Famous People, Communism, and the FBI

This week's task was to go through some of the files in the FBI's FOIA public records. For one, I should say that it is quite the big site, containing associations of people being researched and connections with FBI investigations and information. These records have been made public for research and information purposes, but have a lot of "secure" information blacked out, as any good government document should.

So, where to start? I began by flipping through the suggested search parameters, going through some names in the "Gangster Era" and "Violent Crimes" categories. It was ok, but mostly consisted of stuff I already knew. So then I went to the frequently requested information section and picked a letter: D. That's where I found Dorothy Dandridge. And it's where I learned that she had been suspected of being part of the Communist Party.

After further reading of some very obscure documents on Dandridge, I learned that she had been written about in a west coast communist newspaper as being associated with various communist groups, affiliations, and ideas. Because of these articles, Dandridge responded to the newspaper with a letter denying each of the claims the newspaper had made about her communist associations. Some were clearly refuted, while others were simple statements of "I have no idea what you are talking about." From my standpoint, she was sure doing a bang-up job of denying being a communist.

This strange information led me to put in the search criteria: Communism. Now that I had found something worth giggling over, I wondered who else had been a secret communist. Turns out, Lucille Ball. I think I had heard that somewhere before, but it was still kinda funny to think that the ditsy red-headed wife always getting herself into jams could somehow be a communist. According to the FBI files, she registered as a communist party voter in 1936 and 1938, a fact that was discovered by the FBI after hearing about some rumored affiliations. The red-head voted red.

The second name I found associated with communism? Albert Einstein. Yup. The genius himself, who was rumored to have not been able to put on his own socks, or something to that effect, was also a communist. But the FBI's proof on him seemed a little more substantial than Dandridge's or Ball's. Einstein was said to have been connected with 34 communist fronts between 1937 and 1954, serving as honorary chairman for three different communist organizations. Maybe the genius was on to something?

So it turns out that communism was quite the popular way to go for some pretty big names. Maybe it's true, maybe it's here say, or maybe it's just that according to the government in the 1930's and 40's, everyone was a commy.