I Was A Communist For The FBI

Broadcast History: 23 April 1952 to 14 October 1953

It’s hard to believe that the stories in I Was a Communist for the FBI are not fiction but fact. They tell the true story of Matt Cvetic, a man who put his love for his country above everything else. The stories in this series were based on the actual records and authentic experiences of Matt Cvetic (portrayed by Dana Andrews) who infiltrated the top levels of the Communist Party for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1941 until 1950.

Cvetic was the son of immigrant parents from Slovenia who hated the Communists and this, together with his knowledge of the Slavic languages and his determination to serve his country, led the FBI to invite him to serve as a counterspy. It was a hard decision for him to make. Life was not easy for Cvetic as he was shunned by his parents and siblings, his wife and twin sons and friends all of whom truly believed him to be a Communist. He had to maintain this pretence at all times for his own safety, proving, as he says at the end of almost every episode, that he must “walk alone”.

The stories were broadcast on radio from April 23rd 1952 – October 14th 1953. Matt Cvetic died in 1962.