Editing Howard Zinn (section)

==FBI files==
[[File:Occupy Oakland Nov 12 2011 PM 40.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Occupy Oakland]], November 12, 2011, Howard Zinn quotation]]

On July 30, 2010, a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) request resulted in the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) releasing a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn's life and activities. During the height of [[McCarthyism]] in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on Zinn's activities in what the agency considered to be communist [[front groups]], such as the [[American Labor Party]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Merrefield |first=Clark |date=July 30, 2010 |title=Howard Zinn's FBI Files Reveal Communist Allegations |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/07/30/howard-zinns-fbi-files-reveal-communist-allegations.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912074916/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/07/30/howard-zinns-fbi-files-reveal-communist-allegations.html |archive-date=12 September 2011 |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |access-date=2 January 2025}} Originally titled "Inside Howard Zinn's FBI Files".</ref> and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the [[Communist Party of the United States]] (CPUSA).<ref name="Progress">{{cite web|url=http://progressive.org/dispatches/fbi-s-file-howard-zinn/|title=The FBI's File on Howard Zinn|author=Matthew Rothschild|work=[[The Progressive]]|date=July 31, 2010}}</ref> Zinn denied ever being a member and said that he had participated in the activities of various organizations which might be considered Communist fronts, but that his participation was motivated by his belief that in this country people had the right to believe, think, and act according to their own ideals.<ref name = "Progress" /> According to journalist [[Chris Hedges]], Zinn "steadfastly refused to cooperate in the anti-communist witchhunts in the 1950s."<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Chris Hedges|last=Hedges|first=Chris|date=1 August 2010|url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_feds_fear_thinkers_like_howard_zinn_20100801|title=Why the Feds Fear Thinkers Like Howard Zinn|work=[[Truthdig]]|access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref>

Later in the 1960s, as a result of Zinn's campaigning against the [[Vietnam War]] and his communication with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], the FBI designated him a high security risk to the country by adding him to the [[FBI Index|Security Index]], a list of American citizens who could be summarily arrested if a [[state of emergency]] were to be declared.<ref name = "Progress" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Howard%20Zinn%20/|title=FBI Records: The Vault — Howard Zinn|work=vault.fbi.gov|access-date=2013-08-04}}</ref> The FBI memos also show that they were concerned with Zinn's repeated criticism of the FBI for failing to protect black people against white mob violence. Zinn's daughter said she was not surprised by the files: "He always knew they had a file on him".<ref name = "Progress" />