communist plot to abduct Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple was the target of one of the world's most dangerous terrorist groups when she was US ambassador to Ghana in 1974, secret files reveal.

Senior officials believed that the Japanese Red Army were going to abduct the actress while she was serving in her first full diplomatic post. The papers, sent to then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's office, were obtained by Daily Mail Online after an FOIA request led to them being declassified more than 40 years on.  

Temple had been warned she was in their sights and that they had dispatched terrorists to Accra, the capital of Ghana. 

The U.S. embassy in the African nation sent an urgent warning to Washington telling them that the Red Army was in the area and 'specialized in hijacking and kidnapping'. Link

Turn of career: Shirley Temple Black, who died last year, became the U.S. ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and remained in the post until 1976. In her first year there was intelligence of a Communist kidnap plot