The FBI tracked Woody Guthrie's politics for years, amassing an enormous file that was only discovered many years after his death.

Woody Guthrie was briefly a member of the Communist Party USA, but he was kicked out for 'lack of discipline.'

The FBI investigated John Steinbeck, believing he might be a communist.

Woody Guthrie emblazoned 'This machine kills fascists' on his guitar, a phrase he borrowed from war machinery.

Before he was known as a folk singer, Woody Guthrie was a popular radio host in Los Angeles.

Bob Dylan considered Woody Guthrie a foundational influence, a sentiment he immortalized in his 1962 recording 'Song to Woody.'

See the list of alleged communists Orwell gave to the British government

In 1949, Orwell provided a list of communist sympathizers to a British anti-communist propaganda unit, naming figures like actor Charlie Chaplin and writer John Steinbeck. When it was made public in 2003, some called Orwell a government informant, though others blamed his tuberculosis, which would take his life a year later, while others blamed his romantic interest in the woman who asked him for the names.

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 1940 concept album about agricultural and economic destruction, 'Dust Bowl Ballads.'

Poet Robert Lowell was once convinced communists were invading an artist colony

In 1949, the Pulitzer winner accused Elizabeth Ames, director of the Yaddo artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York, of colluding with Agnes Smedley, a journalist who'd been staying on the property for years and who was working on a project sympathetic to communist causes.

Hughes testified before Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee on Investigations

In 1953, the writer was interrogated by the Subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, about communism and its impact on his work. Cohn quoted lines from poems like “Goodbye, Christ” and “Ballads of Lenin,” but Hughes denied that he was a communist, explaining that poetry should not be taken literally. “That is a poem,” he told Cohn. “One can not state one believes every word of a poem.”

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 'Columbia River Songs,' the government-commissioned album about Washington state's Columbia River.

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' as a sarcastic response to 'God Bless America.'

In 1998, Billy Bragg and Wilco recorded unreleased songs penned by Woody Guthrie.

Dylan's early records were socially conscious folk songs

Dylan's early records were modeled after his heroes Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, meaning they were often acoustic numbers filled with lyrical wordplay and political themes. "Masters of War," from 1963's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," is a perfect example of the form, railing against politicians and war profiteers.

Ginsberg's 'Howl' portrayed people outside the American mainstream

The poem’s portraits of people on society's fringes—including vivid descriptions of drug use, psychiatric wards, and homosexuality—led to its seizure by US Customs agents and the arrest of its publisher Ferlinghetti. The American Civil Liberties Union defended both in a landmark trial that ruled the book was not obscene.

Jazz's popularity inspired a moral panic

When jazz exploded in the 1920s, some believed the music's sudden popularity was the sign of a rotten nation, with one 1920 address at the University of Wisconsin proclaiming, "We are in deadly fear of the Jazz Devil, the demon which is consuming the country." Often, the connections were racialized, with columnists and preachers suggesting that jazz's Black artists were attempting to degrade white America.

The term ‘McCarthyism’ was coined by a political cartoonist

In February 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy infamously proclaimed that he had a list of communist State Department employees. The next month, cartoonist Herbert Block published a cartoon in the Washington Post featuring a reluctant elephant (the mascot of the Republican Party) being pushed to stand on a wobbly tower labeled “McCarthyism.”

The ACLU was founded in 1920 in direct response to the suppression of speech during World War I

The mass arrest and prosecution of anti-war activists, socialists, and immigrants under the Espionage and Sedition Acts prompted a group of civil libertarians to form the American Civil Liberties Union to defend constitutional rights.

Watch a conservative icon interview Allen Ginsberg, a figurehead of the Beat Generation.

Ragtime was criticized as dangerous, 'unmusical rot'

The genre—short for "ragged time," a reference to the music's syncopation—was wildly popular at the turn of the 20th century, leading some to deem it morally corrupting and an inferior form. In 1901, the American Federation of Musicians, then the most prominent musicians' union in the country, adopted a resolution designating ragtime as "unmusical rot."

Some believe 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' is a political allegory

Although Baum claimed his book was intended as a simple children's story, scholars challenged that notion. One high school history teacher, Henry Littlefield, began teaching the book as a satire of the Gilded Age and published an essay inspiring other scholars to consider the text as a politically charged allegory.

