Matt Cvetic
| Matthew 'Matt' Cvetic | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 4, 1909 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. |
| Died | July 26, 1962 (aged 53) |
| Occupation | FBI Counterspy |
| Years active | 1941–1950 |
| Known for | I Was a Communist for the FBI, anti-communist activities |
| Children | 2 |
Matthew "Matt" Cvetic (March 4, 1909 – July 26, 1962) was a Pittsburgh native who was asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to join the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) as an informant in the 1940s. He told his story in a series in the Saturday Evening Post, and his experiences were then fictionalized in the old time radio show I Was a Communist for the FBI, adapted for a Warner Brothers motion picture in 1951. He testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s.
Cvetic was born in 1909 to Slovenian immigrants living in Pittsburgh. One of eleven children, Cvetic graduated from St. Mary's Roman Catholic Grammar School in 1922. Thereafter, his formal education is difficult to verify, in part due to the often-contradictory testimony he provided before various audiences over the course of his career. At various points he claimed to have attended "prep school or college," although during a hostile cross examination in 1954 was forced to admit that he had only completed the tenth grade. Prior to his employment with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cvetic worked a series of jobs, including various sales positions as well as briefly serving at the Pennsylvania State Department of Labor and Industry. On August 15, 1931, he married a pregnant Marie Barsh, who gave birth to twin sons the next year. The marriage proved to be a tumultuous one, as Barsh claimed that he was physically and verbally abusive with her as well as unfaithful, leading to a separation followed by a divorce in January, 1946. This period was especially difficult for Cvetic, as he was arrested in 1939 after allegedly having beaten his sister in law badly enough that she required hospitalization. In 1941, during World War II, he volunteered to join the Army but was rejected for being too short.
In April 1941, Cvetic came to the attention of the FBI which offered him the opportunity to penetrate the American Communist Party as part of their broader anti-communist efforts. Cvetic quickly agreed, and by the end of 1942 was considered suitable material for membership in the Pittsburgh branch CPUSA, his membership being granted to him in February, 1943. Shortly after his joining the party, Cvetic was offered weekly compensation in the amount of $15, which was increased to $35 per week in late 1943, then $65 by 1947. By 1948 he was earning $85 per week for his work, and although he continually pressured the Bureau to increase his salary to $100 and threatened to quit if his requests were not granted, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover rebuffed his requests.
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