Walt Disneys Secret Work With The FBI Revealed

To legions of children across the world who grew up watching Disney films, he is the smiling, mustachioed animator that introduced youngsters to some of the world’s most beloved characters.

But many may not realize that Walt Disney was also a close confidante of the FBIand happily informed agents about the ‘Communists’ among his staff at the height of the Cold War.

According to reports, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent Walt a letter in 1936, which led to the two striking up a friendship that would span across decades until Walt’s death in 1966.

It’s been said that over the years, Walt alerted the FBI of figures in Hollywood whom he suspected of ‘subversive activity.’

In 1947, he even testified to the House Un-American Activities Committee about a strike that occurred at his studio six years earlier claiming it was caused by ‘Communistic agitation,’ per documents released in 2015.

He identified many of his ownanimators by name, whom he believed were ‘Communist aggravators.’

He also reportedly changed scripts of shows and movies to ensure that the FBI looked good, and when Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt allowed FBI agents to enter the park for free.

According to the documents released by the FBI: ‘Mr. Disney has volunteered representative of this office complete access to the facilities of Disneyland for use in connection with official matters and recreational purposes.’

Disney then went even further, offering the FBI a slot in his Tomorrowland exhibition to show off the agency’s work to children and young people.

‘(Walt) raised the question as to whether it would be possible to prepare a display or demonstration of how science is employed by the FBI through its Laboratory and Identification Divisions,’ reads the documents.

He also offered to make a series of three shows, which eventually aired in 1958, promoting the FBI through the Mickey Mouse Club.

The series followed a 13-year-old reporter, Dirk Metzger, the son of a Marine Corps Colonel, who was given a tour of the FBI including watching agents shoot at targets with the face of famous bank robber Baby Faced Nelson pasted on to them.

Metzger was introduced to Disney’s long-term friend and then-FBI head Hoover in the show, and shown the basics of hand-to-hand fighting, such as martial art Jujitsu.

After the shows aired, the FBI decided it didn’t want a part in the Tomorroworld exhibition, though not for lack of trying on Walt’s part.

Walt ultimately earned the honorary title of Special Agent in Charge Contact thanks to his work with the FBI.

Walt helped shaped the animation, film, television and theme park industries before his passing in 1966.

Historian Neal Gabler, who exhaustively researched Walt for his biography, previously said that everyone who worked at Disney ‘was terrified’ of him as a boss, calling him a stern taskmaster who demanded adherence to his creative visions.

But composer Richard Sherman, who began working for Disney in 1960, disagreed, saying at a panel in 2015 that he never feared him and believed the entertainment titan may have relaxed and mellowed by that point after decades of achievement.

‘He was a great soul, he really was. And he had his flaws, of course. Who doesn’t? But the main thing is he was driven to do good things,’ he said.

Others have said that Walt was driven to the end, and that on his deathbed in 1966 he was filling in his brother, Roy, on his plans for the EPCOT theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.