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American Experience

An Attorney General Targeted

Clip: Season 30 | 1m 26s

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In 1919, after a series of bomb attacks, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer set up “Radical Division,” within the Justice Department. Its goal was to identify people who posed a threat to the U.S. social stability, particularly anarchists. After initial celebration, it seemed to many that this was too extreme a violation of civil liberties. Filmmaker Susan Bellows introduces A. Mitchell Palmer.

Aired: 02/13/18 | Rating: NR

Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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The Chinese Six Companies

On May 28, 1900, San Francisco policemen formed a perimeter around Chinatown as officials diagnosed bubonic plague in the neighborhood and wanted to quarantine the nearly 20,000 residents. As tensions flared, an influential group of merchants known as the Chinese Six Companies sprang into action.

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