Walt Disney Spent Nearly Three Decades Feeding the FBI Information, but What Did He Tell Them?

Everyone knows that there were few people more fiercely American than Walt Disney. Walt thrived in and loved the idea of America, being part of a country where someone like him could build a successful life.

He took his love of country and incorporated it into his theme parks. Look no further than Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland and later at Disney World. His love of country also pops up in the Carousel of Progress and, after his death, at the American Pavilion at EPCOT.

Walt not only talked the talk, but he also walked the walk when it came to his love of America. During World War II, approximately 90 percent of Walt Disney Studios’ output was dedicated to the war effort, including instructional videos and propaganda. This nearly bankrupted his studio.

After the war, Walt became fiercely anti-communist, which led him down some dark paths. In 1941, before the war, Walt fired some of his animators after they tried to unionize. This would lead to a massive strike at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Disney’s communist accusations against his animators would lead some of them to be put on Joseph McCarthy’s “Blacklist” after the war, and Disney even testified during the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings in 1947.

However, it turns out that Walt’s involvement with anti-communist activities ran deeper than we first realized. Thanks to some recently unearthed documents, Walt was cooperating with J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI for decades before he died in 1966, including giving the bureau names of suspected communists in Hollywood.

The relationship between Disney and the FBI allegedly began in 1936 when Hoover sent Walt a friendly letter. This would initiate a relationship that lasted nearly three decades, as Walt provided Hoover and the Bureau with information about the activities in Hollywood and those he suspected of engaging in “subversive activities.”

Walt also worked behind the scenes at his studios to ensure that the Bureau came off in a positive light in his movies and television shows. After Disneyland opened, Walt offered FBI agents free access to the park, saying that even agents at the Bureau needed some time away.

According to Parade Magazine, Disney received the designation of “Special Agent in Charge Contact,” which means that he was a trusted contact for the FBI.

What Disney actually gave to the FBI was not released in the files, but he must have given them enough information to receive his designation. Disney also got special access to film at the FBI headquarters.

While Walt may have only provided the Bureau with information on suspected communists, it could have included any type of information about the goings-on in Hollywood. From what we already know, J. Edgar Hoover would have loved that.

What do you think of Walt Disney as an FBI informant? Let us know in the comments.