Published in the PSC CUNY Retirees Chapter Newsletters: December 2019
Recently I saw a presentation at Tamiment Library at NYU about folk singers and their FBI files. It was presented by Aaron J. Leonard, who combined his background as author and historian in writing about the left in the United States and the suppression by the FBI. He is the co-author of the book A Threat of the First Magnitude, which details the role of FBI informants who “penetrated the upper reaches of such organizations as the Communist Party USA, the Black Panther Party... and other groups.’’
Leonard’s new book, The Folk Singers and the Bureau and The Suppression of the Communist Party, USA 1939-1956, will be published in September 2020. By obtaining individual FBI files, he learned various code words to describe Communist Party affiliations written on these files. He described People’s Songs, founded in 1945, which promoted songs of labor to the American people. Leonard noted the different choices that faced many musicians of that time, such as Burl Ives, who named names at the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Leonard also noted how Woody Guthrie’s “merchant marine papers were pulled for contributing to the Daily Worker.” Blacklisting of the Weavers limited and almost destroyed their careers. Paul Robeson’s career suffered because of his politics. The Hollywood Ten were writers. They were blacklisted rather than actors. Writers were perceived to be more dangerous during this fearful time. For a closing, Leonard led us in a rousing version of If I Had a Hammer.