 I was a communist for the FBI. Starring Dana Andrews in an exciting tale of danger and espionage. I was a communist for the FBI. From the actual records and authentic experiences of Matt Severick. Come many of the incidents in this unusual story. Here is our star Dana Andrews as Matt Severick. Who for nine fantastic years lived as a communist for the FBI. Fear and hate make poor companions. But during the nine interminable years that I was a communist for the FBI, they never left my side. I knew them intimately. There was fear for myself, fear for our country, and fear for what would happen to you and your family, mister, if the Reds ever succeeded in overthrowing our form of government. And fear introduced me to hate. Hate for all things bearing the red label of communism. If you want to avoid being forced to live with fear and hate, listen to this story. In a moment, listen to Dana Andrews as Matt Severick under cover man. Here is Dana Andrews as Matt Severick under cover man. This story from the confidential file is marked Red Gold. When I make a personal contact with an FBI agent, I'm usually apprehensive of being trailed and exposed. But tonight I'm fairly relaxed. I have no feeling of having been followed to the rendezvous, and as we drive around the outskirts of the city while I make my report, I have no sense of impending danger. Later I wonder what could have given me this false sense of security. It may have been the agent's attitude. Well, there's nothing startling in that report, Matt. No, strictly routine. I handle something that might interest you. Oh. Have you ever heard any of the comrades mention a man named Razzny? Not that I remember. Is he a communist? We don't know. He's, uh, at least he was a very important member of a foreign purchasing commission. Killed? Disappeared from Washington yesterday, together with a fabulous amount of his country's gold. Oh, I see. What was that name? Razzny. He may have absconded, and then again he was known to associate with some pretty important reds. The communists could do plenty of damage with that amount of money. And I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Good. Through the State Department, Razzny's government has requested the Bureau to investigate the disappearance, so we're giving it a pretty high priority. Oh. Well, it sounds a little out of my line. Any special instructions? No. As I said, we're going to be pretty busy on this Razzny matter for the next few days. Why don't you just take it easy? Why don't you just take it easy? These are the instructions I've been waiting for. As soon as the agent lets me out of the car, and I rush home and call a girl, I've been wanting to see for weeks. I've been forced to break my last date with her because of last-minute potty business. And she isn't too anxious to give me another chance. But I finally persuade her that it won't happen again, and she agrees to go out with me. I've just finished shaving when the phone rings. Yes? Who have you been talking to? Norma Harris. Say, who is this? Never mind. I'm listening. I want to talk to you. Well, I was just going out. Well, don't. But look, I've got to- I told you before. Okay. I've recognized the voices that have come at Martin, an important party member. So I call my date and ask for a rain check. She asks, when? And I can't give her a definite answer, and the Communist Party has cost me one more friend. When Comrade Martin finally knocks at my door, I make no effort to hide my resentment. Hello, Comrade Svetik. Come in. You don't seem very happy. What's the job this time? You drive these comrades in my car. Another chauffeuring job? A very important chauffeuring job, Comrade Svetik. Perhaps you'd appreciate your chauffeuring job more if I introduced you to your passengers. This is Comrade Bertha Welch and Comrade Razzney. Comrade Razzney? Yes. You may have read in this evening's papers that he's missing from Washington. The fools believe that I'm a common absconder. I thought I remembered something about a large sum of money. Comrade Razzney has transferred most of the funds of his government's purchasing commission to Mexico City. Where? I will turn them over to the party as soon as Comrade Welch and I reclaim them. Drive them all the way to Mexico City? No, just to Arville. It's about a hundred miles from here on... I know where it is. Who gets to drive to Mexico City? I have no idea. They'll have many drivers between here and there, and many cars. That should make them hard to trace if anyone's looking for them. That is the idea, Comrade Svetik. Drive carefully. Your passengers are extremely valuable to the party. When we get to the edge of town, I try to stop to phone the bureau, but Razzney is taking no chances. Please make no stops before I ask you to come at Svetik. I have a pistol, and if you should disobey orders, the results would be most regrettable. Razzney's very polite, but also very firm. I know that my report will have to wait until after I've delivered my passengers. So on to driving. On how to drive? So on to driving. On high-speed roads, it doesn't take long to drive a hundred miles. In a little more than two hours, we enter the city of Arno. Razzney hands me my first big surprise. You may let us district, Comrade Svetik. My orders are to take you to 2723 Lane Boulevard. I know, but Miss Comrade Welch and I have decided to eat dinner before going any further. We'll take a cab to the Lane Boulevard address later. But my orders are to take... I'll give you a note, Comrade, relieving you of any responsibility. Well, it's your getaway. Exactly. But there are party funds involved. Comrade Svetik. Yes? I still hold the same persuasive argument I held when you wanted to stop back in the city. And it's pointed right at your back. Oh. In that case, Comrade Razzney, if you'll give me that note, relieving me of all responsibility. I don't see any reason for you not eating wherever you want to. You're a reasonable man, Comrade Svetik. You should live a long time. I stop in the business district of Arville and my passengers get out. And Comrade Razzney gives me my second surprise. A hundred dollar tip. Then checking to make sure that I'm not followed, I drive until I locate a phone booth and report to the FBI. Do you want me to see if I can find him again and trail him? So I drive back to the city, feeling pretty comfortable and satisfied with myself. There's no light in Comrade Martin's house when I drive up, so I just put his car in the garage and walk home. I've emptied my pockets under the top of my dresser. I'm getting ready for bed when there's a knock at my door. I open the door and see Comrade Martin standing in the hall. That's another man with him. Instinctively, I know this man's from the MVD. If you'll get out of the doorway, Comrade Svetik, we'd like to come in. Oh, sorry, Comrade Martin. I was just getting ready for bed and I... We can see that. Please shut the door. Sure. Comrade Svetik, this is Comrade Boertha. How do you do, Comrade? Comrade Boertha's with the MVD. He wants to ask you some questions. What about? I'll handle that, Comrade Martin. Did you drive Rosny and his girlfriend to Arville? Yes, I was ordered to. Answer my question. Well, of course I did. I always follow orders. So, then why didn't you deliver them to 2723 Lane Boulevard? Because Comrade Rosny said that he and Comrade Wells wanted to eat. He ordered me to let him out in the business district. You take orders from anyone then? I was not ordered to prevent his eating. And Comrade Rosny gave me his orders at the point of a gun. You expect me to believe that? I don't care whether you believe it or not, it's the... What was that, Comrade Svetik? What? Well, naturally I want you to believe it because that's the truth. Look, if you tell me what this is all about, I might be a lot more helpful. You'll be helpful, Comrade, no matter what I tell you. Now, just a second. I don't know you any better than you know me. If I'm to accept you at face value, you'll have to reciprocate. Very welcome, Comrade Svetik. Here's the situation. After we helped Rosny disappear from Washington, we learned that the funds he had transferred to Mexico City, in which he was to deliver to the party there, have been re-transferred by Rosny's girlfriend. Where were they transferred to? If we knew that, we would be waiting there for Rosny to arrive. He and that woman have simply used the party to facilitate his disappearance. Since you were the last party member to have contact with them and admit that you did not deliver them to the ordered destination, you are suspected of being a partner in Rosny's conspiracy. That's ridiculous. That's what I told him, Comrade Svetik. They tried to get out of this assignment. I had a date for the night. That's true. Only a fool would be without an alibi. That's no alibi. It's the truth. Call the girl and ask her. I'll give you the number. Perhaps I will. Later. Do you usually carry $100 bills, Comrade Svetik? No. That was given to me. Oh. You must have very wealthy friends. Yeah. I have friends. Where did you get this $100 bill? As a matter of fact, I got it from Rosny. Did you hear that, Comrade Martin? I heard, Comrade Walter. Look, it's very easy to explain. I think you had better leave, Comrade Martin. I would like to question Comrade Svetik alone. Let's pause here on KRLD. Now back to, I was a communist for the FBI. Here on KRLD. I've known fear many times, but this fear is different. For the first time since I became a communist for the FBI, the Red Secret Police, the MVD, has real evidence against me. I'm innocent this time, but the evidence is hard, circumstantial. And when Comrade Martin, now believing that I'm guilty, walks out of my room, leaving me alone with Comrade Bortha, the MVD goon, the strangling hands of terror clutch my throat, and I have difficulty in answering Bortha's questions. Why did you lie to me, Comrade Svetik? Like, I didn't lie. Do you expect me to believe that Razny gave you $100 for no reason? I told you, it was a tip. $100 tip? Where was Razny going after he left you, Comrade Svetik? He said that he was going to eat dinner. I mean, after that. He didn't tell me. Then you knew in advance. I'd never heard of Razny until Comrade Martin forced him on me earlier this evening. I've told you everything I know about the man. I don't believe you. However, I have other things to do at the moment, so I'm going to give you some time to refresh your memory. But I tell you, Comrade Bortha, I'm innocent. Many have told me that, Comrade, but invariably I have found some way to secure a confession. Don't try to leave this place before morning and don't make any phone calls. Bortha leaves, and in time I go to bed, and I don't sleep, or I have to get to the FBI. But it's 10 o'clock the next morning before desperation gives me the courage to risk Bortha's anger and leave my room. I stop at the door and look out into the street. There's a man across the street watching my place. I go to the back door, and there's another man in the alley watching. So I return to the front and wait for a flurry of traffic to give me a chance to slip out. I almost get away without being seen when the groom looks down the street just in time to stop me. He signals me to stop. I don't, and the chase is on. I lead him through crowds into heavy traffic, and he sticks like a leech. And just as I feel that I can't run another step, I get a break. My shadow is about a hundred feet behind me, and coming fast when a streetcar starts up right in front of me. I swing aboard the moving car and I'm away. I ride a block and get off before the MBD agent can find a cab and catch up with a car. Then I head for the nearest phone booth, thinking of what I'm going to tell the FBI when a man steps up beside me and pushes something against my ribs, which can only be a gun barrel. I start to turn my head, but he stops me. Don't turn, or give any other indication that these meetings at all unusual come at static. Come at rasny. Turn this corner. Just beyond there's a doorway where we can talk. In here, comrade. Why did you take a chance on coming back here? Two reasons. First, neither the MBD nor the FBI would expect me to come here. Second, the purse. Purse? What purse? Don't act so innocent, Svetik. The purse Miss Wells left in the car. Oh, well, I didn't know... I didn't know you meant that purse. Where is it? It's at home, of course. I'm not in the habit of walking around with a woman's purse on my arm. I want that purse in my hands no later than six o'clock this evening. But rasny. Deliver it to me by that time and you'll be $10,000 richer. Don't deliver it to me, and you'll be dead by midnight. Aren't you forgetting the MBD? I'm forgetting nothing. That purse is important enough for me to take any chance. I see. Where do you want me to deliver it to you? Walk down this street with the purse under your arm at any time before six o'clock. I'll be waiting for you. And watching. But I'm sure there's no one with you I'll show myself. What makes you think I won't tip off the MBD? The MBD won't give you $10,000 for anything. And they couldn't possibly kill you any deader than I will if you fail me. Go get the purse. With rasny trailing me and the MBD looking for me I have too many enemies to watch so I can't take a chance on forming the FBI. Instead I head for Comet Martin's house where if I'm lucky the purse rasny mentioned may still be in the car. I pass the house walking on the opposite side of the street. I can see no sign of anyone being home so I sneak back down the alley and enter the garage. I open the car door and get into the back seat but I can see no purse. Then I slip my hand down behind the cushion and I feel it. Just where Miss Welch must have hidden it. It sticks for a second as I try to pull it free. Then it comes with a rush and everything in the bag spilled on the car floor. It isn't much. Just a comb, a lipstick, a mirror and a coin purse. No identification. Nothing of importance that I can see but it's worth ten thousand dollars to rasny. I'm thinking about that when a voice behind me says Give me that purse. Come aboard her. Give me that purse. Take it. I thought you might be returning to the car for some reason, Comrade Siratik. It was a good hunch. Whose purse is this? Hey, it belongs to a friend of mine. What's her name? Norma Harris. The girl I had to break my date with. And how did her purse get in Comrade Martin's car? Well, after I got back from Marvel last night, I drove out to her house and picked her up. We went for a ride. Is that where you were? Certainly. You don't think coming back to get that purse was my idea, do you? Well, it wouldn't be very clever. Here, take it. Am I free to return it? Later, after the rasny situation is settled at present, Comrade Siratik. Now, I haven't time to escort you home but in the event that you are not there when I call, I shall accept your absence as proof of your guilt in this rasny matter and act accordingly. After leaving the MVD, go and bore her. I stop at a phone booth on my way home and call the FBI. I called you last night from Arville. I've been kept pretty busy. We haven't picked up rasny yet. He's back in the city. Are you positive? Yeah, I talked to him face to face less than an hour ago. He's going to meet me whenever I can break away from the Reds. What do you mean break away from the