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# Who Was Afraid of Ray Bradbury & Science Fiction? The FBI, It Turns Out (1959) | Open Culture
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# [Who Was Afraid of Ray Bradbury & Science Fiction? The FBI, It Turns Out (1959)][10]
in _History, [Sci Fi][11]_ | August 25th, 2015 [3 Comments][12]
When you think of the most astute minds of our time, you might well think of Ray Bradbury's — but you probably don't think of him as one of the most astute_terrorist_ minds of our time. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, saw things differently. Collaborative news site MuckRock found that out through files "[released to former MuckRocker Inkoo Kang][34][which]document the decade the Bureau spent trying to determine if Bradbury was, if not a card-carrying Communist, atleast a sympathetic 'fellow traveler.'" See snippets of documents here from 1959.
![Bradburysecuritymatter][35]
You can [view the files themselves, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, at MuckRock][36]. There, the site'sJPat Brown also summarizes the organization's basis for suspicion against theauthor: his "membership in the Screen Writer's Guild, as well as his vocal opposition to McCarthyism, drew particular attention," as did the use in [_The__Martian Chronicles_][37]of the"repeated theme that earthmen are despoilers and not developers."Not just Bradbury's work but the whole of science fiction, which informant Martin Berkeley calls a possibly"lucrative field for the introduction of Communist ideology," comes in for an indictment.
![brad2][38]
"Communists have found fertile opportunities for development," Berkeley says, "for spreading distrust and lack of confidence in America [_sic_] institutions in the area of Science Fiction writing." Another, unsurprisingly clearer view of the genre comes from Bradbury himself, quoted disapprovingly in the file from a 1959 Women's Legislative Action Bulletin. There, he said he uses the medium of science fiction to"try to bring to light some of the current fallacies in human values today" — the one thing, as the author of[_Fahrenheit 451][39]![][40]_must have known full well, that the powers that beleast want anybody to do. Get more[at MuckRock][36].
![bradconclu][41]
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**Related Content:**
[Ray Bradbury: "I Am Not Afraid of Robots. I Am Afraid of People" (1974)][43]
[Ray Bradbury: Literature is the Safety Valve of Civilization][44]
[Soviet Animations of Ray Bradbury Stories: 'Here There Be Tygers' & 'There Will Comes Soft Rain'][45]
[FBI's "Vault" Web Site Reveals Declassified Files on Hemingway, Einstein, Marilyn & Other Icons][46]
[_Colin Marshall][47]writes oncities, language, Asia, and men's style.He's at work on a book about Los Angeles,[_A Los Angeles Primer][48]_,andthe video series[_The City in Cinema][49]_.Follow him on Twitter at[@colinmarshall][50]or on[Facebook][51]._
by [Colin Marshall][52] | [Permalink][53] | Comments (3) |
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##### Comments (3)
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* Michael M. Hughes says:
[ August 25, 2015 at 7:03 pm][55]
It’s obvious he was a commie—Martians are RED, right?
[Reply][56]
* Richard says:
[ August 25, 2015 at 10:39 pm][57]
The Paranoid States of America.
[Reply][58]
* Robert says:
[ August 26, 2015 at 10:40 pm][59]
Check the early star trek series. They are full of innuendo references to communism. Brilliant propaganda light years ahead of anything.
[Reply][60]
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