No one above suspicion: Talcott parsons under surveillance

This article presents details, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, of an extensive investigation carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the background and activities of Talcott Parsons. In 1952, following allegations that Parsons was the leader of a Communist Party cell at Harvard University, J. Edgar Hoover authorized a security-type investigation of Parsons; it continued for two years and was conducted throughout the United States and in at least seven European nations. Parsons was eventually cleared of all accusations, but FBI scrutiny of his activities continued on an intermittent basis for at least another thirteen years. Possible influences on Parsons’ scholarship and implications for the sociology of knowledge are also discussed.