Final answer:
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was a prominent figure in the development of American legal theory, advocating for a living Constitution approach. He was active during the First Red Scare, a time when methods similar to his reasoning were used by the burgeoning FBI under J. Edgar Hoover to monitor radicals.
Step-by-step explanation:
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was a pioneering figure in American jurisprudence who significantly contributed to the way the Constitution is interpreted. He believed that the law should serve the felt necessities of the time and be geared towards achieving a social end. Holmes argued that interpretations of the Constitution should not be limited merely to the intents of its framers but should consider the whole experience of American society.
In addition to his significant role on the US Supreme Court, the time period around 1919 was marked by a wave of anti-radical sentiment in the United States. During the First Red Scare, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and his assistant, J. Edgar Hoover, began conducting widespread surveillance and suppression of individuals deemed radical. This era saw the foundations of what would become the FBI, then a new division of the Justice Department, aimed at monitoring and controlling perceived threats to American society.