headshot of Price looking back over his shoulder

Vincent Price and The “Secret Letter” to the FBI

In honor of the spookiest time of year, this blog post spotlights the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) case files on the late American actor Vincent Leonard Price, Jr.  (100-HQ-410935, 100-LA-34677, and 100-WFO-38897).   Price is best known for being one of Hollywood’s original four Kings of Horror. From 1938 to 1993, he terrified audiences and … Continue reading Vincent Price and The “Secret Letter” to the FBI

Humor in Government: A View of the Sino-Soviet Split, 1964

Today's post was written by David Langbart, archivist in Textual Reference at the National Archives in College Park, MD.  One of the major developments of the Cold War was the evolution of a split between the two major communist powers, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  The … Continue reading Humor in Government: A View of the Sino-Soviet Split, 1964

The CIA in Guatemala

By Jason Clingerman In June 1954, Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and carried out by the Guatemalan exile Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Arbenz was targeted in large part because of his land reform policies that affected U.S. companies, namely the United … Continue reading The CIA in Guatemala