By Patrick J. Buchanan – November 10, 2001

In 1919, with President Wilson felled by a stroke, anarchists detonated a bomb outside the home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. For the anarchists, not a wise move.

On January 2, 1920 there began what historians call “the Palmer Raids.” U.S. agents swooped down on immigrant enclaves, collared anarchists, roughed them up, and booted 3000 out of the U.S. The raids were led by 25-year-old John Edgar Hoover, who would later take over a corrupt federal agency and convert it into the most respected anti-terrorist organization on earth: the FBI.