Jimi Hendrix's performance of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at the original Woodstock was considered an artistic protest of the Vietnam War.

DJ Alan Freed was eventually charged in a 'payola' scandal

After popularizing rock 'n' roll, both as a genre and as a culture, Freed became an industry power player, producing movies, hosting concerts, and minting superstars. By the end of the 50's, Freed was charged with 26 counts of commercial bribery, for a scheme they called "payola," and investigated by the House subcommittee on Legislative Oversight.

Hughes lived in the Soviet Union in the 1930s

Hughes grew interested in the Soviet Union and radical politics in the early 1930s after the Communist Party of the United States defended the Scottsboro Boys, nine Black teenagers wrongly accused and convicted of raping two white women. In 1932, he lived there while working on a film that ultimately fizzled out, and returned home. In 1937, he planned to lead a tour of the country, as advertised below, but canceled it when a newspaper offered him a position reporting from the Spanish Civil War.

Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms' raised millions for the US war effort

Rockwell initially pitched the "Four Freedoms" project to the US Ordnance Department, but was rejected. Rockwell's editor at the Saturday Evening Post, however, loved the idea and published the images across four consecutive issues. After they became a sensation, the Saturday Evening Post partnered with the US Department of the Treasury to send the paintings on a 16-date national tour, which raised $133M in war bonds and stamps. Meanwhile, the Office of War Information printed four million sets of the posters with "Buy War Bonds" emblazoned on them.

Boston police told renowned conductor Igor Stravinsky that he had 'tampered' with 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at a performance in 1944.

The time Bob Dylan was accused of plagiarizing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’

“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a defining song of the Civil Rights Movement, one that Dylan openly acknowledged was based on a traditional African spiritual. But when Newsweek accused Dylan of stealing the song in 1963, they weren’t talking about influence. They suggested he’d jacked the tune from a helpless high school student. This article breaks down the falsehood and why it was given so much attention while Dylan was becoming a household name.

Read about former FBI Director James Comey's time at Bridgewater Associates

Comey worked at Bridgewater Associates for three years before becoming the director of the FBI in 2013. Comey has said the company's tradition of "probing," or intense questioning, can be more intense than government hearings. During his time at Bridgewater, Comey led multiple investigations into employee conduct—particularly that of former executive Eileen Murray. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Watch Bruce Springsteen's 1985 performance of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land,' which he calls 'the greatest song ever written about America.'

The Supreme Court's first major free-speech ruling rested on a legal standard that was later overturned

In Schenck v. United States (1919), the court introduced the "clear and present danger" test—permitting the government to restrict speech that posed an immediate threat to public safety. Although the doctrine was later replaced, the ruling upheld the conviction of a man who had distributed anti-draft pamphlets.

Eleanor Roosevelt sheltered student activists at the White House after they were subpoenaed by HUAC

In 1939, when Congress subpoenaed leaders of the American Youth Congress on suspicion of communist ties, Eleanor Roosevelt attended the hearings herself and then invited all 10 students to stay at the White House, as they had nowhere to sleep.

FDR inspired Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms'

In his 1941 State of the Union speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined "Four Freedoms" that democratic societies provided: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Rockwell conceived of a series of paintings based on those values, using his small-town examples of the principles in action. Below is "Freedom From Want."

How the CIA used 'Animal Farm' as Cold War propaganda

After Orwell's death in 1950, undercover agents bought the book's film rights from his widow and got to work creating a family-friendly version of the story that would reinforce its anti-Soviet themes and downplay its criticisms of capitalism and sympathetic portrayal of Snowball, the Trotsky analog.

Lenny Bruce's stand-up challenged US law

Bruce came up in burlesque theaters, but began to find success as stand-up comedy developed a more political and subversive bent. His sets often satirized what he believed to be an oppressively conformist society, which led to his arrest on several occasions.

Dylan's political songs were often abstract

Dylan's protest songs weren't always explicit; sometimes, his dense lyrics only suggested political themes. "Hard Rain," for example, features Biblical allusions, charged images, and what would become generational axioms. It's a perfect encapsulation of what his early records could offer and a thrilling preview for what would come later.

130,000 working musicians once went on strike

The early days of the record industry looked much different than they do now. There were few national record labels and there were organized musicians who viewed themselves more as day laborers rather than artists. That allowed for an organized strike by the American Federation of Musicians.

Sartre eventually denounced communism

The French philosopher was a long-time ardent supporter of communism and the USSR. He finally spoke out against the movement with the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, saying that the move was "made possible by 12 years of terror and imbecility."

80 artists on their favorite Bob Dylan songs

Listen to any rock music from the past century and you’ll likely hear some trace of Dylan’s influence. This massive list, released back on Dylan’s 80th birthday, offers objective data to back that up. Its 80 participants include David Byrne, Michael McDonald, and dozens more. The best part? The article also includes a playlist, so you can listen to the songs while you read about their impact.

Arthur Russell's avant-garde music spanned many genres

The classically trained cellist moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s, mingling with the hippie movement and the Beat Generation. After arriving in New York in 1973, he began exploring the nascent punk and disco scenes, infusing them with his classical training; however, his eclectic style might've been part of the reason he never broke through during his lifetime. That variety, though, is what draws so many devoted listeners to his work today.

'Leaves of Grass' was banned several times for obscenity

Whitman's collection was banned numerous times in various cities through the 1800s; in Boston, the district attorney even threatened Whitman’s publisher with criminal prosecution.

Camus was once a communist, but eventually disavowed the ideology

The writer belonged to the French Communist Party and the Algerian Communist Party in the mid-1930s, but he was eventually expelled for refusing to downplay objections to French colonialism. By the time he published "The Rebel," he was vocally anti-communist, believing it was a utopian ideology that often relied on violence.

The Wall Street Journal compiled the best parts of Warren Buffett's annual letters

Over the years, Buffett has quoted Yogi Berra and Mae West, as well as country songs and the Bible. Many turn to his letters as a source of inspiration and wisdom.

Norman Rockwell was sometimes confused with another Rockwell, who was a notorious Nazi

George Lincoln Rockwell was the founder of the American Nazi Party and had no relation to Norman Rockwell, the beloved American painter. But that didn't stop people from confusing the two or suggesting that they were family members. It was something that Norman Rockwell's granddaughter said had greatly disturbed the painter.

T.S. Eliot rejected George Orwell's 'Animal Farm,' suggesting that the despotic pigs might be the best leaders for the farm.

Later bossa nova music sometimes featured subtle anti-government protests

In 1968, Brazil's military dictatorship imposed tight restrictions on airplay and banned songs (and, subsequently, their artists) that failed to depict an idyllic life. That meant that, on the surface, popular bossa nova painted a rosy picture of life in Brazil. Musicologists note that artists like Antônio Carlos Jobim often juxtaposed those sunny lyrics with sad-sounding musical accompaniment, making for subtle protests that slipped by censors.

Communism grew in appeal during the Great Depression

With at least a quarter of the country out of work, some Americans disenchanted with capitalism began looking at alternatives. Watch this five-minute video to learn about communism's growing allure during the Great Depression.

The Pulitzer Prize has had its fair share of controversies

From fabricated articles to fiction that inspired FBI surveillance, these are five of the most controversial moments in Pulitzer Prize history. Among them is the Pulitzer board's decision not to give novelist Sinclair Lewis the 1921 award for fiction. This snub led the author of "Main Street" to become the first Pulitzer recipient to reject the prize in 1926.

Fearing the corruption of its youth, Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll in 1956.

How one trial tested the limits of satirical music

The rapper Afroman, who earned jokey hits in the '90s with songs like "Because I Got High," was taken into court by police officers by police officers in Adams County, Ohio, who alleged that he'd defamed them in his songs. The music in question was recorded after those officers raided his house and satirized the situation, often in graphic terms. The rapper beat the case, but not before his satirical songs were analyzed in court.

A 1954 Senate subcommittee investigated the comics industry

Comic books were wildly popular in the '50s, especially with children, whom some politicians believed were being corrupted by crime and horror comics. A subcommittee convened and eventually determined that “this Nation cannot afford the calculated risk involved in the continued mass dissemination of crime and horror comic books to children.” The government didn't endorse censorship, but the comics industry did, creating its own Comics Code Authority.

JP Morgan Jr. once angered the nation with his zero-dollar tax bill

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Congress learned that Morgan and his banking partners had avoided paying any federal income tax in 1931 and 1932. By claiming their losses in the stock market, they seemingly erased what they owed.