In 1948, the United States worried Italians would vote socialist in the country’s upcoming election. Thousands of Central New York Italian-Americans wrote letters to their native home urging them not to.

With the Cold War heating up, both the United States and the Soviet Union sent bags of money to the Italian political party they favored. (By its own admission, the CIA gave $1 million to Italy’s “center parties.”)

American agencies funded the publishing of books, made numerous short-wave radio broadcasts and wrote millions of letters to help influence the election.

Source: Vintage election meddling: Italian-Americans urge relatives to vote against communism in 1948