SPIES, LIES AND PARANOIA: AMERICANS IN FEAR
On Special Exhibit March 15 – October 26, 2014

The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum invites you to enter the eerie world of real and imagined threats – America in the 1950s. As Cold War tensions grew, many in the U.S. sensed danger lurking around every corner – Communist spies, nuclear annihilation, even space aliens.

This all-new museum exhibition draws on collections from across the country to showcase American anxiety and our collective response to a wave of terror. From popular culture to top-secret government files, SPIES showcases a thrilling and thought-provoking array of material, including:

• Soviet KGB necktie spy camera
• Metal ashtray designed to conceal a Stasi (East German Secret Police) Minox III spy camera
• A dead drop container used by spies to hide secret documents, etc.
• Film canisters that contained the “pumpkin papers” made famous in the Alger Hiss/Whittaker Chambers dispute in the 1948 House Un-American Activities Committee hearings
• Soviet and Eastern European anti-American propaganda posters
• East German and Soviet surveillance equipment
• Video clips of anti-communist films of the 1940s and 1950s
• Archival film footage of House Un-American Activities Committee hearings and Senate anti-communist hearings
• Audio and Video recordings of Civil Defense broadcasts and how to protect yourself from atomic attack
• Video clips from classic space alien invasion films of the 1940s and 1950s
• Souvenir spy gear in the Museum Store, and much more