| − | In response to a [[Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) request by Cliff Kincaid, Editor of [[Accuracy in Media]], on July 30, 2010, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) released a 423-page file on Howard Zinn.The FBI file reveals that while Zinn denied being a member of the CPUSA, several reliable informants in the party identified Zinn as a member who attended party meetings as many as five times a week. | + | In response to a [[Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) request by Cliff Kincaid, Editor of [[Accuracy in Media]], on July 30, 2010, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) released a 423-page file on Howard Zinn. The FBI file reveals that while Zinn denied being a member of the CPUSA, several reliable informants in the party identified Zinn as a member who attended party meetings as many as five times a week, even serving as a delegate to the New York State Communist Party Convention. In 1951, he taught a class on Marxism at CPUSA headquarters in [[Brooklyn]], and it seems highly unlikely he would have been allowed to do so in this setting if not a Party member himself. Acquaintances in the New York loading dock where he worked at the time were also said to regard him as a Communist.<ref>Howard Zinn, FBI files, Part 1, p. 4, 5, 11, 50, 54, 80, and 109, Part 1, https://vault.fbi.gov/Howard%20Zinn%20</ref> |
| | The FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn in 1949, which revealed Zinn's activities in what were called [[Communist]] Front Groups, and received reports from informants that Zinn was an active member of the CPUSA, with one stating that he was "believed to be a CP member as of October, 1956." In the 1960s, the Bureau took another look at Zinn on account of his criticism of the FBI's civil rights investigations. A 1964 FBI memorandum refers to Zinn as "a professor and writer who has a background of known membership in the Communist Party (CP) and has continued to demonstrate procommunist and anti-United States sympathies." It also reveals that while Zinn had denied membership in the CPUSA, his denial "was not supported by facts" - a reference to the substantial evidence and eyewitness testimony provided by informants in the CPUSA. Further investigation was made when Zinn traveled to North Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan as an anti-war activist. The investigation ended in 1974, and no further investigation into Zinn or his activities was made by the FBI.<ref>[http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/zinn_howard.htm Federal Bureau of Investigation, Howard Zinn]</ref><ref>[http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010073011179/editorial/leftist-qhistorianq-howard-zinn-lied-about-red-ties/print.html Cliff Kincaid, ''Leftist "Historian" Howard Zinn Lied About Red Ties''] Friday, 30 July 2010</ref> | | The FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn in 1949, which revealed Zinn's activities in what were called [[Communist]] Front Groups, and received reports from informants that Zinn was an active member of the CPUSA, with one stating that he was "believed to be a CP member as of October, 1956." In the 1960s, the Bureau took another look at Zinn on account of his criticism of the FBI's civil rights investigations. A 1964 FBI memorandum refers to Zinn as "a professor and writer who has a background of known membership in the Communist Party (CP) and has continued to demonstrate procommunist and anti-United States sympathies." It also reveals that while Zinn had denied membership in the CPUSA, his denial "was not supported by facts" - a reference to the substantial evidence and eyewitness testimony provided by informants in the CPUSA. Further investigation was made when Zinn traveled to North Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan as an anti-war activist. The investigation ended in 1974, and no further investigation into Zinn or his activities was made by the FBI.<ref>[http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/zinn_howard.htm Federal Bureau of Investigation, Howard Zinn]</ref><ref>[http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010073011179/editorial/leftist-qhistorianq-howard-zinn-lied-about-red-ties/print.html Cliff Kincaid, ''Leftist "Historian" Howard Zinn Lied About Red Ties''] Friday, 30 July 2010</ref> |