June 2, 1919: The Bombing That Led to the Palmer Raids -- and the FBI

Palmer's home after the bombing

June 2, 1919: Terrorists, followers of the Boston-based Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, detonate 9 bombs, nearly simultaneously, a follow-up to their somewhat successful campaign in April, after spending 1916, 1917 and 1918 detonating several bombs in Boston and environs.

Luigi Galleani

The targets were men who had endorsed anti-sedition laws and the deportation of immigrants accused (but not convicted) of crimes in America. They included Mayor Harry Davis of Cleveland; judges in New York, Boston and Pittsburgh; an immigration chief in Pittsburgh; a Massachusetts State Representative; a Catholic Church in Philadelphia; and, most notably, the nation's chief law enforcement officer, the Attorney General of the United States, Alexander Mitchell Palmer.

Only 2 people were killed as a result of these bombings, 1 of them a bomber who mishandled his device. But the message was clear, stated in handbills left at the bombing sites: "There will have to be bloodshed. We will not dodge. There will have to be murder. We will kill, because it is necessary. There will have to be destruction. We will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions." They were signed, "The Anarchist Fighters."

Palmer was not hurt, nor was anyone in his family, but his home was damaged, and he was spooked. He overreacted. First, he deported Galleani back to Italy. Then, he activated the U.S. Department of Justice's General Intelligence Division to investigate domestic radicals. He put a 24-year-old DOJ clerk in charge of it. His name was John Edgar Hoover.

By November, Palmer and Hoover -- both of whom used only their first initials, so they were listed as "A. Mitchell Palmer" and "J. Edgar Hoover" -- believed they had gathered enough evidence to act. They sent federal agents to round up immigrants tied (correctly or otherwise) to radical causes, and prepared them for deportation. They became known as the Palmer Raids, and were America's 1st "Red Scare." Public opinion was strongly in favor of them, but eventually turned against them, as reports of the prisoners' ill treatment reached the public.

Only 2 men were arrested in connection with the June 2 bombings. And the Raids weren't all that effective. On September 16, 1920, the era's equivalent of a car bomb went off from a horse-drawn carriage on Wall Street, attempting to destroy the House of Morgan and the New York Stock Exchange. A total of 38 people were killed, and, while neither building was destroyed, shrapnel holes and scars can still be seen on the House of Morgan's Wall Street wall today. No one was ever arrested for that crime.

Galleani was twice imprisoned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, before dying a free man in 1931. Palmer sought the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 1920, but labor groups, always with a veto over the Democratic nominating process, were furious about his Raids, and he never had a chance. He left office with President Woodrow Wilson in 1921, resumed the practice of law, and died in 1936.

Hoover reorganized the GID into the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1924, and he built the FBI into the world's greatest law enforcement agency, but never gave up his excesses until his death in 1972. He was not related to President Herbert Hoover, nor to longtime White House chief usher Irwin "Ike" Hoover.

With some irony, the FBI's headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, is subordinate to the Department of Justice's headquarters, the Robert F. Kennedy Building. The former was built in 1975, 3 years after Hoover's death, and built across the street from the latter, which was built at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in 1935, and renamed for RFK in 2001.

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June 2, 1919 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-0 and 10-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. In the opener, Bob Shawkey pitched a 4-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Ping Bodie went 4-for-4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs.

Yes, Ping Bodie was a real guy. He was born Francesco Stephano Pezzolo, but he changed it to Frank Stephen Bodie, after his California hometown. "Ping" was the sound his especially heavy bat made when it hit the era's "dead ball." The following year, the Yankees acquired Babe Ruth, and had him room with Bodie. But Ruth was out partying so much that Bodie said, "I don't room with Babe Ruth. I room with his suitcase."

* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 and 9-7 at the Polo Grounds.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known under Wilbert Robinson's managing from 1914 to 1931) won the 1st game, 3-1. The Boston Braves won the 2nd game, 5-1. Zack Wheat went 3-for-8.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-0 at National Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. Jim Shaw pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Carl Mays, one of several pitchers the Red Sox would sell to the Yankees over the next few years, so that the 1910s Red Sox dynasty basically became the 1920s Yankee dynasty. Babe Ruth would also be sold to the Yankees, and he went 1-for-3 with a walk in this game.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 6-3 at League Park in Cleveland. Indians player-manager Tris Speaker did not put himself into the game. George Sisler went 1-for-4 for the Browns.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox at Navin Field in Detroit, 5-3 and 2-1. (Navin Field would be renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Over the 2 games, Ty Cobb went 1-for-8, Eddie Collins went 0-for-5 with 3 walks and an RBI on a groundout, and Shoeless Joe Jackson went 2-for-8.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-0 and 2-1 at Cubs Park in Chicago. (It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.) Grover Cleveland Alexander allowed 9 hits in the 1st game, but kept the shutout. He had 90 for his career, most among all National League pitchers, and only Walter Johnson with 113 had more in the American League. Dode Paskert singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning of the 2nd game.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-4 at Robison Field in St. Louis.