Red Scare

Cultural  

1. The rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. This “scare” was caused by fears of subversion by communists in the United States after the Russian Revolution.

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Example Sentences

The Red Scare followed—the government arrested and deported radicals, breaking unions like the IWW and hobbling labor for a decade.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

To distance themselves from the Red Scare, the Reds temporarily changed their name.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 2, 2025

By the time Hofstadter wrote that, the Red Scare had subsided, its loudest voices pushed to the fringe of U.S. politics.

From Slate • Mar. 17, 2025

Frank Oppenheimer discovered novel properties of cosmic rays before the Red Scare cut his career short.

From Scientific American • Oct. 10, 2023

And once again it became clear that one hundred years after the first Red Scare and some sixty-five after a second, nativism and a mistrust of foreigners are still very much with us.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler