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The F.B.I. and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The author of Bearing the Cross, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Martin Luther King Jr., exposes the government's massive surveillance campaign against the civil rights leader
When US attorney general Robert F. Kennedy authorized a wiretap of Martin Luther King Jr.'s phones by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he set in motion one of the most invasive surveillance operations in American history. Sparked by informant reports of King's alleged involvement with communists, the FBI amassed a trove of information on the civil rights leader. Their findings failed to turn up any evidence of communist influence, but they did expose sensitive aspects of King's personal life that the FBI went on to use in its attempts to mar his public image.
Based on meticulous research into the agency's surveillance records, historian David Garrow illustrates how the FBI followed King's movements throughout the country, bugging his hotel rooms and tapping his phones wherever he went, in an obsessive quest to destroy his growing influence. Garrow uncovers the voyeurism and racism within J. Edgar Hoover's FBI while unmasking Hoover's personal desire to destroy King. The spying only intensified once King publicly denounced the Vietnam War, and the FBI continued to surveil him until his death.
The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. clearly demonstrates an unprecedented abuse of power by the FBI and the government as a whole.
When US attorney general Robert F. Kennedy authorized a wiretap of Martin Luther King Jr.'s phones by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he set in motion one of the most invasive surveillance operations in American history. Sparked by informant reports of King's alleged involvement with communists, the FBI amassed a trove of information on the civil rights leader. Their findings failed to turn up any evidence of communist influence, but they did expose sensitive aspects of King's personal life that the FBI went on to use in its attempts to mar his public image.
Based on meticulous research into the agency's surveillance records, historian David Garrow illustrates how the FBI followed King's movements throughout the country, bugging his hotel rooms and tapping his phones wherever he went, in an obsessive quest to destroy his growing influence. Garrow uncovers the voyeurism and racism within J. Edgar Hoover's FBI while unmasking Hoover's personal desire to destroy King. The spying only intensified once King publicly denounced the Vietnam War, and the FBI continued to surveil him until his death.
The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. clearly demonstrates an unprecedented abuse of power by the FBI and the government as a whole.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
David J. Garrow
37 books63 followersDavid J. Garrow is Professor of Law & History and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 2, 2023
there's still some troubling aspects with Garrow's work....
about 4 years ago, he starts to sound like he's got more trust in J. Edgar Hoover's dirt with Sullivan's memos and, well in 2027, there may be some tapes or notes that can be more closely looked at...
.........
here's some of the controversial stuff about Garrow
David Garrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Martin Luther King Jr., has unearthed information that may forever change King’s legacy.
In an 8,000-word article published in the British periodical Standpoint Magazine on May 30, Garrow details the contents of FBI memos he discovered after spending weeks sifting through more than 54,000 documents located on the National Archive’s website. Initially sealed by court order until 2027, the documents ended up being made available in recent months through the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
The most damaging memos describe King witnessing a rape in a hotel room. Instead of stopping it, handwritten notes in the file say he encouraged the attacker to continue.
King was once thought of as a saint beyond reproach. After his death, it eventually emerged that he was a womanizer.
If these FBI memos are accurate – and I have good reason to believe they are – we now have to ask the unthinkable: Was King an abuser? And what might this mean for his legacy?
.........
Garrow seems to go overboard on the pervy, and well you have on one side King having a few affairs, and then all the speculations, but garrow seems a bit too trusting of J Edgar which is odd.
He got into a lot of hot water about the disturbing gay content in Obama's letters to his girlfriend about his obsessive fantasies, which were strange, but when he first hinted at it, people all had a meltdown about the utter strangeness of it all, but recent news seems to have pretty much vindicated him about the actual bizarreness.
I just think who in their right mind would do that in a letter to a girlfriend, unless it's something to break up with someone, or why didn't he soften the blow by just discussing it in person, than writing something so horridly embarassing in a letter.
..........
King however is a special and unusual case, and so is J. Edgar Hoover
and it's taken decades to get so far with clarity on a lot of issues.
William Pepper's book on King and Hoover, Orders to Kill is pretty difficult stuff for people to accept some of those possibilities of what may have been going on....
And we don't even really know about J. Edgar Hoover's sexuality either....
yet Garrow seems to have this National Enquirer feel to him sometimes, and well i have the feeling people are skeptical of him when he's not that skeptical about Hoover.
.........
I'm still of the mind that garrow gets into the controverisal, but something feels unfinished with much of his work
You get that feeling of unease like in reading Seymour Hersh's works, but at least some fundamental new insights arise with Hersh
about 4 years ago, he starts to sound like he's got more trust in J. Edgar Hoover's dirt with Sullivan's memos and, well in 2027, there may be some tapes or notes that can be more closely looked at...
.........
here's some of the controversial stuff about Garrow
David Garrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Martin Luther King Jr., has unearthed information that may forever change King’s legacy.
In an 8,000-word article published in the British periodical Standpoint Magazine on May 30, Garrow details the contents of FBI memos he discovered after spending weeks sifting through more than 54,000 documents located on the National Archive’s website. Initially sealed by court order until 2027, the documents ended up being made available in recent months through the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
The most damaging memos describe King witnessing a rape in a hotel room. Instead of stopping it, handwritten notes in the file say he encouraged the attacker to continue.
King was once thought of as a saint beyond reproach. After his death, it eventually emerged that he was a womanizer.
If these FBI memos are accurate – and I have good reason to believe they are – we now have to ask the unthinkable: Was King an abuser? And what might this mean for his legacy?
.........
Garrow seems to go overboard on the pervy, and well you have on one side King having a few affairs, and then all the speculations, but garrow seems a bit too trusting of J Edgar which is odd.
