Federal Investigations

In 1942, the FBI showed up at the Eagle’s headquarters and accused Bass of receiving funds from Japan and Germany. The Post Office, CIA, State Department, and War Department also hunted for “communist traitors.” Although no evidence suggests Bass was ever affiliated with the Communist Party, federal agents read every issue of her newspaper and attended all of her speeches in order to surveil her. Later in her career, as the United States and Soviet Union faced off in the Cold War, the State Department named Bass a threat to national security and tried to seize her passport. The FBI eventually compiled a 563-page file about Bass.