipped bail
and was never seen or heard from again.
It is important to recognize that as these events unfolded, working conditions in the mines
were becoming less tolerable. The cribbing system that was used to measure the weight of coal
the miners had produced was being docked at a heightened level. Owners of coal mines excused
their actions by saying the coal was mixed with slate so they had to take into consideration their
immediate loss from having to separate the two materials. The company stores had outrageously
inflated their prices so that no matter how much coal a miner produced, his pay in script was not
enough to cover his family’s weekly expenses in the monopoly run stores. To make matters
worse, Sid Hatfield who had stood behind the miners and created a temporary victory against the
cruel Baldwin-Felts detectives, was shot on the court room steps before his trial. In response to
Hatfield’s murder the coal miners had enough and decided it was time to fight for themselves,
their families, and their fellow brother miners who were illegally detained in the Logon County
Jail House. Miners from all different counties in West Virginia united together to strike their
working conditions and to free their imprisoned co-workers during the March on Blair Mountain.
At the same time the miners decided it was time to make their long March on Blair
Mountain, the newly elected Governor of West Virginia was scheming with the coal owners and
supporting Management’s cause.The Federal Government who had previously been disgusted by
the treatment of miners felt that they could not allow such a huge labor insurrection to occur

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because it would set a precedent that this type of behavior was acceptable. Besides, they had to
protect their capitalist interest in the coal industry. This made it easy for them to accuse the
miners’ union of communist support which heightened the public’s fear. By publicly claiming
that the miners were affiliated with a communist organization it gave the Government an excuse
to explain their treatment of the miners and the events that were unfolding.
President Harding’s Administration declared a state of Marshal Law on West Virginia.
The state police force, mine owners, the sheriff of Logan County alongside his deputies, state
militia, National Guard, and a private air force all came to stop the encroaching miners. The
battle took an entire week but once the miners saw that the United States Army was involved,
they felt that they could not ethically fight them. As the miners lay down their guns, the United
States Government ordered a series of Aerial bombings and desecrated the miners.
Meanwhile, the US Department of labor had taken control of illegal deportations and
under Attorney General Mitchell Palmer had organized another set of ruthless raids. This time
3,000 people were arrested and badly beaten. Francis Fisher Kane, the Attorney General of
Eastern Pennsylvania resigned due to the massive amounts of brutality and injustice that were
occurring between the Labor parties and the UMWA. Kane said that a majority of the arrests
made by the Palmer party were to make dangerous what was not dangerous before”2 The First
Red Scare was a real threat that was exaggerated and used to put down labor insurrection that
would negatively impact the economic growth of a Capitalist Democracy.
The Second Red Scare/McCarthyism/Cold War
WW11 amplified the fear of a communist uprising from inside the United States. During
the second Red Scare, McCarthyism took root as the Cold War began, and sought to undermine
2 Shogan, Robert. The Battle of Blair Mountains:The Story of America’s largest Labor Uprising. NY.
(2004)

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the public’s support of those wrongfully accused of communist activity. Like the first Red Scare,
coercion tactics, false accusations, the planting of evidence, and wide spread brutality were all
methods used to fault anyone who may cause a threat to the Capitalist Democracy of the United
States. However, Unlike Wilson, and Harding, President Truman did not tolerate McCarthy’s
behavior or infringement on individual liberties. He did however suffer from his own prejudice
about communism which negatively affected the decisions he made about anti-communist
policies.
The Cold War became an ever present worry in the back of most United States citizen’s
minds. Their ever growing fear that the Soviets would launch an attack on American soil with
nuclear weaponry was always there. During this time J. Edgar Hoover was the Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and helped Truman carry out the security and loyalties Programs
because “the threat of internal subversion and external attack”3 were ever present. These fears
resulted in the creation of The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1938.
The three major groups targeted for disloyalty to the U.S. were: the movies and film industries,
labor industry/unions, and parts of the executive branch of Government.
Public hysteria followed when Whittaker Chambers a communist supporter pointed
investigators of the HUAC to a group of microfilmed documents that were hidden in a pumpkin
patch by Alger Hiss who held a powerful position within the state department. The wide spread
fear of having traitors among us paved the way for Senator McCarthy to jump into favor of the
American people. His accusations that certain members of the state department were loyal to the
communist party became his main focus. Joseph McCarthy manipulated his way into the position
of Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of investigation on Government operations.
3 National Archives.Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Truman. (1950)

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He used the committee to perform illegal, immoral, and accusatory actions, to manipulate the
committee into finding and punishing those who were considered to be traitors to the U.S.
Government. In February of 1950, Senator McCarthy gave a speech in Wheeling West Virginia
where he claimed to be holding the names of over 1,000 Federal Employees who were guilty of
treasonous behavior. The next day he sent a telegram to President Truman which read “The State
Department harbors a nest of communist sympathizers who are helping to shape our foreign
policy.”4 Truman responded with a telegram which may or may not have ever been sent but it
reads “I have never heard of a Senator trying to discredit his own Government before the entire
world…” 5Truman continued by saying that he was disgusted by McCarthy’s actions and the he
“is not even fit to have a hand in the operations of the United States.”6 Truman’s disgust with
McCarthy appeared to be coming from his own feelings of disapproval for Senator McCarthy.
After All, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall plan were solid pieces of legislation that sought
to protect the interests of the country. Truman’s own desire to eliminate any and all communist
threats had been made publically clear when he presented the Truman Doctrine to congress in
March of 1947. Senator McCarthy’s actions undermined the President’s policies and incited
hysteria within the public sphere. If Senator McCarthy had not taken his actions too far in 1954,
when he accused members of the United States Army of being communist supporters, during live
televised hearings, then who knows how many more lives would have been ruined due to his
scandals.
McCarthy’s deep rooted fear that the Cold War would lead to the destruction of mankind
was not completely unfounded. McCarthy was in favor of global disarmament and claimed that
4 McCarthy, Joseph.National Archives. (1950)
55 Truman, S.Harry. National Archives. (1950)
6 Truman S. Harry. National Archives. (1950)

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the arms race, war, and communism were all immoral. He called communism the “Religion of
immoralism…invented by Marx, preached feverishly by Lenin, and carried to unimaginable
extremes by Stalin.”7 Yet for someone who was on a religious and moral high horse, he did not
seem to have a problem creating an illegal system that would see over 600 men illegally
deported. Eventually, his claim that he had proof of 1,000 Federal employees who were
communists, and loyal to the Soviet Union, dwindled down in size. He later claimed that he had
the names of over 200 members of the state department who he could prove “were card-carrying
members of the communist Party.”8 Eventually, he dropped the number of communists in the
Federal Government to 57, but none of the members in which he charged were found to be actual
communists. Instead, he succeeded in ruining their careers’ and gaining the media attention that
he needed to divide an already unstable Nation into more political conflict with the Soviet Union.
The first Red Scare began shortly after WW1 and was exaggerated by the biggest labor
movement that the U.S. had ever seen. The second Red Scare was inflamed after the end of
WW11 as a result of mass hysteria over the onset of the Cold War. Both the Palmer Raids and
McCarthy’s indictments misled the public into thinking the actions taken by these men and their
counterparts were necessary actions. They misled the public in order to make them think that the
needed protection from an imminent communist threat in order to excuse their illegal actions.
The members of each of the President’s administrations who were involved in these scare tactics
used during both of the Red Scares, chose to manipulate the system and hide the truth in order to
protect their own self-interest, power, position, and capital gains.
7 Us.Gov.History. Enemies from within.(2004)
8 Us. National Archives. Joseph McCarthy(2012)

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References
Article, H. C. (2012). Enemies From Within Senator Joseph R. McCarthy Accusations of
Disloyalty. Survey Course. Retrieved from www.history.com
Colliers. (1950, August 2). McCarthy Cries Again. p. 4.
House, W. (Febuary 11, 1950). Telegram to President Harry S. Truman. Wheeling: National
Archives.
Manchester, W. (1974). Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of the United States 1932-
1972. New York City, New York: Bantam.
Rosenburg, N. L. (1991). In our Time: America since WW11. Englewood Cliff, New Jersey:
Prenctic Hall.
Truman, H. S. (1950). The Papers of Harry S. Truman. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.
US.Gov. (1950, Febuary 9). Joseph McCarthy Speech at Wheeling. Retrieved from www.history
matters.gmu.edu/d/6456