The America had only just emerged from World War II when it entered the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

On the home front, fears of communist spies and agitators permeated into everyday life,

and J Edgar Hoover's FBI was on the hunt for Russian agents in the United States.

Of course, all of this also led to the hysteria of blacklisting and charges of being un-American.

Claims that Landed author Dashelhamid and many, many more in jail for little more than attending meetings or rallies.

Amid this background in the early 1950s, radio producer Frederick W. Ziv dramatized the fight

against the foreign menace with I was a communist for the FBI.

The series was based on the life and exploits of Matt Sevetic, recruited by the Bureau in

1941 to infiltrate the Communist Party in the Northeast

United States.

For nine years, Sevetic reported on activities and identified other communists to the FBI.

Though his official files show he rose through the ranks of the party and became one of the

region's best informants, Civetics struggled with drinking and womanizing, two traits you don't want in an undercover

agent. By his own admission, he bragged about his FBI job to impress women, and he was arrested on numerous occasions for drunk and

disorderly conduct.

In 1950, with his government service officially ended, Civetic sold his story. First to the Saturday

evening post for a series of articles and then to Hollywood, where Frank Lovejoy

starred as Matt Civetic in 1951's I was a Communist for the FBI.

Despite being a fictionalized account of Civetic's work,

the film won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Radio came next when Frederick Ziv purchased the rights to the film's title and

Thesphetic Story.

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