(1872–1936), U.S. public official, born in Moosehead, Pa.; Swarthmore College 1891; admitted to the bar 1893; served in U.S. House of Representatives 1909–15; alien property custodian during World War I; attorney general (1919–21) under President Wilson; his ferocious campaign against supposed subversives largely created the “red scare” of 1919–20, in which radicals were imprisoned or deported; in a general disregard of civil rights, thousands were arrested and detained without charge in what were called “Palmer raids”