Bufile-Background

If you have any additional material that would be appropriate for this collection please contact Ed Norris at norris.ed@comcast.net.

All of the FBI records were obtained under the Freedom of Information-Privacy Acts (FOIPA). A total of 239 pages were obtained, this included copies of two complete MAD magazines. If you want to find references to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI in MAD, your best option is to obtain a copy of the Totally MAD 7-CD set and use its search feature.

The FBI has at least 5 files that contain information about MAD magazine. File 43-13592 is information concerning unauthorized use of the Bureau's name, file 62-55169 contains letters from citizens enclosing copies of comic strips with sensitive, derogatory or not appropriate for reading by children, etc., and file 62-106572 contains letters from citizens about MAD. The other two are 62-0-58624 and 62-0-59876. The FBI refers to their files as "bufiles" which is short for Bureau Files. Some point after January 1961 the FBI reclassified their other files with MAD information to bufile 62-106572. If the FBI sent a letter back to the individual it was referred to as a "bulet" which is a Bureau Letter.

Two other acronyms that can be found throughout the records are SA - Special Agent and SAC - Senior Agent in Charge.

In many of the documents you'll notice deleted information (white box) with a reason code. According to the FBI cover sheet sent with the documents, the code indicates:

The code "b2" - those records "related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency."
The code "b7c" - those "records or information complied for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
The code "b7d" - those "records or information complied for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including State, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnishes information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential source."

A number of people are referenced in the documents

References to Mr. Belmont are almost certainly Alan H. Belmont, Assistant Director, Domestic Intelligence Division. He was considered third in command.

References to Mr. DeLoach are almost certainly Cartha "Deke" DeLoach. He was one of J. Edgar Hoover's trusted Lieutenants and held the title Assistant Director.

References to M. A. Jones are almost certainly Milton A. Jones, chief of the Crime Records Section.

References to Mr. Nease, this person's full name and position within the FBI are not known.

References to A. Rosen are almost certainly Alex Rosen, Assistant Director.

References to W.C. Sullivan are almost certainly William C. Sullivan. He was J. Edgar Hoover's assistant for many years.

References to Mr. Tolson are almost certainly Clyde Anderson Tolson. He was an Associate Director and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency. He was considered second in command.

References to Mr. Wick may be Field Agent Robert Wick.

In response to MAD being communistic, the FBI at various times sent the correspondent some publications so that he or she could determine for himself or herself if MAD was Communist or not.

The page numbers referenced for The MAD World of William M. Gaines (Frank Jacobs, Lyle Stuart Inc., Seeaueus NJ, 1972 and Bantam Books, New York NY, 1973) are listed first from the hardcover book and then the paperback book. Page numbers referenced for Completely MAD (Maria Reidelbach, Little, Brown and Company, Boston MA, 1991) are from both the hardcover and softcover editions of the book.

All FBI records sent to the FOIPA requestor are photocopies of their original documents. The photocopies were scanned at 300dpi to maintain readability. Partial pages were scanned leaving out the white space. The non-FBI images that are part of the referenced MAD articles are used for illustrative purposes and copyrighted 1999 by E.C. Publications, Inc.

The images are best viewed with Internet Explorer V6.0 or later. Microsoft added an Automatic Image Resizing option, which is enable by default. If you want to see the images in actual size, run the mouse over the image and click on the icon in the lower right. Clicking the icon again will resize the image. Other browsers will always show the image in actual size.

For more information about MAD, the FBI or the FOIPA, click on the links.