Abstract
Although lacking legal authority, the FBI spied on newspaper labor activists during the 1940s. Previously undisclosed documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered the surveillance as part of the agency's effort to monitor domestic subversion. The agency had the cooperation of journalists who sought to purge Communists from the leadership of the Newspaper Guild. The reports, prepared with the help of the informants, fueled a red scare in the 1950s when Cold War fears ran rampant.
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