In this letter J Edgar Hoover declared Martha a communist. The voluminous FBI file on Martha is fascinating, less for what it says about her than what it reveals about the pathologies in the US at that time. The investigation started in 1946 with Hoover's letter but then escalated as a "loyalty inquiry" when Martha went to work for the National Resources Security Board in 1950. The last document dates from 1966! There are reports from FBI offices all over the country and abroad. The investigation was never officially concluded. It seems that Martha was aware of it because she is quoted as complaining about "Gestapo tactics" and how her phone was bugged during the 1946 Congressional campaign.
It is interesting to see where the suspicions about Martha came from--partly from her connection with the "Joint Anti-Fascist Relief Committee" (at one point someone alleges that using JAFRC funds Martha brought Tito to power in Yugoslavia!); partly from her association with people like Lion Feuchtwangler; and partly because some Communists may have supported her Congressional candidacy. Someone in Fall River didn’t like her. The Veteran's Affairs people there wrote to the FBI about Martha of their own accord, and two local priests reported that she spoke to a group of Portuguese fishermen "in their own language," which they considered somehow subversive.
It is interesting to see where the suspicions about Martha came from--partly from her connection with the "Joint Anti-Fascist Relief Committee" (at one point someone alleges that using JAFRC funds Martha brought Tito to power in Yugoslavia!); partly from her association with people like Lion Feuchtwangler; and partly because some Communists may have supported her Congressional candidacy. Someone in Fall River didn’t like her. The Veteran's Affairs people there wrote to the FBI about Martha of their own accord, and two local priests reported that she spoke to a group of Portuguese fishermen "in their own language," which they considered somehow subversive.
