UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff CCeennttrraall FFlloorriiddaa SSTTAARRSS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2013 TThhee RReedd SSccaarree AAnndd TThhee BBii''ss QQuueesstt FFoorr PPoowweerr:: TThhee SSoovviieett AArrkk AAss PPoolliittiiccaall TThheeaatteerr Austin Smith University of Central Florida Part of the History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SSTTAARRSS CCiittaattiioonn Smith, Austin, "The Red Scare And The Bi's Quest For Power: The Soviet Ark As Political Theater" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 2787. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2787 THE RED SCARE AND THE BI’S QUEST FOR POWER: THE SOVIET ARK AS POLITICAL THEATER by AUSTIN SMITH B.A. in History, University of Central Florida, 2008 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of History in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2013 Major Advisor: Richard Crepeau ABSTRACT The Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been presented as a wave of anti-Radical hysteria that swept post WWI America; a hysteria to which the state reluctantly capitulated to by arresting Radicals and deporting those alien Radicals they deemed most threatening. This presentation, however, is ludicrous when the motivations of the state and its conservative allies are examined. The truth of the matter was that almost all of the people targeted by the Red Scare represented no significant threat to the institutions of the United States and were merely targeted for holding Leftwing ideas, or being connected to a group that did. This work examines how the Red Scare deportations were used as a performance to gain power and funding for the Bureau of Investigation and how the Bureau sought to use this performance to set itself up as the premier anti-Radical agency in the United States. While the topic of the Red Scare of 1919-1920 has been thoroughly covered, most works on the subject attempt to cover the whole affair or even address it as part of a larger study of political repression in the United States. In these accounts these authors do not see the Red Scare as a performance, which culminated in the Soviet Ark deportations, put on by the BI in order to fulfill its goal of expanding its own importance. This work addresses the events leading up to climactic sailing of the Soviet Ark, as political theater put on by the BI and its allies in order to impress policy makers and other conservative interest groups. Since the Soviet Ark deportations were the climax of the Red Scare performance, this work addresses the event as a theatrical production and follows a three act dramatic structure. It begins by exploring the cast of characters, both individuals and organizations, in the BI’s performance. This is followed by an analysis of the rising action of the BI, and other reactionary ii groups in the evolution of their grand performance. Finally the deportations serve as the climax of the Red Scare in this performance that the BI and its allies would use to justify an expansion of their influence. Through the use of government records, biographies, and first hand accounts, this work explores the Soviet Ark deportations as the high point of the first Red Scare, the point in which the BI and its allies took their quest for expanded power the furthest before having to change course. The grand performance that the Bureau of Investigation put on is looked at, not as a response to placate others – something the BI was merely swept up in – but as a performance that they designed to meet the specific needs of their campaign to grow their agency, a performance for which they were willing to draft those that represented no real threat despite the consequences to those individuals. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE THE PLAYERS PORTRAYALS, PERCEPTIONS, AND PURPOSES ............................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER TWO THE RISING ACTION BUILDING TO THE CLIMAX OF THE RED SCARE THROUGH FAILED PERFORMANCES AND REALIZATIONS . 50 CHAPTER THREE THE CLIMAX THE GRAND SHOW OF THE SOVIET ARK DEPORTATIONS ........................................................................... 97 THE DÉNOUEMENT THE CLOSE OF THE 1919-1920 RED SCARE ............................................................................................... 127 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 133 iv INTRODUCTION The guns of the Great War had only just been silenced and the trenches that crisscrossed the European continent like bitter scars had only recently been vacated, when across the Atlantic Ocean the war machine of the United States began to wind down. The Great War was fought to preserve democracy, and though the forces of tyranny were defeated, the United States found itself already faced with another imminent danger before any peace treaty was signed. Perhaps even more threatening than the Central Powers, this new danger was a threat that was arising from within. This was the threat of the Radical Left; or so the state hoped to make the populace, and more importantly the legislature believe. 1 Though they already held substantial influence in how the media portrayed the threat of the Radical Left, the Department of Justice sought to drive the point home with a grand show of both the danger that Radicalism represented and their own capabilities as an institution that could safe guard the “American way” from it. They constructed a type of grand political performance set on the national stage. The message to be conveyed by the performance was as follows: 1 Throughout this work I make a distinction between radicals, those that associate as people or groups of people whom seek change that the contemporary political and economic structures could not provide, and Radicals, those people or groups of people whom are portrayed as radicals by others though they themselves might not identify as such. The Socialist Party serves as an excellent example of a group that was referred to as radical by the state and the reactionary right – those conservative elements that desire a return to the status quo prior to the success of the labor movements and the appearance of Radicals, though many of its members asserted that its goals and methods were not radical at all but could be achieved through reform, and were connected to many basic American values. Furthermore, the uncapitalized term radicals can also be used to reference rightwing groups that sought change outside the existing political and social structures, and therefore I use the capitalized Radicals to specify that I mean Leftwing groups that the state and the reactionary right viewed as radicals or sought to present as such. When I reference the state’s view or portrayals of all Leftist groups, I use the capitalized Radicals in order to make this distinction. Furthermore, I capitalize Leftists and Left in a similar manner, utilizing the capitalized form for the state’s portrayal and view (some anarchist groups viewed themselves as outside of the right-left paradigm). 1 The Radical Left tried its best to sabotage America’s effectiveness during the war. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Anarchists, and Socialists, instigated strikes, slowdowns, and sabotage, in key war industries as they agitated against the draft, and their terrorist bombings took innocent lives. With the cessation of hostilities abroad, the Radical Left was poised to once again strike at US institutions and the American way of life. Existing police and federal agencies needed to be drastically overhauled in order to deal with the menace. Realizing the imminent threat this Red Peril represented, the government and population soon set about investing authority in the Department of Justice to eradicate the Radical Left. This move could not have come sooner. The newly formed Bureau of Investigation (BI), the forerunner to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, quickly discovered numerous bomb plots, specific dates set for coordinated revolutions, and the collaboration of different Radical Left factions. The BI, despite its initial lack of sufficient personnel and resources, utilized the talent of its members to infiltrate different Radical Left organizations and coordinated with the Department of Labor a series of lightning-fast raids on the offices of Radical organizations. Record numbers of Radicals were arrested, and evidence of their plots to violently overthrow the United States, and the tools to carry them out, were discovered. With these Radicals in custody, the Justice and Labor Departments were ultimately able to remove the threat they represented to the United States by means of deportation. Finally in custody and awaiting their expulsion, newspapers were able to publish images and stories of the true face of the Radical threat. Despite the shrewd efforts of Radical sympathizers and high- priced lawyers, the sheer talent, tenacity, and determination of government officials such as A. Mitchell Palmer, and J. Edgar Hoover, and the patriotic support of the American citizenry, the dangerous Radicals were escorted onto an Army transport docked at Ellis Island under a 2 necessarily heavy guard. Even as Radical sympathizers rioted at Ellis Island to free their comrades, the determination and bravery of the government officials, soldiers, and police assured the safe send-off of the ship. Thus the message was sent to those Radicals still remaining in the United States that their plots against the American way of life would not go unchallenged. The American citizens were reassured that their country’s strength and resolve would protect them from subversive domestic threats. Now, with proof in hand of their abilities, the BI went to the legislature in order to secure the necessary funding and power to deal with the Red Menace. With that work of showmanship complete, the curtain briefly closed as the various state players prepared for their next performance, another scripted and carefully publicized deportation, another performance of political theater. Once again institutions within the state staged a complicated performance meant to increase their power by fabricating an imminent national threat and a popular fervor to stamp out that threat. At the close of the First World War, the United States held thousands of immigrants either in prison or on its deportation schedule. At a time when immigrating to the United States was much easier than in the Twenty-First Century, it is hard to imagine that so many people were awaiting expulsion. What makes this more unimaginable is that these people had come to the United States legally and, in the case of the majority, had not committed any crime in the conventional sense. Many were “thought criminals”, persecuted for holding or being associated with a dissident ideology. These “thought criminals,” like many persecuted for holding dissident ideologies, were not simply arrested and prosecuted. The state did not merely bring them quietly into the night, disappearing them as is common in many totalitarian states. The “dangers” that these ideologies 3 represented were too valuable a political commodity to be quietly erased. The “thought criminals” that fell victim to the Red Scare were people that the state felt it had to use as an example. This example of course was made a grand show in order to reach the widest audience and have the greatest effect. These dissidents were drafted into a play and made its villains. This performance had significant consequences for themselves and the state institutions that put on the performance. The climax of this performance would come in December of 1919, 246 “Anarchists” were loaded onto the US Army Transport Buford to be sent to Finland and then to the nascent Soviet Russia, which was still in the midst of a Civil War. On board were two of the United States’ best known Anarchists, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The Buford, under a heavy military guard of 200 marines and accompanied by a destroyer, set sail for Finland on December 21st, 1919. On January 20th, 1920 the deportees were escorted across the Russian border. The ship was nicknamed the Soviet or Red Ark by many journalists, and was referred to as such by politicians and state authorities because of both the ideology of some of the passengers as well as the destination. This paper focuses on the state’s crafting of a grand performance that would culminate in the Soviet Ark deportations. Was this merely a type of political performance meant to elicit a reaction from the public and legislature, or did it address real security concerns? If it was not a performance, then were the roundups and deportations an appropriate response to the threat that the Radical Left represented? What was the importance of this event, and how did it affect the social landscape on which it occurred? In particular, how was the Red Scare presented, and what did it mean to the different audiences involved including state officials, Radicals, and the general public? Furthermore, what was the intended purpose of those that put on this grand show, and 4 was this purpose accomplished? What did the officials of the Justice Department and other governmental institutions seek to accomplish, and could they have accomplished their goals without resorting to the use of political theater? Finally, how did Red Scare and the way it was presented set the stage for later uses of political theater by the Justice Department and against Radicalism including the second phase of the Red Scare, Prohibition, McCarthyism, and later suppressions of the anti-war movement? The study of the Red Scare as political theater is also relevant to understandings of US foreign relations, particularly during the pre-Cold War era. The Buford deportations signify the start of a shift toward a focus on Russia and Communism by the state in regard to which group and ideology it pursued the most vehemently. Additionally, the repression of this period also urged a significant number of Radicals to shift their focus and ideology toward the standard set by Russia. The Red Scare has remained a particularly “sexy” topic given the many angles from which it can be addressed. The romantic elements of both the Radical struggle for a new world, as well as the intrigue of detective stories that follow the careers of Bureau agents, make for fascinating fiction and, arguably, even more fascinating scholarly work that seeks to separate fact from fiction. While the subject has no shortage of studies, they generally are concerned with what happened, who did it, and why. However, often what is left out is a critical analysis of how these groups presented their actions. Other works have examined the government apparatuses utilized in order to bring about the deportation of Radical immigrants. Charles McCormick published two books that deal with the Red Scare. His work, Seeing Reds deals with the criminal investigations that accompanied 5