Key Information
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Title
Date(s)
- 1996 Feb 10 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent
34pp
Scope and content
Typescript transcript of interview with M Wesley Swearingen, US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, 1951-1977, relating to the operations of the FBI in Chicago during the campaign against alleged communists and communist sympathisers in US society instigated by Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy, 1950-1954, (McCarthyism) involving surveillance of individuals with links to the Communist Party in the US, and their associates, including Doris Fein and Lillian Green, spouses of communist leaders; the arrest of Claude Lightfoot, Chairman of the Communist Party, Illinois, USA, 1954; techniques of surveillance such as telephone tapping, following, 'black bag jobs' which involved illegal entry into home in search of documents and information; the violation of constitutional and civil rights; role of J Edgar Hoover, Head of the FBI, 1924-1972, in authorising the surveillance and the compilation of the Security Index, a massive list of people suspected of communist sympathies; FBI links to the news media, and use of films for anti-communist propaganda, including ideas of loyalty, patriotism and fear. 34pp
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Existence and location of originals
Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›