Reds? There's an MVD goon in town named Bortha who found a $100 tip rasny gave me for driving into Arville. Bortha suspects me of conspiring with rasna to beat the party out of that fortune. But what about rasny? Where can we pick him up? I don't know. Sometime between now and six o'clock I'm to go for a walk with a woman's purse under my arm. A woman's purse? What belongs to rasny's girlfriend? I haven't been able to find anything extraordinary about it but somehow it's important enough for rasny to risk coming back for it. And there has to be... Well, there isn't much more. I'm to shake the Reds somehow sometime between now and six o'clock and walk around the business district near 12th and Juniper until rasny decides I'm clear and then picks me up. Got plenty of agents in the district. Okay. This rasny is big game. I don't think much of my future as I leave the phone booth and head for home. The MVD man I slipped away from earlier is back at his station across the street from my place. But when I waved to him, he doesn't wave back and I know he's going to be a lot harder to shake the next time I try. Then I go up to my room and learn that there won't be a next time. Comet Boertha is waiting for me. Well, you took your time returning Comet Sretik. I didn't expect to find you here. Yes, obviously. What do you suspect me of now? Nothing new. Meaning that you still suspect me of conspiring with rasny? I have a theory about that purse Comet Sretik. Yes. A theory based on the assumption that the purse does not belong to your girlfriend but to rasny's girlfriend. Why would I want his girlfriend's purse? The reasons are too obvious to discuss. And now if you will take the purse, we will go for a little walk. A walk? Where? Down to the district where you sneaked away from my agent this morning. My theory embraces the possibility of you having made a contact with rasny concerning the purse. And I want you to retrace your journeys of the day on the chance that rasny may approach you again. Couldn't we rest here for an hour or so? I would rather go now to avoid endangering you through any possible slip-ups. On hours delay, does anyone endanger me? I'd like to get cleaned up. I don't know why you want to wait an hour, but we are going now. Right now. As I near the business district with Comet Bortha trailing me at a distance, my blood pressure rises, my nerves begin to shriek. Bortha has forced me into the situation before the FBI can place its agents. And I'm caught between two killers, rasny and the MBD man. My only hope now is to make Bortha give himself away and frighten off rasny. But it's only a hope, and it doesn't work. As I turn the corner at 12th and Juniper, rasny is waiting for me. He pushes his gun into my ribs and snatches the purse from under my arm and pushes me into the doorway we'd hidden in that morning. He holds his gun on me while he opens the purse and examines its contents. And watching the expression on his face, I suddenly know that he has no intention of leaving me alive to share his secrets. I try to edge away, but he pushes me back against the wall with his gun barrel, closes the purse and turns to face me. Turn around, rasny. Comet Bortha! My theory was right, comrade Sweaty. Now for you. I have a closer one than that, Matt. I hope not. Did you find anything in that purse? In the lipstick. When rasny's girlfriend transferred the funds from Mexico City to a bank in San Francisco, she was given an identification slip which could be used by either herself or rasny. That slip was hidden in the lipstick. They almost got away with it. They would have if it hadn't been for you. Too bad we can't give you credit. How'd you clear yourself with the party? Well, I phoned New York right after the shooting and reported that after I'd led Comet Bortha to where he could capture rasny, he man-muffed it. He got himself shot. The party doesn't want to be connected with any violence so the whole thing was dropped. The crocodile tears I shed over Comet Bortha's death were no more insincere than those that would have been shed over me and I suffered Bortha's bad luck. People as such mean nothing to the Reds. Only the party can make gains or suffer losses. And any show of sentiment for individuals is considered not only a weakness but a sign, a definite indication of possible political instability. So, like every communist, I had my choice of forming attachments to those who could not return my friendship or of walking alone. I chose to walk alone. Dana Andrews will return in just a moment. This is Dana Andrews. Today the war is silent and the greatest casualties are truth and honor. The war should shatter the silence but silent or thundering, the war is on. A war which must eventually bring about the elimination of either freedom or slavery. Freedom or slavery for every one of us. To protect innocent persons, names, dates and places are fictitious. But the danger they warn against is very real. Next week we'll bring you another strange adventure based on the fantastic experiences of Matt Sevetic. And that's, I was a communist for the FBI. Up next, it's life with Luigi on KRLD.