January 1, 1920

On  Day One of the Roaring Twenties, there was a One-Word Spelling Bee.

Five thousand contestants were selected from all across the fruited plains
of the United States of America.

Nine hundred seventy-five people misspelled the word
but they did not go home empty-handed.

Each of them was rewarded with civil service jobs.

The more creative the misspelling, the more likely the civil service job
would be in Washington D.C.

The One-Word Spelling Bee was sponsored
 by the Attorney General of the United States:
A. Mitchell Palmer

Mr. Palmer could think of no better way to celebrate the new year
than by having a contest that challenged
the mental faculties of the citizenry.

More than 80% of the contestants correctly spelled the One Word
which consisted of three syllables and nine letters.

C-O-M-M-U-N-I-S-M

Four thousand twenty-five people spelled the word correctly and without hesitation.
However, rather than have their hands shaken, their hands were shackled.

Each and every one of the winning contestants were arrested and held without trial.

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This page contains more than 80% truth...

That "percentage of truth" can be found in the Palmer link
as explained in Chapter III THE BIG RED SCARE [4]
of Frederick Lewis Allen's masterpiece.

Only Yesterday was an extremely popular book  during the Depression years.