Answer:
When U.S. soldiers returned home from World War I, many of them could
not find jobs. Instead, they found the country’s economy turning to
shambles. Some resented African Americans who had taken factory jobs to
keep the war machine running. At the same time, the cost of food,
clothing, and shelter skyrocketed, but wages could not keep up with costs.
A large number of workers had joined labor unions and held thousands of
strikes in protest. Unemployed workers rioted. Some strikes and riots
turned violent. Americans feared that outside forces were trying to bring
anarchy—a state of lawlessness and disorder—to the United States. They
blamed the Communists and Bolsheviks, called “Reds,” who had risen to
power in Russia, for sparking rebellion and chaos and trying to spread
radical socialism on U.S. soil. Strikes and riots were the first steps toward
revolution, they said. A “Red Scare” grew, and in June 1919 terrorists set
off bombs in eight cities. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, whose house
was targeted, founded an agency that became the FBI. He ordered raids
on Russian and radical organizations, ignored civil liberties, and arrested
thousands. Though no proof of revolution from without was ever found,
hundreds of people born in other countries had been deported and
Americans came to associate immigrants with radicalism and disorder.
Explanation:
