Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI vigorously investigated and tracked the activities of Communist groups, Communist-front groups, and other radical organizations in the United States. This module consists of records of the FBI and the Subversive Activities Control Board from 1945-1972. Highlights of this module include J. Edgar Hoover’s office files; documentation on the FBI’s so-called “black bag jobs,” as they were called before being renamed “surreptitious entries”; and the “Do Not File” File. The “Do Not File” file consists of records that were originally supposed to be destroyed on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s order, however, through both intended and inadvertent exceptions to this order, large portions of these files survived. Another key collection in this module consists of the records of the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB). The SACB files constitute one of the most valuable resources for the study of left-wing radicalism during the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of the collections in this module include:
- FBI Wiretaps, Bugs, and Break-ins: The National Security Electronic Surveillance Card File and the Surreptitious Entries File
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Confidential Files: The Do Not File File
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Confidential Files: The J. Edgar Hoover Official and Confidential File
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Confidential Files: The Louis Nichols Official and Confidential File and The Clyde Tolson Personal File
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Confidential Files: U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Judges Subject Files
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Surveillance Files: Communist Activity in the Entertainment Industry, 1942-1958
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Surveillance Files: FBI Files on the Amerasia Affair
- McCarthy Era Blacklisting of School Teachers, College Professors, and Other Public Employees: The FBI Responsibilities Program File and the Dissemination of Information Policy File
- Records of the Subversive Activities Control Board, 1950-1972, Part I: Communist Party USA
- Records of the Subversive Activities Control Board, 1950-1972, Part II: Communist-Action and Communist-Front Organizations
- The Communist Party USA and Radical Organizations, 1953-1960: FBI Reports from the Eisenhower Library