He got into a lot of hot water about the disturbing gay content in Obama's letters to his girlfriend about his obsessive fantasies, which were strange, but when he first hinted at it, people all had a meltdown about the utter strangeness of it all, but recent news seems to have pretty much vindicated him about the actual bizarreness.
I just think who in their right mind would do that in a letter to a girlfriend, unless it's something to break up with someone, or why didn't he soften the blow by just discussing it in person, than writing something so horridly embarassing in a letter.
..........
King however is a special and unusual case, and so is J. Edgar Hoover
and it's taken decades to get so far with clarity on a lot of issues.
William Pepper's book on King and Hoover, Orders to Kill is pretty difficult stuff for people to accept some of those possibilities of what may have been going on....
And we don't even really know about J. Edgar Hoover's sexuality either....
yet Garrow seems to have this National Enquirer feel to him sometimes, and well i have the feeling people are skeptical of him when he's not that skeptical about Hoover.
.........
I'm still of the mind that garrow gets into the controverisal, but something feels unfinished with much of his work
You get that feeling of unease like in reading Seymour Hersh's works, but at least some fundamental new insights arise with Hersh
September 24, 2021
A short but extremely precise analysis of the Bureau's paranoid campaign against MLK.
In past reading I have encountered many examples of Hoover's agenda against King and the SCLC, but Garrow's study on the phases and development of FBI actions and methods, put in their chronological order, have made for a clearer understanding.
Published way back in 1981, this book retains it's importance and a certain disturbing aspect.
In past reading I have encountered many examples of Hoover's agenda against King and the SCLC, but Garrow's study on the phases and development of FBI actions and methods, put in their chronological order, have made for a clearer understanding.
Published way back in 1981, this book retains it's importance and a certain disturbing aspect.
September 11, 2017
MLK was a man, just like any other man. He had his flaws, just like any other man. He did wonderful, amazing things for human beings in this world, but yet, he was hounded by the FBI for many reasons; for the friendships he kept, for his flaws, and for his stance politically. The 60's were ripe for communist paranoia, and with MLK advocating for people of color at a time when they had no voice, that stance was determined to be "subversive" and "against American values", especially after MLK spoke out against the Vietnam war. I detested J.Edgar Hoover and those who worked with him in the bureau BEFORE I read this book, and after reading this book, I detest them even more.
March 8, 2016
I am a great admirer of MLK but recognize he was a hero with feet of clay. This book tells the story of the FBI wire taps, and opposition through the civil-rights movement. They began with concerns about MLK's association with a 'known' communist, Stan Levison. While nothing could be proved about King's communist affiliations, the wiretaps and harassment of King continued because of King's moral failings (i.e. affairs) and increasingly radicalized views (anti-Vietnam war, Poor People's Movement, etc). Also there were those in government and the FBI who had a personal vendetta against King.
Garrow is convincing that the FBI is not always the most reliable or best at interpretting data, especially when there was a racial and political bias against King; however this isn't the best written book and difficult to follow if your knowledge of the major players is spotty.
Garrow is convincing that the FBI is not always the most reliable or best at interpretting data, especially when there was a racial and political bias against King; however this isn't the best written book and difficult to follow if your knowledge of the major players is spotty.
January 30, 2023
While it was a bit difficult to read (I had to just sit down every morning for an hour and commit), it was really eye-opening and I’m glad I read it.
This book explains the massive spying on Martin Luther King, and it breaks it down into different time segments according to what the FBI used as reasons they had to surveil him: In the beginning, Communist influence, then MLK’s personal life, which a large contingent in the Bureau rather enjoyed, as did President Johnson (barf), (and which the FBI tried numerous times to leak to the media but they wouldn’t bite), and then political intelligence reasons. They were obsessed, and yes, it started with Hoover but it continued, even after death with the spying on his wife, Coretta. She said, “… the FBI treated the civil rights movement as if it were an alien enemy attack on the United States.”
The book’s final chapter is “Reforming” the FBI, but it just explains the issues on why it has been so hard to do so, and this was published in 1983. So, obviously, reform has not happened.
This book explains the massive spying on Martin Luther King, and it breaks it down into different time segments according to what the FBI used as reasons they had to surveil him: In the beginning, Communist influence, then MLK’s personal life, which a large contingent in the Bureau rather enjoyed, as did President Johnson (barf), (and which the FBI tried numerous times to leak to the media but they wouldn’t bite), and then political intelligence reasons. They were obsessed, and yes, it started with Hoover but it continued, even after death with the spying on his wife, Coretta. She said, “… the FBI treated the civil rights movement as if it were an alien enemy attack on the United States.”
The book’s final chapter is “Reforming” the FBI, but it just explains the issues on why it has been so hard to do so, and this was published in 1983. So, obviously, reform has not happened.
April 12, 2019
Interesting read of an interesting time
To.me this fleshed out a lot of things I had heard and read of MLK, the FBI, JFK and LBJ. No one was pure, all are very human and the context was well described.
To.me this fleshed out a lot of things I had heard and read of MLK, the FBI, JFK and LBJ. No one was pure, all are very human and the context was well described.
November 6, 2017
Uneventful
I was bored by this overly-factual presentation. I love MLK and despise Hoover. Nothing new in this book, but it was matter-of-factly told.
I was bored by this overly-factual presentation. I love MLK and despise Hoover. Nothing new in this book, but it was matter-of-factly told.
June 5, 2020
Hoover was wild
Shows how ridiculous and paranoid the FBI was. Much of this I was unaware of. Thanks to the writer for this.
Shows how ridiculous and paranoid the FBI was. Much of this I was unaware of. Thanks to the writer for this.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews