SENATE RE.PoRT

No. 94-755 CONGRESS } Sd Section

SUPPLEMENTARY DETAILED STAFF REPORTS

ON INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND THE

RIGHTS OF AMERICANS

BOOK HI

FINAL REPORT

OF THE •

SELECT COMMITTEE

TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS

WITH RESPECT TO

INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

UNITED STATES SENATE

APIIIIG 23 (under authority of the order of Amin 14), 1070

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICR

41.484 0 WASHINGTON : 19143

For ante by the Superintendent of Doeumente, U.S. Government Printing (Mee

Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 117.65

DR

. MA

RT

IN L

UT

HE

R K

ING

, JR., C

AS

E S

TU

DY

CO

NT

EN

TS

Pare

I. Introd

uction

_

81

II. Th

e CO

MIN

FIL

Investigation

86

III. Con

cern In

creases in th

e FB

I and

the K

enn

edy A

dm

inistration

O

ver Allegation

s of Com

mu

nist In

fluen

ce in th

e Civil R

ights

Movem

ent an

d th

e FB

I Inten

sifies the In

vestigation: Jan

uary

1962-Octob

er 1963: Introd

uction

and

Su

mm

ary

94 A

. Th

e Justice D

epartm

ent w

arns D

r. Kin

g abou

t advisers

A an

d B

: Janu

ary 1962-Jun

e 1963

95 B

. Allegation

s abou

t Dr. K

ing d

urin

g hearin

gs on th

e pu

blic

accomm

odation

s bill an

d th

e adm

inistration

's respon

se: Ju

ly 1963_ 98

C. T

he A

ttorney G

eneral con

siders a w

iretap of D

r. Kin

g and

itejeots th

e idea: Ju

ly 1963

100

D. T

he A

ttorney G

eneral voices con

cern over con

tinu

ing F

BI

reports ab

out D

r. Kin

g: July-A

ugu

st 1963 1

02

E. T

he F

BI in

tensifies its in

vestigation of alleged

Com

mu

nist

influ

ence in

the civil righ

ts movem

ent: Ju

ly-Sep

temb

er 1963

104

IV. E

lectronic S

urveillan

ce of Dr. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g and

the S

outh

ern

Ch

ristian L

eadersh

ip C

onferen

ce: Introd

uction

and

Su

mm

ary

111

A. L

egal stand

ards govern

ing th

e FB

I's du

ty to inform

the

Justice D

epartm

ent of w

iretaps an

d m

icroph

ones d

urin

g th

e period

of the M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g investigation

112

B. W

iretap su

rveillance of D

r. Kin

g and

the S

CL

C: O

ctober

1963-Jun

e 1966

115

C. M

icroph

one su

rveillance of D

r. Kin

g: Janu

ary 1964-No-

vemb

er 1965

120

1. Reason

s for the F

BI's m

icroph

one su

rveillance of

Dr. K

ing

120

2. Evid

ence b

earing on

wh

ether th

e Attorn

eys Gen

eral au

thorized

or kn

ew ab

out th

e microp

hon

e sur-

veillance of D

r. Kin

g

123 a. A

ttorney G

eneral R

obert F

. Ken

ned

y 1

24

b. A

ttorney General N

icholas deB. K

atzenbach_ 126

V. T

he F

BI's E

ffort to Discred

it Dr. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, 1964: Intro-

du

ction an

d S

um

mary

131

A. T

he F

BI d

issemin

ates the first K

ing "

Mon

ograph

" an

d A

t- torney G

eneral Kenned' orders it recalled: O

ctober 1963_ _ 131

B. T

he F

BI p

lans its cam

paign

to discred

it Dr. K

ing: D

ecem-

ber 23, 1963

133

C. W

illiam S

ullivan

prop

oses a plan

to prom

ote a new

Negro

leader: Jan

uary 1964

135

D. F

BI H

eadq

uarters ord

ers the field

offices to inten

sify efforts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g: Ap

ril-Au

gust 1964

137

E. S

teps ta

ken

by th

e FB

I in 1

964 to

discred

it Dr. K

ing__ 1

40

I. Attem

pts to

discred

it Dr. K

ing w

ith th

e Wh

ite H

ouse

140

2. Attem

pts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g with

the C

ongress._

140

3. Attem

pts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g with

un

iversities_

141

4. Attem

pts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g with

chu

rches

142

5. Attem

pts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g with

the P

ope

142

6. Th

e attemp

t to discred

it Dr. K

ing d

urin

g his receip

t of th

e Nob

el Peace P

rize 1

43

7. Attem

pts to b

lock D

r. Kin

g's pu

blication

s

144

8. Attem

pt to u

nd

ermin

e the N

ational S

cience F

oun

- d

ation's coop

eration w

ith th

e SC

LC

1

45

9. U

nsu

ccessful F

BI a

ttemp

ts to lo

cate fin

an

cial

Improprieties

145

F. T

he q

uestion

of wh

ether G

overnm

ent officials ou

tside of th

e F

BI w

ere aware of the F

BI's effort to discredit D

r. King_ _

146

(79)

VI. T

he H

oover-K

ing C

ontro

versy

Beco

mes P

ublic an

d a T

ruce is

Called: A

pril-Decem

ber 1964: Sum

mary

A. F

irst steps in the public controversy: April-N

ovember 1964_

B. T

apes are mailed to D

r. King: N

ovember 21, 1964

C. A

ttempts by the F

BI to "leak" to reporters tape recordings

embarrassing to D

r. King

D. R

oy W

ilkin

s of N

AA

CP

meets w

ith D

eLoach

to d

iscuss

allegations about Dr. K

ing: Novem

ber 27, 1964

162

E. D

r. King and D

irector Hoover m

eet: Decem

ber 1 1964_

163

F. C

ivil rig

hts lead

ers attempt to

dissu

ade th

e FB

I from

dis-

crediting Dr. K

ing: Decem

ber 1964-May 1965

165

1. F

armer-D

eLoach m

eeting: Decem

ber 1, 1964

168

2. Y

oung-A

bern

athy-D

eLoach

meetin

g: Jan

uary

8,

1965

3. C

arey-DeL

oach meeting: M

ay 19, 1965_ _ ______

VII. T

he FB

I Program

Against D

r. King: 1965-68:

A. M

ajor efforts to discredit Dr. K

ing: 1985-88

172

1. A

ttempts to discredit D

r. King w

ith churches

172

2. A

ttempts to discredit D

r. King w

ith heads of Gov-

ernment agencies

173

3. A

ttempts to discredit D

r. King by using the press_ -

174

4. A

ttempts to discredit D

r. King w

ith major political

and financial leaders

177

5. A

ttempts to

discred

it Dr. K

ing with congressional

leaders

B. C

OIN

TE

LP

RO

operations against Dr. K

ing

C. T

he F

BI's effo

rts to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g d

urin

g h

is last

months

D

. Attem

pts to discredit Dr. K

ing's reputation after his death_

VIII. C

onclusion

154 15 155

161

From

Decem

ber 1963 until his death in 1968, Martin L

uther King,

Jr. was the target of an intensive cam

paign by the Federal B

ureau of In

vestig

ation to

"neu

tralize" him

as an effectiv

e civil rig

hts lead

er.

169 , In

the w

ord

s of th

e man

in ch

arge o

f the F

BI's "w

ar" again

st Dr.

171 K

ing:

No h

old

s were b

arred. W

e hav

e • used

[similar] tech

niq

ues

again

st. Soviet ag

ents. [T

he sam

e meth

ods w

ere] bro

ught

home

dagain

st any o

rgan

ization ag

ainst w

hich

we w

ere tar-geted. W

e did not differentiate. This is a rough, tough busi-

ness.'

The F

BI co

llected in

form

ation ab

out D

r. Kin

g's p

lans an

d activ

i-

i 7S - ties th

rough an

exten

sive su

rveillan

ce pro

gram

, emplo

yin

g n

early

179 every intelligence-gathering technique at the B

ureau's disposal. Wire-

180 tap

s, which

were in

itially ap

pro

ved

by A

ttorn

ey G

eneral R

obert F

.

183 K

ennedy, were m

aintained on Dr. K

ing's home telephone from

Octo-

183 bar 1

963 u

ntil n

ud-1

965; th

e SC

LC

head

quarter's telep

hones w

ere co

vered

by w

iretaps fo

r an ev

en lo

nger p

eriod. P

hones in

the h

om

es and offices of som

e of Dr. K

ing's close advisers were also w

iretapped. T

he FB

I has acknowledged 16 occasions on w

hich microphones w

ere hidden in D

r. King's hotel and m

otel rooms in an "attem

pt" to obtain in

form

ation ab

out th

e "priv

ate activities o

f Kin

g an

d h

is advisers"

for use to "completely discredit" them

.' F

BI in

form

ants in

the civ

il rights m

ovem

ent an

d rep

orts fro

m

field offices kept the Bureau's headquarters inform

ed of developments

in the civil rights field. The F

BI's presence w

as so intrusive that one

major figure in the civil rights m

ovement testified that his colleagues

referred to themselves as m

embers of "the F

BI's golden record club."

The F

BI's form

al program to discredit D

r. King w

ith Governm

ent cials began w

ith the distribution of a "monograph" w

hich the FB

I lized

could

"be reg

arded

as a perso

nal attack

on M

artin L

uth

er m

g," 4 and which w

as subsequently described by a Justice Depart-

ant o

fficial as "a perso

nal d

iatribe . . . a p

erson

al attack w

itho

ut

vid

entiary

support."

Congressional leaders w

ere warned "off the record" about alleged

angers posed by Reverend K

ing. Th

e FB

I respo

nd

ed to

Dr. K

ing

's ip

t of th

e Nobel P

eace Prize b

y attem

ptin

g to

underm

ine h

is re-ptio

n b

y fo

reign h

eads o

f state and A

merican

ambassad

ors in

the

entries th

at he p

lanned

to v

isit. When

Dr. K

ing retu

rned

to th

e

DR

. MA

RT

IN L

UT

HE

R K

ING

, JR., C

AS

E S

TU

DY

I. IN

TR

OD

UC

TIO

N

6U

I William

Sttlilvaia testim

ony, 11/1/75, p. 97. M

emorandum

from F

rederick Baum

gardner to William

Sullivan, 1/28/64.

Andrew

Young testim

ony, 2/19/76, p. 55. Ifem

orandrim from

Alan B

elmont to C

lyde Tolson, 10/17/63.

. ' Burke M

arshall testimony, 3/3/78, p. 32.

(81)

• JP

.....Walf.0

77

94 5

CO

NO

KILN

yNC

REA

BES IN TH

E nu AN

D TH

E KEN

NED

Y A

DM

INISTR

ATt ov

OV

ER A

LLEGA

TION

S Or C

OM

MU

NIST LN

ELIIENC

E IN TH

E CIV

IL rtloyrrs M

OV

EMEN

T, AN

D TH

E FB

I ENTENSITLIM TH

E INVESTIGATIO

N : JANu. kity 1 9 6 2-0c-rom

a 1969

Introduction and Summ

ary T

his chapter explores developments in the M

artin Luther K

ing ea ,.

from th

e period

preced

ing th

e FB

I's open

ing of th

e CO

MIN

FIL

in-vestigation

in O

ctober 1962 th

rough

the F

BI's d

ecision to in

tensify

its investigation

of susp

ected com

mu

nist in

fluen

ce in th

e civil rights

movem

ent in October 1963. P

articular emphasis is placed on the inter.

nal reason

s for the F

BI's in

tensification

of its investigation

of Dr.

and

on th

e interp

lay betw

een th

e Justice D

epartm

ent an

d th

e F

BI d

urin

g this p

eriod.

In su

mm

ary. the evid

ence d

escribed

in th

is chap

ter establish

es that

the F

BI b

arraged th

e Justice D

epartm

ent w

ith a stream

of mem

o. ran

ds con

cernin

g the C

omm

un

ist Party's in

terest in th

e civil rights

movem

ent an

d D

r. Kin

g's association w

ith tw

o ind

ividu

als, referred

to in this report as Advisers A

and B, w

ho were alleged to have strong

ties to the P

arty." In

respon

se to the B

ureau

's warn

ings, th

e Justice-

Dep

artmen

t end

eavored to con

vince D

r. Kin

g to sever his relation

-w

ith th

ose ind

ividu

als, bu

t met w

ith on

ly mixed

success. D

r. Kin

g con

tinu

ed to tu

rn to A

dviser A

for advice; A

dviser B

, wh

ose asso-ciation

with

Dr. K

ing an

d alleged

ly with

the C

omm

un

ist Party h

ad

been picked up by the press in late 1962, publicly announced his resig-n

ation from

the S

CL

C in

early July 1963, alth

ough

he ap

paren

tly con

tinu

ed to associate w

ith D

r. Kin

g on

an in

formal b

asis. D

urin

g hearin

gs over the ad

min

istration's p

roposed

pu

blic accom

-m

odation

s bill in

July 1963, critics of th

e bill ch

arged th

at the civil

rights movem

ent, and Dr. K

ing in particular, were influenced by C

om-

mu

nists. D

r. Kin

g's plan

s for a civil rights m

arch on

Wash

ington

in

Au

gust w

ere receiving in

creasing p

ub

licity. On

July 16, th

e Attorn

ey -G

eneral raised

with

the F

BI's Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t liaison, C

ourtn

ey E

vans, th

e possib

ility of a wiretap

on D

r.-Kin

g and

one of h

is legal advisers.

Th

e followin

g day th

e FB

I sent an

analysis of its C

OM

INF

IL

information to the Justice D

epartment. T

he administration decided to

contin

ue its p

ub

lic sup

port of D

r. Kin

g. Du

ring th

e ensu

ing w

eek, th

e P

residen

t inform

ed th

e press th

at there w

as no evid

ence th

at civil righ

ts dem

onstration

s were C

omm

un

ist-insp

ired; th

e Attorn

ey Gen

-eral an

nou

nced

that th

e FB

I had

no evid

ence th

at any civil righ

ts lt%

aders w

ere controlled

by C

omm

un

ists; and

the A

ttorney G

eneral

rejected th

e FB

I's requ

est for auth

ority to wiretap

Dr. K

ing.

In A

ugu

st 1963, the Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t received a rep

ort front

the F

BI w

hich

app

arently con

tained

allegations extrem

ely un

favor- ab

le to Dr. K

ing. T

he A

ttorney G

eneral told

Cou

rtney E

vans th

at lit , faced

imp

eachm

ent if th

e report w

as "leak

ed,"

and

dem

and

ed th

at it b

e resub

mitted

with

a cover mem

orand

um

detailin

g the factu

al basi:-

for the allegation

. Th

e mem

orand

um

sub

mitted

in resp

onse to th

at req

uest con

tained

no in

formation

concern

ing D

r. Kin

g that h

ad n

ot already been know

n to the Attorney G

eneral in July, but the Attorney

General perm

itted the investigation to proceed.

The m

emoranda also con

tained

intermatioe about the Idyll sisbte m

ovement

of consid

erable p

olitical value to th

e administration.

late July 1963, th

e FB

I open

ed a file en

titled "

Com

mu

nist In

-in R

acial Matters," and closely m

onitored preparations for the 28 C

ivil Righ

ts March

on W

ashin

gton. T

he F

BI's D

omestic

telligence D

ivision in

formed

Director H

oover shortly b

efore the

rch th

at Com

mu

nist in

fluen

ce in th

e civil rights m

ovemen

t was

lieble. T

he D

irector disagreed

. Th

e head

of the D

omestic In

telli-- D

ivision, William

Sullivan, responded by recomm

ending more

nse FB

I surveillance of the civil rights movem

ent.

. Th

e Justice -D

epartmen

t Warn

s Dr. K

ing A

bout A

dvisers A an

d B

: January I962-June 1963

Th

e Ken

ned

y adm

inistration

's concern

over FB

I allegations th

at C

omm

unists were influencing the civil rights m

ovement led the Justice

Dep

artmen

t to mak

e several attemp

ts to persu

ade D

r. Kin

g to sever h

is relations w

ith A

dvisers A

and

B. In

Janu

ary 1962, Hoover first

warn

ed A

ttorney G

eneral K

enn

edy th

at Ad

visor A, a m

emb

er of the

unist Party, U

.S.A., "is allegedly a close adviser to the R

everend ran

Lu

ther K

ing." " S

hortly afterw

ards, A

ssistant A

ttorney G

en-

Bu

rke M

arshall of th

e Justice D

epartm

ent's C

ivil Righ

ts Di-

on told

Dr. K

ing th

at the B

ureau

claimed

Ad

viser A w

as a coin-

un

ist and

advised

that th

ey break

off relations."

Accord

ing to an

F

BI m

emoran

du

m, D

epu

ty Attorn

ey Gen

eral Byron

R. W

hite also

consid

ered sp

eakin

g with

Dr. K

ing ab

out A

dviser A

, bu

t decid

ed

doin

g so wh

en told

by th

e FB

I that revealin

g too mu

ch of th

e E

s information m

ight tip off Dr. K

ing or Adviser A

to the identity of certain

FB

I inform

ants."

D

r. Kin

g gave no in

dication

of break

ing off relation

s with

Ad

viser w

ho was a close friend and trusted advisor. H

e did, however, appar-

tly consid

er the ad

verse effects on th

e civil rights m

ovemen

t that

is association w

ith A

dviser B

migh

t cause."

In Ju

ne 1962 th

e FB

I tercep

ted a con

versation "

in w

hich

Ad

viser A recom

men

ded

that

.Dr. K

ing in

formally u

se Ad

viser B as h

is executive assistan

t, notin

g th

at "as lon

g as Ad

viser B d

id n

ot have th

e title of Execu

tive Direc-

tor, there w

ould

not b

e as mu

ch ligh

tnin

g flashin

g aroun

d h

im."

Dr.

ng w

as reported

to have agreed

, remark

ing th

at "n

o matter w

hat

man w

as, if he could stand up now and say he is not connected, then

far as I am concerned, he is eligible to w

ork for me." "

On

Octob

er 8, 1962, the F

BI's D

omestic In

telligence D

ivision p

re-a m

emoran

du

m su

mm

arizing accou

nts th

at had

previou

sly p

eered in

new

spap

ers concern

ing A

dviser B

's alleged C

omm

un

ist an

d an

d h

is association w

ith D

r. Kin

g. Th

e Division

for-ed

the m

emoran

du

m to C

artha D

. DeL

oach, h

ead of th

e Crim

e rd

s Division

, the F

BI's p

ub

lic relations arm

, for "p

ossible u

se h

is contacts in

the n

ews m

edia field

in su

ch S

outh

ern states as

bam

a wh

ere Dr. K

ing h

as ann

oun

ced th

at the n

ext targets for

Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I to Attorn

ey Gen

eral 1/8/82. B

urk

e Marsh

all testimon

y, 3/31/78, p. 10.

Mem

orand

um

from C

ourtn

ey Evan

s to Alan

Belm

ont, 2/8/82,

"A

llegatio

ns co

ncern

ing A

dviser B's m

emb

ership

In th

e Com

mu

nist P

arty had

ived

wid

e pu

blicity In

the n

ewsp

apers. T

here w

ere no su

ch p

ress allegations

t Ad

viser A

. • A

dviser A

's ph

ones w

ere covered b

y FB

I wiretap

s, See p. 88.

" M

emoran

du

m from

New

York

Field

Office to F

BI H

eadq

uarters, 8/21/82, p

. 6.

96

integ

ration o

f univ

ersities are located

." Del o

ach's sig

natu

re and th

e notatio

n, "h

andled

, Augusta (illeg

ible), A

tlanta, 1

-/19" ap

pear o

n

the reco

mm

endatio

n."

The article w

as apparen

tly d

issemin

ated, b

ecause an

Octo

ber Z

.

1962, article in the Augusta C

hronicle described Adviser B

as a Men

i-

bar o

f the C

PIT

SA

's Natio

nal C

om

mittee w

ho w

as servin

g as D

r. K

ing's "A

cting E

xecu

tive D

irector." D

r. Kin

g p

ublicly

responded

.

on O

ctober 3

0, th

at "no p

erson o

f know

n C

om

munist affiliatio

n"

could

serve o

n th

e staff of th

e SC

LC

and d

enied

any k

now

ledge th

at A

dviser B had C

omm

unist affiliations. Dr. K

ing also announced Ad-

viser B

's temporary

resignatio

n fro

m th

e SC

LC

. pen

din

g an

SC

L('

investigation of the allegations. A

stream o

f mem

oran

da fro

m th

e FB

I, how

ever, w

arned

the Ju

s-tice D

epartm

ent th

at Adviser B

..:ontin

ued

as an asso

ciate of D

r.

Kin

g d

espite h

is apparen

t resignatio

n fro

m th

e SC

LC

. In D

ecember,

Director-H

oover was cautioning the A

ttorney General that A

dviser n

continued to "represent himself as being affiliated w

ith the New

York

Office o

f the S

CL

C an

d, d

urin

g late N

ovem

ber an

d early

Decem

ber

1962, was actively engaged in the w

ork of this organization." " A few

day

s later, the. A

.ttorn

ey G

eneral w

as info

rmed

that A

dvisers A

and

B w

ere plan

nin

g a "clo

seted . . . critical rev

iew" w

ith D

r. Kin

g co

n-

cerning the direction of the civil rights movem

ent. Kennedy penned on

the m

emoran

dum

: "Burk

e—th

is is not g

etting an

y b

etter. "'o

In early

Feb

ruary

1963, D

r. Kin

g ask

ed th

e Justice D

epartm

ent

for a b

riefing o

n A

dviser B

's back

gro

und, ap

paren

tly in

response to

newspaper articles about A

dviser B resulting from

the Bureau's cam

-

paig

n to

publicize A

dviser B

's relationsh

ip w

ith D

r. Kin

g. A

ssistant

Attorney G

eneral Marshall noted in a m

emorandum

that he. had - been

in to

uch

with

the A

ttorn

ey G

eneral o

n th

is matter an

d is an

xio

us to

hav

e it han

dled

as soon as p

ossib

le."" Som

etime later in

Feb

ruary

.

Marshall spoke w

ith Dr. K

ing about severing his association with A

d-

visers A

and B

. Mem

oran

da fro

m D

irector H

oover to

the Ju

stice DP

-

pertin

ent d

urin

g th

e ensu

ing m

onth

s. how

ever, em

phasized

that D

r.

Kin

g w

as main

tainin

g a clo

se relationsh

ip w

ith b

oth

men

. Thos.

mem

oranda to the Justice Departm

ent contained no new inform

ation

substantiating the charges that either was a m

ember of the C

omm

unist

Party

, or th

at either w

as carryin

g o

ut th

e Party

's policies."

Mem

orand

um

from F

. J. Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 10/8/82, p. 2.

Th

e mem

orand

um

bears th

e caption

"C

omm

un

ist Party, U

SA

, CO

INT

EL

PR

O.'

Th

is is the first in

dication

of a coun

terintelligen

ce program

directed

against A

d

riser B. A

dviser A

became th

e sub

ject of such

a program

in 1988. F

or a discu

ssion

of the F

BI's C

OIN

TE

LP

RO

effort, see staff report on C

OIN

TE

LP

RO

.

Mem

orand

um

from D

irector. FB

I to Attorn

ey Gen

eral; 1/23/83, p. 1.

"M

emoran

du

m from

Director. F

BI to A

ttorney G

eneral, 1/10/83. T

he A

'

torney G

eneral w

as sub

sequ

ently told

that A

dviser B

. Dr. K

ing. an

d A

dviser

A

conferred

with

other m

emb

ers of the S

CL

C on

Janu

ary 10 and

11. (Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I to Bu

rke M

arshall, 1/31/83.)

" M

emoran

du

m from

Alex R

osen to A

lan B

elmon

t. 2/4/61. "

On

March

10 the A

ttorney, G

eneral w

as inform

ed th

at Ad

viser A an

d D

r. K

ing h

ad en

gaged in

a length

y conversation

concern

ing an

article that D

r. Kin

n

was p

reparin

g for Th

e Nation

. (Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I to Attorn

ey

Gen

eral. 3112/63.1 On

Jun

e 3, the D

irector sent th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral a nin

e-

page "

concise su

mm

ary" of in

formation

abou

t Ad

viser A, em

ph

asizing h

is role

as Dr. K

ing's ad

viser. (Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I to Attorn

ey Gen

eral.

6/3

/63.) A

n F

BI m

emora

nd

um

in ea

rly J

an

e reported

a aracuaston

between

The A

ttorn

ey G

eneral's co

ncern

over D

r. Kin

g's asso

ciation w

ith

the two advisers continued. A

mem

orandum by H

oover states that on June 17, 1963:

The A

ttorney General called and advised he w

ould like to hav

e Assistan

t Atto

rney

Gen

eral Burk

e Marsh

all talk to

M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g an

d tell D

r. Kin

g h

e has to

get rid

of

[Advisers A

and B], that he should not have any contact w

ith them

directly or indirectly. I pointed out that if D

r. King continues this association, he

is goin

g to

hurt h

is ow

n cau

se as there are m

ore an

d m

ore

Com

munists trying to take advantage of [the] m

ovement and

bigots down S

outh who are against integration are beginning

to ch

arge D

r. Kin

g is tied

in w

ith C

om

munists. I stated

I thought M

arshall could very definitely say this association is rath

er wid

ely k

now

n an

d, w

ith th

ings cry

stalizing fo

r them

now

. nothing could be worse than for D

r. King to be associ-

ated w

ith it."

Marshall subsequently spoke w

ith Dr. K

ing about Advisers A

and

B." In a follow

-up mem

orandum w

ritten several months later M

arshall stated

:

. . . I bro

ught th

e matter to

the atten

tion o

f Dr. K

ing v

ery

explicitly

in m

y o

ffice on th

e morn

ing o

f June 2

2 p

rior to

a scheduled m

eeting which D

r. Kin

g had

with

the P

residen

t. T

his was done at the direction of the A

ttorney General, and

the P

residen

t separately

[and] stro

ngly

urg

ed D

r. Kin

g th

at there should be no further connection betw

een Adviser B

and

the S

outh

ern C

hristian

Lead

ership

Conferen

ce. Dr. K

ing

stated that the connection would be ended."

Kin

g later to

ld o

ne o

f his asso

ciates that th

e Presid

ent h

ad to

ld

"there w

as an attem

pt (b

y th

e FB

I) to sm

ear the m

ovem

ent o

n

the basis of C

omm

unist. influence. The P

resident also said, 'I assume

you know you're under very close surveillance.' " "

&riser A

and

Dr. K

ing con

cernin

g wh

ether D

r. Kin

g wou

ld ap

pear on

a tele-on

program

in con

nection

with

a projected

article in th

e Satu

rday E

venin

g

ad. Dr. K

ing accep

ted A

dviser A

's recomm

end

ation th

at he read

the article

re comm

itting h

imself b

ecause th

e reporter "

raised a lot of q

uestion

s abou

t riser B

I an

d th

at k

ind

of th

ing."

(Mem

ora

nd

um

from

Directo

r, FB

I to

rney G

eneral, 6/7/00.)

Mem

orand

um

from J. E

dgar H

oover to Clyd

e Tolson

, Alan

Belm

ont, earth

s

Loach

, Alex R

osen, W

illiam S

ullivan

. 8/17/83. Du

ring th

is period

the A

ttorney

era) requ

ested a rep

ort from th

e Intern

al Secu

rity Division

concern

ing D

r. g. T

he rep

ly, dated

Jun

e 28, cited A

dvisers A

and

B as th

e chief sou

rces of eged

Com

mu

nist in

fluen

ce on D

r. K

ing.

(Mem

orand

um

from J. W

alter Yeas-

to the A

ttorney G

eneral, 8/28/81)

"A

nd

rew Y

oun

g, wh

o was p

resent at th

e meetin

g with

Bu

rke M

arshall. testi-

that M

arshall h

ad said

that th

e Bu

reau h

ad in

formed

the Ju

stice Dep

art-th

at there w

as in fact C

omm

un

ist influ

ence in

the civil rig

hts m

ovement,

had

explicitly m

ention

ed A

dviser A

. Wh

en Y

oun

g asked

Marsh

all for proof.

said th

at he h

ad n

one, an

d th

at he "

could

n't get an

ythin

g outof th

e Bu

reau."

recalled

that M

arshall h

ad said

, "W

e ask (th

e Bu

reau) for th

ings an

d

get these b

ig m

emos, b

ut th

ey don

't ever really say anyth

ing."

You

ng testified

M

arshall "

was ask

ing u

s to disassociate ou

rselves from (A

dviser A

) alto-h

er." (A

nd

rew Y

oun

g testimon

y, 2/19/78. pp

. 40-44) M

emoran

du

m from

Bork

e Marsh

all to J. Ed

gar Hoover, 9/12/83.

You

ng, 2/19/78, p

. 40.

102

the G

overnm

ent h

ad in

stituted

this coverage. T

hese w

ere the

very thou

ghts th

at the A

ttorney G

eneral exp

ressed tod

ay in

withdraw

ing his request.. W

ith reference to the other technical surveillance requested at th

e same tim

e, nam

ely, the on

e on [th

e New

York

at-torn

ey], the A

ttorney G

eneral felt th

is was in

a differen

t category an

d w

e shou

ld go forw

ard w

ith th

is coverage. It is n

oted th

at this w

as previou

sly app

roved in

writin

g by th

e

Attorn

ey Gen

eral. . W

e will take no further action to effect technical cover-

age on Martin L

uther King, either at his 'm

ine or at his office

at the S

outh

ern C

hristian

Lead

ership

Con

ference, in

the

absen

ce of a furth

er requ

est from th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral."

In Ju

ne 1969, D

irector Hoover told

a reporter for th

e Wash

ington

Evening Star that A

ttorney General K

ennedy had "requested that t h.-

teleph

ones of D

r. Kin

g be covered

by electron

ic devices an

d w

as per-

suad

ed b

y o

ur p

eop

le not to

do it in

view

of th

e possib

le reper.

cussions," 5 and

becau

se Dr. K

ing's con

stant travelin

g mad

e a wiretap

imp

ractical." W

hen

the C

omm

ittee asked

Cou

rtney E

vans w

heth

er

the id

ea of installin

g a wiretap

originated

with

the A

ttorney G

eneral.

he testified

: N

o, this is n

ot clear in m

y min

d at all. T

he record

that h

as b

een exh

ibited

to me really d

oesn't estab

lish th

is defin

itely,

although that inference can be drawn from

some of the m

emo-

rand

a. Bu

t it is my recollection

, with

out th

e ben

efit of any

specifics, th

at there w

as mu

ch m

ore to it than

this. A

nd

h

ave the feelin

g that th

ere were p

ressures existin

g in tim

e to

develop

more sp

ecific inform

ation th

at may h

ave had

a

bearing here. Q

. Pressures em

anating from w

here and upon whom

? A

. I thin

k from

both

sides. th

e Bu

reau w

anted

to get more

specific in

formation

, and

the D

epartm

ent w

anted

resolved

the rath

er ind

efinite in

formation

that h

ad b

een received

in

dicatin

g the p

ossibility of C

omm

un

ist influ

ence on

the D

r.

Kin

g movem

ent."

D. T

he A

ttorn

ey. G

eneral V

oices Con

cern O

ver Con

tinu

ing F

BI

Reports A

bout K

ing: Ju

ly—A

ugu

st 1963

Follow

ing th

e app

earance of an

article on Ju

ly 25, 1963, in th

e

Atlan

ta Con

stitution

, titled "

On

e-time C

omm

un

ist Organ

izer Head

,

Rev. K

ing's Office in N

.Y.." D

r. King announced that an SC

LC

inve,-

tigation of A

dviser B

ind

icated th

at he h

ad "

no p

resent con

nection

with

the C

P n

or any sym

path

y with

its ph

ilosoph

y." D

r. Kin

g ex-

plain

ed th

at Ad

viser B h

ad b

een on

the S

CL

C staff on

a temp

orary

basis since h

is resignation

in D

ecemb

er 1902, bu

t that h

e had

left the

SC

LC

on Ju

ne 26, 1963,. b

y "m

utu

al agreemen

t" b

ecause of con

cern

Mem

orandum from

Courtney E

vans to Alan B

elmont, 7/26/83.

" Jerem

iah O

'Leary.

Th

e Sterlin

g Star, 8/19/88; H

oover mem

orand

um

for

record. 8/19/811. "

Cou

rtney E

vans testim

ony, 12/1/76, p

p. 7-8.

hid

his affiliation

with

the in

tegration m

ovemen

t wou

ld b

e used

inst it by "segregationists and race baiters." T

he Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t, how

ever, contin

ued

to receive reports

m th

e FB

I that D

r. Kin

g was con

tinu

ing h

is association w

ith A

d-

rs A an

d B

." S

hortly after A

ttorney G

eneral K

enn

edy's Ju

ly 23

ponse to the Com

merce C

omm

ittee, Courtney E

vans:

Ad

visor B, [d

eleted].

pointed out to Marshall the undesirability of m

aking the spe-cific com

men

ts ... as to giving com

plete clearan

ce to Martin

L

uther King as M

arshall had had the full details as to King's

association w

ith [A

dviser A

l and

[Ad

viser B.]

Marshall said that he w

as most appreciative of our w

arning him

about these pitfalls and he wc-eld be guided accordingly

in any future statements. H

e added that he would also appre-

ciate our con

tinu

ing to h

ighligh

t for him

any in

formation

con

cernin

g comm

un

ist activity in th

e Negro m

ovemen

t." 100

On

July 29, D

irector Hoover sen

t the Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t a report

m the N

ew Y

ork Office entitled "M

artin Luther K

ing, Jr.: Affilia-

on with the C

omm

unist Movem

ent." '°' The entry under the caption.

Evidence of C

omm

unist Party Sym

pathies," has been deleted by the B

I from copies of the report given to the C

omm

ittee on the grounds

t it migh

t comp

romise in

forman

ts. It was a gen

eral characterize-

on an

d ran

for only on

e and

one-h

alf lines. A

mem

orand

um

from

urtney Evans described A

ttorney General K

ennedy's reaction :

Th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral stated th

at if this rep

ort got up

to the H

ill at this time, he w

ould be impeached. H

e noted if this rep

ort got out, it w

ould

be alleged

the F

BI said

Kin

g was

[excised b

y the F

BI].

Th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral wen

t on to say th

at the rep

ort had

been review

ed in detail by Assistant A

ttorney General B

urke M

arshall w

ho h

ad told

him

there w

asn't an

ythin

g new

here

concerning King's alleged com

munist sym

pathies bu

tthat it

was the tim

ing of the report and its possible misuse that con-

cerned

him

. Th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral wen

t on to say th

at he

didn't feel he could fully trust everyone in the Internal Secu-rity D

ivision of the Departm

ent. I p

ointed

out to th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral that first of all th

is rep

ort was classified

secret and

was ju

st a sum

mary rep

ort to bring our files and that of the D

epartment's up to date. H

e said

that w

hile th

is was undoubtedly true, the subm

ission of the report at this tim

e in this form presented definite hazards.

He therefore asked that the report be resubm

itted to him w

ith a cover m

emorandum

setting forth the exact evid

ence avail-

On

July 17, In

the m

idst of p

ub

licity concern

ing D

r. Kin

g's association w

ith

deer B

, Director H

oover inform

ed th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral that alth

ough

Ad

- sr B

had

formally resign

ed from

the 8

CL

C, h

e was con

tinu

ing h

is associa- w

ith D

r. Kin

g. (Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I. to Attorn

ey Gen

eral, 7/83.1

Mem

orandum from

Courtney E

vans to Alan B

elmont. 7/29/83.

Rep

ort of Sp

ecial Agen

t : Martin

Lath

er Kin

g. J

r.: affiliation

with

the C

orn-

Merrim

ent, 7/22./83.

120

istration. L

ess than

a mon

th later th

e Director in

formed

the A

tlanta

office that an

SC

LC

wiretap

"is in

line to b

e presen

ted to th

e new

At-

torney G

eneral, an

d a su

rvey, with

full secu

rity assured

... is desir-

able.' 1 " F

BI files contain no indication of the disposition of this fin

a l request. C

. MIC

RO

PH

ON

E S

ITR

VE

ILL

AN

CE

OF

DR

. KIN

G : JA

NI--

A.R

Y 1964—

NO

VE

MB

ER

1965. F

rom Jan

uary 1964 th

rough

Novem

ber 1965, th

e FB

I installed

;; least 15 h

idd

en m

icroph

ones in

hotel an

d m

otel rooms occu

pied

b..

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing.'"

' Th

e FB

I has told

the C

omm

ittee abou

t tlf-follow

ing m

icroph

one su

rveillances:

—W

illard Hotel, W

ashington, D.C

. (Jan. 5, 1964 ). —

Shroeder Hotel, M

ilwaukee (Jan. 27. 1964).

—H

ilton H

awaiian

Village. H

onolu

lu (F

eb. 18,1964).

—A

mb

assador H

otel, Los A

ngeles (F

eb. 20,1964).

—H

yatt Hou

se Motel, L

os An

geles (Feb

. 22,1964). —

Statler H

otel, Detroit (M

ar. 19, 1964). —

Senator Motel, Sacram

ento ( Apr. 23,1964).

—H

yatt Hou

se Motel, L

os An

geles (July 7, 1964).

—M

anger H

otel, Savan

nah

, Ga. (S

ept. 28,1964).

—P

ark S

heraton

Hotel, N

ew Y

ork (Jan

. 8, 1965). —

Am

ericana H

otel, New

York

(Jan. 28,1965).

—Sheraton A

tlantic Hotel, N

ew Y

ork (May 12, 1965).

—A

stor Hotel, N

ew Y

ork (O

ct. 14,1965). —

New

York

Hilton

Hotel. N

ew Y

ork (O

ct. 28,1965). —

Am

ericana Hotel, N

ew Y

ork (Nov. 29, 1965) .1

"

1. Reason

s for the F

BI's M

icrophon

e Su

rveillance of D

r. Kitty.

Th

e wiretap

s on D

r. Kin

g's hom

e teleph

one an

d th

e ph

ones of th

e S

CL

C offices w

ere auth

orized b

y the A

ttorney G

eneral for th

e stated

purpose of determining w

hether suspected comm

unists were influenc-

ing th

e course of th

e civil rights m

ovemen

t. FB

I docu

men

ts ind

icatc th

at the m

icroph

one coverage, (w

hich

was in

itiated w

ithou

t th,

kn

owled

ge of the A

ttorney G

enerals, in

einforip

ance w

ith p

ractic, then current), w

as originally designed not only to pick up information

bearin

g on p

ossible C

omm

un

ist influ

ence over D

r. Kin

g, bu

t also to ob

tain in

formation

for use in

the F

BI's secret effort to d

iscredit. D

r.

m M

emoran

du

m from

Director, F

BI to S

AC

. Atlan

ta. 2/14/69. '"

Witn

esses ha

ve in

dica

ted th

at o

ther m

icrop

ho

nes m

igh

t ha

ve b

een u

sed in

co

ver th

e activ

ities of D

r. Kin

g a

nd

his a

ssocia

tes, alth

ou

gh

those m

icrop

hon

e , m

igh

t ha

ve b

een p

laced

by

loca

l law

enfo

rcemen

t officers. B

urea

u d

ocu

men

t , In

dica

te that th

e New

York

an

d M

iam

i police d

id In

fact p

lace m

icrop

hon

es in

Dr. K

ing's h

otel ro

om

s. (Mem

ora

nd

um

from

Directo

r, FB

I to S

pecia

l Agen

t in

Ch

arg

e, New

Yo

rk, 5

/7/6

5; M

emora

nd

um

from

Fred

erick B

au

mg

ard

ner to

Wil-

liam S

ullivan

, 5/27/66). Con

gressman

An

drew

You

ng, w

ho w

as one of D

r. Kin

g.-

chief a

ides, testified

: "W

e fou

nd

a b

ug

in th

e pu

lpit In

a ch

urch

in S

elma

. Ala

-M

um

. in 1966, an

d w

e did

n't even

move It or d

estroy It We took

It out from

un

der

the p

ulp

it, tap

ed It o

n to

p o

f the p

ulp

it, an

d R

everen

d A

bern

ath

y ta

llied IL

little d

o-hick

ey' and

he said

. 'I wan

t you to tell M

r. Hoover, I d

on't w

ant it u

nd

er h

ere wh

ere there is a

wh

ole lo

t of sta

tic. I wan

t him

to g

et it straig

ht,' a

nd

he

prea

ched

to th

e little bu

g."

(An

drew

You

ng testim

on

y. 2

/19/7

6, p

. 56.)

m L

etter from

FB

I to S

ena

te Select C

om

mittee, 7

/21

/75

. pp

. 4-5

. (Th

e Buren

ii

also

au

tho

rized th

e insta

llatio

n o

f a m

icrop

ho

ne at th

e Park

Sh

erato

n H

otel In

New

York

on

March

29. 1

965, b

ut D

r. Kin

g d

id not sta

y a

t the h

otel and

the

cov

erag

e wa

s termin

ated

.)

Kin

g a

s the lea

der o

f the civ

il righ

ts movem

ent.'"

" B

y 1

965,

references to d

iscreditin

g efforts had

been

drop

ped

, and

docu

men

ts requesting authorization for m

icrophones mentioned only the purpose

of obtaining information about possible com

munist influences.'" T

he details of the B

ureau's efforts to undermine D

r. King are discussed in

the ensuing chapters. T

he first microphones w

ere installed about two w

eeks after a Decem

-b

er 23, 1963. FB

I conferen

ce at wh

ich m

ethod

s of "neu

tralizing" D

r. K

ing w

ere explored

."" Microp

hon

e surveillan

ce was again

discu

ssed

at an all-d

ay conferen

ce at FB

I Head

qu

arters in P

ehru

ary 1964, atten

ded

by rep

resentatives of th

e FB

I laboratory "

prep

aratory to effectin

g coverage of the activities of M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, Jr., and

h

is associates in H

onolu

lu."

"° Ju

stifying th

e need

for microp

hon

e coverage. th

e Ch

ief of the F

BI's In

ternal S

ecurity S

ection w

rote that

the FB

I was "attem

pting" to obtain information about "the [private]

activities of Dr. K

ing an

d h

is associates'. so that D

r. Kin

g could

be

"completely° discredited." "0

The F

BI m

emorandum

authorizing the placement, of the first m

icro-phone on D

r. King—

at the Willard H

otel in early January 1964—gave

as a basis "the intelligence and counterintelligence possibilities which

thorou

gh coverage of D

r. Kin

g's activities migh

t develop

. . . ."

Th

e Willard

Hotel "

bu

g- yield

ed 19 reels of tap

e. A m

emoran

du

m

summ

arizing the tapes was sent to the D

irector with W

illiam Sullivan's

recomm

endation that it be shown to W

alter Jenkins, President John-

son's Special Assistant, "inasm

uch as Dr. K

ing is seeking an appoint-m

ent w

ith P

residen

t John

son."

"2 Carth

a D. D

eLoach

, Assistan

t to the D

irector. showed the sum

mary m

emorandum

to Jenkins, and later w

rote : I told

Jenk

ins th

at the D

irector ind

icated I sh

ould

leave this

attachment w

ith him if he desired to let the P

resident person-ally read it. Jenkins m

entioned that he was sufficiently aw

are of th

e facts that lie cou

ld verb

ally advise th

e Presid

ent of

the m

atter. Jenk

ins w

as of the op

inion

that th

e FB

I could

p

erform a good

service to the cou

ntry if th

is matter cou

ld

someh

ow b

e confid

entially given

to mem

bers of th

e press. I

m Sete,

for ex

am

ple, M

emora

nd

um

from

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

to A

lan

Belm

on

t, 1/6/64; m

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 1/23/64.

Som

e Bu

reau w

itnesses h

ave suggested

that th

e microp

hon

es were in

stalled on

ly to In

tercept con

versations b

etween

Dr. K

ing an

d oth

er Ind

ividu

als, such

as Ad

-viser A

. to determ

ine th

e extent of com

mu

nist In

fluen

ce over Kin

g. Th

e Bu

reau,

how

ever, was u

nab

le to prod

uce an

y eviden

ce that It h

ad an

ticipated

meetin

gs be-tw

een D

r. Kin

g and

Ad

viser A or b

etween

Dr. K

ing an

d an

y other of h

is advisers

wh

om the B

urea

u a

lleged

had

com

mu

nist co

nn

ection

s on

the in

itial o

ccasio

ns

wh

en m

icroph

ones w

ere used. •

Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 10/29/65; .ln

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 11/29/65.

' M

emora

nd

um

from

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

to A

lan

Belm

on

t, 1/1

3/6

4. T

his co

n-

terence an

d th

e FB

I's attem

pts to

discred

it Kin

g a

re discu

ssed in

fra. p

p. 1

33

at seq. 'M

emora

nd

um

from

Fred

erick B

au

mgard

ner to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 2/4

/64.

"' B

aum

gardn

er mem

orand

um

, 1/2

8/8

4.

"'M

emo

ran

du

m fro

m W

illiam

Su

lliva

n to

Ala

n B

elmo

nt, 1

/6/6

4.

m M

emoran

du

m from

William

Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t, 1/13/64. Th

e mem

o-ran

du

m d

id n

ot ind

icate how

the in

formation

had

been

obtain

ed.

121

'Mem

orand

um

from C

artha D

. DeL

oach to .1. E

dgar H

oover, 1/14/64. Jenk

in-

told m

emb

ers of Com

mittee staff In

an in

formal in

terview th

at be b

ad n

ever

suggested

dissem

inatin

g derogatory m

aterial abou

t Dr. K

ing to th

e pleas. (S

taff

summ

ary of Interview

with

Walter Jen

kin

s, 12/1,15, p. 2.) T

he C

omm

ittee did

not tak

e Jenk

ins testim

ony b

ecause Jen

kin

s informed th

e Com

mittee th

at he

was ill. 'M

emoran

du

m from

William

.Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t, 1/28/64. A

irtel, Sp

ecial Agen

t in ch

arge, San

Fran

cisco, to FB

I Director. 2/25/64.

"T

he F

BI also covered

Dr. K

ing%

activates with

ph

otograph

ic surveillan

ce

mem

orandum

from

Fred

erick B

au

mgard

ner to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 3/“

. 4

Th

e mem

orand

um

did

not sh

ow h

ow th

e Inform

ation h

ad b

een ob

tained

.

"M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan. 7/2/ 64 .

"M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 7/15' 04

123

Hoover w

rote o

n th

e mem

oran

dum

, "Sen

d to

Jenkin

s." The su

m-

mary

mem

oran

dum

and a co

ver letter w

ere sent to

Jenkin

s on

July

17."

It should

also b

e noted

that D

r. Kin

g's activ

ities at the D

emocratic

Natio

nal C

onven

tion in

Atlan

tic City

, New

Jersey in

August 1

964

were clo

sely m

onito

red b

y th

e FB

I. Micro

phones w

ere not in

stalled

on th

at occasio

n, alth

ough w

iretaps w

ere placed

on D

r. Kin

g's h

otel

room phone_ T

he stated justification for the wiretap w

as the investi-

gatio

n o

f possib

le com

munist in

fluen

ce and th

e fact that D

r. King

may

indulg

e in a h

unger fast as a m

eans o

f pro

test."'"' A

at deal of p

oten

tially u

seful p

olitical in

form

ation w

as obtain

ed fro

m th

is

wiretap and dissem

inated to the White H

ouse."' T

he mem

orandum authorizing m

icrophone coverage of Dr. K

ing's ro

om

in S

avan

nah

, Geo

rgia d

urin

g th

e annual S

CL

C co

nferen

ce in

Septem

ber and October 1964 described surveillance as necessary be-

cause it w

ap "ex

pected

that attem

pts w

ill again

be m

ade to

exert in

-

fluence upon the SC

LC

and in particular on Kin

g by com

munists."'""

'The sev

en "b

ugs" in

Dr. K

ing's ro

om

s durin

g v

isits to N

ew Y

ork

_from January to N

ovember 1965 w

ere justified in contemporaneous

intern

al FB

I mem

oran

da b

y an

ticipated

meetin

gs o

f Dr. K

ing w

ith

several people whom

the FB

I claimed had affiliations w

ith the Com

-

munist P

arty."' No m

ention was m

ade of the possibility of obtaining

private life material in m

emoranda concerning these "bugs.-

1"

Z. E

vidence Bearing on W

hether the Attorneys G

eneral Au-

thorized or Knew

About the M

icrophone Surveillance of D

r. King

In summ

ary, it is clear that the FB

I never requested permission for

installing microphones to cover D

r. King from

Attorney G

eneral Ken-

nedy, and there is no evidence that it ever directly informed him

that

it was using m

icrophones. There is som

e question, however. concerning

wheth

er the A

ttorn

ey G

eneral u

ltimately

realized th

at the F

BI w

as

usin

g "b

ugs" b

ecause o

f the n

ature o

f the in

form

ation th

at he w

as being sent.

Evidence concerning A

ttorney General K

atzenbach's knowledge of

microphone surveillance of D

r. Piing is contradictory. In M

arch 1965,

Katzen

bach

required

the F

BI fo

r the first tim

e to seek

the Ju

stice

Departm

ent's approval for all microphone installations. T

he FB

I has

given the Com

mittee docum

ents which indicate that K

atzenbach was

Letter from

J. Ed

gar Hoover to W

alter Jenk

ins, 7/17/64.

Mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to Alan

Belm

ont, 8/21/64.

'Th

e FB

I's surv

eillan

ce of D

r. Kin

g a

nd

oth

er civil rig

hts lea

ders a

t the

Atlan

tic City D

emocratic N

ational C

onven

tion h

i discu

ssed at len

gth in

a separate

ataff report d

ealing w

ith electron

ic surveillan

ce. 'M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan. 9/28/94-

116 Mem

orand

a from Josep

h M

ao° to William

Su

llivan, 1/8/65, 1/29/65, an

d

6/13/65; mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to Alan

Belm

ont. 10/14/65;

randa from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 10/29/66 an

d 11/28/65.

'Possib

le reasons th

at the m

ention

of the collection

of private life m

aterial

was d

ropp

ed from

FB

I mem

orand

a du

ring th

is period

Inclu

de (1) th

e "tru

ce"

between

Dr. K

ing an

d th

e FB

I after Decem

ber 1964 (see, p

p. 163 et eeq.) and

(2) th

e fact that after M

ay 1966 the F

BI w

as requ

ired to in

form th

e Attorn

ey

Gen

eral of microp

hon

e surveillan

ce and

did

not w

ant to leave a "

pap

er record"

referrin

g to the F

BI's p

rogram to d

iscredit D

r. K

ing.

told

him

the D

irector h

ad th

is in m

ind, h

ow

ever, h

e also b

e-

lieved

we sh

ould

obtain

additio

nal in

form

ation p

rior to

dis-

cussin

g it w

ith certain

friends.'"

The F

BI w

as apparen

tly en

courag

ed b

y th

e intellig

ence affo

rded

"bugs" an

d b

y th

e White H

ouse's recep

tiven

ess to th

at type o

f info

r-

matio

n. A

micro

phone w

as installed

at the S

hro

eder H

otel in

Mil.

wau

kee tw

o w

eeks later, but w

as declared

"unpro

ductiv

e- beeall... •

"there w

ere no activ

ities of in

terest dev

eloped

."'" Dr. K

ing's v

isit

Honolu

lu in

mid

-Febru

ary

1964 w

as c

overe

d b

y a

squad lir -

surv

eillance ex

perts b

rought in

for th

e occasio

n fro

m S

an F

rancisco

.

One o

f these ex

perts w

as describ

ed in

a Bureau

mem

oran

dum

as the

"most ex

perien

ced, m

ost in

gen

ious, m

ost u

nru

ffled, m

ost co

mpeten

t

sound m

an fo

r this ty

pe o

f operatio

n in

the S

an F

rancisco

Of fice:"

another was chosen because he had "sh...w

ri unusual ingenuity. persis.

tence, an

d d

etermin

ation in

mak

ing m

icrophone in

stallations:" an

d

third

had

"been

abso

lutely

fearless in th

ese types o

f operatio

ns fo

r

over tw

elve y

ears." '" More th

an tw

enty

reels of tap

e . were obtainoi

durin

g D

r. Kin

g's stay

in H

onolu

lu an

d h

is sojo

urn

in L

os A

ngele-

imm

ediately

afterward

.'" Directo

r Hoover ag

reed to

send a co

py o

f

mem

oran

dum

describ

ing th

e conten

ts of th

e tapes to

Jenkin

s and

Atto

rney

Gen

eral Ken

ned

y in

ord

er to:

remove all doubt from

the Attorney G

eneral's mind as to the

type o

f perso

n K

ing is. It w

ill pro

bab

ly also

elimin

ate Kin

g

from any participation in [a m

emorial for P

resident Kennedy

which

the A

ttorn

ey G

eneral w

as help

ing to

arrange]."

Dr. K

ing's stay

in L

os A

ngeles in

July

1964 w

as covered

by b

oth

wiretaps and m

icrophones in his hotel room. T

he wiretap w

as intended

to gain intelligence about Dr. K

ing's plans at the Republican N

ational

Convention. M

icrophone surveillance was requested to attem

pt to ob-

tain in

form

ation u

seful in

the cam

paig

ns to

discred

it him

."' Sulli-

van's mem

orandum describing the coverage w

as sent to Hoover w

ith

a recom

men

datio

n ag

ainst d

issemin

ation to

the W

hite H

ouse o

r di,-

Attorney G

eneral : as in

this in

stance it is m

erely rep

etitious an

d d

oes n

ot h

ave

nearly the impact as prior such m

emoranda. W

e are continu-

ing to

follo

w clo

sely K

ing's activ

ities and g

iving considera-

tion to every poeulibility for future similar coverage that w

ill

add to our record on King so that in the end he m

ight be dis-

credited and thus be removed from

his position of great stat-

ure in the Negro com

munity."'

132

that it b

e distrib

uted

to the A

ttorney G

eneral, th

e Wh

ite Hou

se, CI,,

State D

epartm

ent. D

efense D

epartm

ent, an

d D

efense D

epartm

ent cll .

telligence agen

cies.='° S

ullivan

testified th

at the p

urp

ose of the r ealm

_

graph

was to "

discred

it Kin

g." 2 "

B

elmon

t sub

mitted

the m

on

ogra

ph

to th

e Directo

r with

a nF.I.

statin

g: T

he attach

ed an

alysis of Com

mu

nism

and

the N

egro 1110V

t•-

inen

t is h

igh

ly ex

plo

sive. It ca

n b

e regard

ed a

s a p

erson

al

attack on

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing. T

here is n

o dou

bt it w

ill have

a heavy im

pact on

the A

ttorney G

eneral an

d an

yone else to

wh

om w

e dissem

inate....

Th

e mem

orand

um

mak

es good read

ing an

d is b

ased on

in-

formation

from reliab

le sources. W

e may w

ell be ch

arged.

how

ever. with

expressin

g opin

ions an

d con

clusion

s. particu

-

larly with

reference to som

e of the statem

ents ab

out. K

ing.

Th

is mem

orand

um

may startle th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral. par-

ticula

rly in

view

of h

is past a

ssocia

tion

with

Kin

g. a

nd

the

fact that w

e are dissem

inatin

g this ou

tside th

e Dep

artmen

t.

He m

ay resent th

is. Neverth

eless, the m

emoran

du

m is a p

ower-

ful w

arnin

g against C

omm

un

ist influ

ence in

the N

egro move-

men

t, and

we w

ill be carryin

g out ou

r respon

sibility b

y dis-

semin

ating it to th

e peop

le ind

icated in

the attach

ed m

emo-

rand

um

.'"

Th

e mon

ograph

was d

istribu

ted on

Octob

er 18, 1963. On

e week

later.

the A

ttorney G

eneral called

Cou

rtney E

vans an

d stated

that h

e had

just learn

ed th

at the A

rmy h

ad received

a copy of a rep

ort abou

t Dr.

Kin

g's alleged com

mu

nist activities. E

vans rep

orted to B

elmon

t:

He w

as o

bvio

usly

irritated

. He w

ent o

n to

ask

if the A

rmy

got co

pies o

f all rep

orts su

bm

itted to

him

.... Th

e Atto

rney

Gen

eral asked

wh

at respon

sibilities th

e Arm

y had

in relation

to the com

mu

nist b

ackgrou

nd

of Martin

Lu

ther K

ing. I told

the A

ttorney G

eneral . . . th

at the A

rmy h

ad an

interest in

comm

un

ist activities particu

larly in relation

to racial matters

becau

se the m

ilitary had

to be called

on if civil d

isturb

ances

arising ou

t of such

matters w

ent b

eyond

the ab

ility of civilian

auth

orities. Th

is explan

ation seem

ed to serve n

o pu

rpose?"

Director H

oover recorded

in a m

emoran

du

m of th

e same d

ate :

Th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral called an

d ad

vised m

e there w

as a lot

of talk at th

e Pen

tagon regard

ing th

e docu

men

t... .. Th

e At-

torney G

eneral an

ticipated

that th

is inform

ation w

ould

leak

out as th

e military d

idn

't like th

e Negroes.

Th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral felt we sh

ould

get back

all copies of

the d

ocum

ent. I told

him

. .. we w

ould

get them

from all agen

-

"M

emora

nd

um

from W

illiam Sullivan to A

lan Belm

ont, 10/15/63.

••• William

Su

llivan testim

ony, 11/1/75.p

. 49.

" Mem

orandum from

Alan

Belm

ont to C

lyde T

olson, 10/17/63. H

oover wrote in

the margin "W

e must do our d

uty

" a

nd

"I a

m glad you recognize at last that

there exists such

influ

ence."

Cop

ies were sen

t to the A

ttorney G

eneral, the White

House. the Secretary of State, th

e Director of C

erftral Intelligen

ce, the Secreta

r'

of D

efense, th

e Directo

r of N

aval In

telligen

ce, the A

rmy A

ssiatant Ch

ief of Staff

for Intelligence, and the D

epartm

ent o

f Sp

ecial In

vestig

atio

ns o

f the Air F

orce

"M

emorandum

from C

ourtn

ey Evan

s to Alan B

elmont, 10/25/63.

133

cies to wh

ich th

ey were d

issemin

ated.... I also told

him

if any

new

spap

ers asked

abou

t this, n

o comm

ent w

ould

be m

ade an

d

no m

ention

wou

ld b

e mad

e that su

ch a d

ocum

ent existed

.'"

All copies w

ere recovered by October 28.

Bu

rke M

arshall, A

ssistant A

ttorney G

eneral in

charge of th

e Civil

Bigh

ts Division

un

der R

obert K

enn

edy. told

the C

omm

ittee that th

e

mon

ograph

was:

a p

erson

al d

iatrib

e . . . a p

erson

al a

ttack

with

ou

t evid

en-

tiary

sup

port o

n th

e chara

cter, the m

ora

l chara

cter an

d

person

of Dr. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, and

it was on

ly perip

her-

ally related to an

ythin

g sub

stantive, lik

e wh

ether or n

ot there

was com

mu

nist in

filtration or in

fluen

ce on th

e civil rights

movem

ent.... It w

as a person

al attack on

tee man

and

wen

t

far a

field

from

the c

harges [o

f possib

le c

om

mu

nist

influ

ence]. 22°

-

Marsh

all recalled th

at he h

ad b

een very "

irritated"

abou

t the m

ono-

ph

and

that th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral had

"th

ough

t it was ou

trageous."

e remem

bered

that th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral had

ordered

the m

ono-

graph

with

draw

n, b

ut d

id n

ot kn

ow if th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral had

taken

any fu

rther step

s to reprim

and

the B

ureau

.'"

B. T

he F

BI P

lan

s Its Cam

paign To D

iscredit hr. King : D

ecember 23,

1963

On

Decem

ber 23, 1963, a n

ine-h

our con

ference w

as held

at FB

I

head

qu

arters to discu

ss Martin

Lu

ther K

ing. In

attend

ance w

ere As-

tent D

irector Su

llivan, In

ternal S

ecurity S

ection C

hief F

rederick

aum

gardn

er, three oth

er FB

I head

qu

arters officials. and

two agen

ts

from th

e FB

I's Atlan

ta Field

Office.

A p

repared

list of tw

enty

-on

e pro

posa

ls was p

resented

an

d d

is-

cussed

. Th

e prop

osals raised th

e possib

ility of "u

sing-

min

isters, "d

is-

grun

tled"

acqu

aintan

ces. "aggressive"

new

smen

, "colored

" agen

ts. Dr.

-Kin

g's h

ou

sekeep

er, an

d ev

en su

ggested

usin

g D

r. Kin

g's w

ife or

"p

lacin

g a

good

look

ing fem

ale p

lan

t in K

ing's o

ffice." 211 A

n

oun

t of the m

eeting w

ritten b

y William

Su

llivan em

ph

asized th

at

e Bu

reau m

ust tak

e a "d

iscreet app

roach"

in d

evelopin

g inform

a-

on ab

out D

r. Kin

g for use "

at an op

portu

ne tim

e in a cortm

terintelli-

"Mem

orandum from

J. E

dgar H

oover to

Cly

de T

olso

n. A

lan

Belm

on

t, Joh

n

Moh

r, Carth

a DeL

oach, A

lex Haw

n, an

d W

illiam Sullivan, 10/25/63.

"Burke M

arshall testimony, 3

/3/1

6, p

. 32. C

arl T

. Row

an

. then

Directo

r of

US

IA, w

as sen

t a copy of th

e mon

ograph

. In a n

ewsp

aper article In

1969. Row

an

"w

rote, "

(p)erh

ap

s this Is th

e time fo

r me to

revea

l that I have read

the F

BI

ports b

ased

on

electron

ic surv

eillan

ce of th

e late N

ob

el Prise-w

inn

er. I kn

ow

w m

uch

dirt th

e FB

I has du

g up

, and

90 percen

t of it is barn

-yard goalie th

at

noth

ing to

do w

ith 'internal security' or `M

arxist influences." (Carl T

.

wan, "F

BI W

on't Talk A

bout Additional W

iretapping.," The W

ashington

C. E

vening Star, 6/20/60, p. A-13)

▪ M

arshall testimony, 3/3/76, p. 34.

▪ F

BI w

ork paper, "Questions T

o Be E

xplored at Conference 12/23/63

re:

Com

mu

nist In

flub

nce in

Racial M

atters."

Th

e Bu

reau

sub

sequ

ently

con

ald

ered th

e possib

ility o

f gettin

g D

etroit p

olice-

to raid D

r. Kin

g's hotel room

in M

arch 1964 and kept abreast of the M

iami

ce force's plans to raid Dr. K

ing's hotel room in 1966 (U

nsigned Bureau

orandam, "For T

elephonic Briefing of D

etroit Office ;" A

irtel, Miam

i OfB

ee to

actor, FB

I, 5/23/66).

142

Dr. K

ing had to be held in confidence, and the board of trustees was

rt

governed by "liberals." 15,

-'4. Attem

pts to Discredit D

r. Kin

g with

Ch

urch

es

On June 12, 1964, W

illiam Sullivan w

rote a mem

orandum stating

that he had been contacted by the General Secretary of the N

ational

Cou

ncil of th

e Ch

urch

es of Ch

rist Su

llivan rep

orted th

at. took

the liberty of advising [him] confidentally of the fact that D

r. Martin

Luther K

ing not only left a great deal to be desired from the stand-

point of Com

munism

, but also from the standpoint of personal con-

duct." Sullivan observed : I think that w

e have sowed an idea here w

hich may do som

e

good. I w

ill follow u

p on

the m

atter very discreetly to see

what desirable results m

ay emanate therefrom

.'"

Sullivan met again w

ith the General Secretary in m

id-Decem

ber

1964 and reported that the General Secretary had assured him

"steps

have been taken by the National C

ouncil of the Churches of C

hrist to

make certain from

this time on that M

artin Luther K

ing will never

get 'one single dollar' of financial support from the N

ational Council."

Su

llivan rep

orted th

at the S

ecretary stated th

at he h

ad d

iscussed

Dr. K

ing's b

ackgrou

nd

with

some "'key" protestant clergym

en who

were "horrified." Sullivan aim

noted that the Secretary said that he

also inten

ded

to discu

ss the m

atter with

Roy W

ilkin

s to persu

ade

Wilk

ins "

that N

egro leaders sh

ould

comp

letely isolate Kin

g and

remove h

im from

the role h

e is now

occup

ying in

civil rights

activities." 241 O

n Decem

ber 8;1964, the Director authorized the disclosure of infor-

mation

abou

t Dr. K

ing srson

al life to an in

fl uential mem

ber of the

Baptist W

orld Alliance ( B

WA

), so that he could pass the informa-

tion along to the General Secretary of B

WA

, and to BW

A P

rogram

Com

mittee m

embers, to prevent the C

omm

ittee from inviting D

r. King

to address the BW

A's 1965 C

ongress in Miam

i Beach. T

he Director

rejected a proposal, however, for "arranging for [certain B

WA

mem

-

bers] to listen to sources we have concerning this m

atter. - " 2

b. Attem

pts to Discredit D

r. Kin

g With

the P

ope

On A

ugust, 31, 1964, the FB

I learned that Dr. K

ing, who w

as going

to be touring Europe in Septem

ber, might have plans to visit the P

ope.

Internal Security Section Chief B

aumgardner o b served:

It wou

ld b

e shock

ing in

deed

for such

an u

nscru

pu

lous

character as King to receive an audience w

ith the Pope. It is

believed

that if a p

lan to see th

e Pop

e is in th

e malti ng, it

ought to be nipped in the bud. We have considered dillerent

poesib

ilities for meetin

g this p

roblem

and

believe th

at the

best one would be to have A

ssistant Director M

alone of the

New

York office personally contact F

rancis Cardinal Spell-

Man and on a highly confidential basis bring to the C

ardinal's

attention the fact that King is to visit R

ome....

Mem

orand

um

from C

artha D

eLoach

to John

Moh

r, 4/8/64. DeL

oach stated

that be w

ould

"d

eny an

y such

inform

ation h

ad b

een fu

rnish

ed"

if the om

en]

told an

yone th

at the F

BI h

ad b

riefed h

im.

" M

emoran

du

m from

William

Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t 12/16/84.

Mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to Alan

Belm

ont. 12/16/ 6 4.

"M

emoran

du

m from

Milton

Jones toC

artha D

eLoach

, 12/8/64.

143

Malone should be able to im

press upon the Cardinal the

likely embarrassm

ent that may result to the P

ope should he

grant King an audience and K

ing is later discredited."'

On Septem

ber 8, Baum

gardner reported :

Malon

e called tod

ay and

stated th

at he h

ad d

iscussed

the

situation

with

Card

inal S

pellm

an over th

e week

end

and

he said

that th

e Card

inal took

instan

t steps to ad

vise the

Vatican against granting any audience to K

ing . . C

ard

i-

nal Spellman is going to R

ome next w

eek . . . and thus will

be on the scene personally and further insure that. the Pope is

not placed in an embarrassing position through any contact

with

Kin

g.'"

The F

BI's efforts w

ere to no avail. The P

ope met w

ith Dr. K

ing. T

he

Director w

rote across the mem

oranda informing him

of that meeting.

"astounding,92and "I am am

azed that the Pope gave an audience to

such a [excised by FB

I]."' The D

irector then initiated inquiries into

the reason for the failure of this project.

B. T

he A

ttempt to D

iscredit Dr. K

ing D

urin

g His R

eceipt of

the N

obel Peace P

rize

On O

ctober 14, 1964, Martin L

uther King w

as named to w

in the

Nobel P

eace Prize. H

e received the prize in Europe on D

ecember 10.

1965. The F

BI took m

easures to dampen D

r. King's w

elcome, both in

Europe and on his return hom

e.

On N

ovember 22, 1964—

two w

eeks before Dr. K

ing's trip to receive

the prize—the D

omestic Intelligence D

ivision assembled a thirteen-

page printed version of the m

onograph which A

ttorney Gen-

eral had ordered recalled in O

ctober 1963.2" A copy w

as sent

to Bill M

eyers, Special Assistant to the P

resident, on Decem

ber 1,1964,

with a letter requesting his advice concerning w

hether the monograph

should also be distributed to "responsible officials in the Executive

Bran

ch."

Moyers gave his perm

ission on Decem

ber 7,'" and copies

were distributed to the heads of several executive agencies.'"

Information about D

r. King's private life w

as also made available

to United N

ations representatives Adlai Stevenson and R

alph Bunche,

who the B

ureau had learned were being considered as possible par-

"M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 8/31/84,

I, . 1. T

he C

hief of th

e Secu

rity S

ection reco

mm

ended

:

"It appro

ved

, Assistan

t Directo

r lialone sh

ould

person

ally orally brief F

rancis

Card

inal S

pellm

an in

accord

ance w

ith th

e attached

Top

Secret su

mm

ary [con-

tainin

g inform

ation ab

out D

r, Kin

g's private life] ... T

his is th

e same su

mm

ary

we p

reviously u

sed In

preven

ting K

ing's receivin

g an h

onorary d

egree from

Marq

uette U

niversity."

(Bau

mgard

ner to S

ullivan

, 8131/64.)

"M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 9/8/64.

"D

irector's n

otes o

n U

PI relea

se, 9/8

/64, a

nd

N

ew Y

ork

Hero

ld T

ribu

ne,

9/19/64. '

Mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to Alan

Belm

ont, 11/22/64. S

ee pp

. 131

et gee.

'

▪

Letter from

J. Ed

ger Hoover to B

ill Moyers, 12/1/64.

Mem

orandum from

Cartha D

eLoach to John M

ohr, 12/7/64.

Cop

ies were d

istribu

ted to A

cting A

ttorney G

eneral N

icholas K

attenb

ach,

the S

ecretaries of State an

d D

efense, th

e Director of th

e CIA

, and

the beads of

the M

ilitary Intelligen

ce agencies, as w

ell as to US

IA.

142

Dr. K

ing h

ad to b

e held

in con

fiden

ce, and

the b

oard of tru

stees was

governed

by "

liberals."

2"

4. Attem

pts to Discredit D

r. Kin

g with

. Ch

urch

es

On

Jun

e 12. 1964, William

Su

llivan w

rote a mem

orand

um

stating

that h

e had

been

contacted

by th

e Gen

eral Secretary of th

e Nation

al

Cou

ncil of th

e Ch

urch

es of Ch

rist. Su

llivan rep

orted th

at, "1 took

the lib

er of advisin

g [him

] confid

entally of th

e fact that D

r. Martin

Lu

ther K

ing n

ot only left a great d

eal to be d

esired from

the stan

d-

poin

t of Cou

un

un

ism, b

ut also from

the stan

dp

oint of p

ersonal con

-

duct." Sullivan observed : I th

ink

that w

e have sow

ed an

idea h

ere wh

ich m

ay do som

e

good. I w

ill follow u

p on

the m

atter very discreetly to see

what desirable results m

ay emanate therefioni. 2"

Su

llivan m

etagain w

ith th

e Gen

eral Secretary in

mid

-Decem

ber

1964 and

reported

that th

e Gen

eral Secretary h

ad assu

red h

im "step

s

have b

een tak

en b

y the N

ational C

oun

cil of the C

hu

rches of C

hrist to

mak

e certain from

this tim

e on th

at Martin

Lu

ther K

ing w

ill never

get one sin

gle dollar' of fin

ancial su

pp

ort from th

e Nation

al Cou

ncil. -

Su

llivan rep

orted th

at the S

ecretary stated th

at he h

ad d

iscussed

Dr. K

ing's b

ackgrou

nd

with

sonic "

key"

protestan

t clergymen

wh

o

were "

horrified

.' Su

llivan elm

noted

that th

e Secretary said

that h

e

also inten

ded

to discu

ss the m

atter with

Roy W

ilkin

s to persu

ade

Wilk

ins th

at N

egro

lead

ers shou

ld co

mp

letely iso

late K

ing a

nd

remove h

im fro

m th

e role h

e is now

occu

pyin

g in

civil rig

hts

activities." 2"

On D

ecember 8, 1964, the D

irector authorized the disclosure of infor-

mation

abou

t Dr. K

ing's p

ersonal life to an

influ

ential m

emb

er of the

Bap

tist World

Allian

ce (BW

A), so th

at he cou

ld p

ass the in

forma-

tion alon

g to the G

eneral S

ecretary of BW

A, an

d to B

WA

Program

Com

mittee m

embers, to prevent the C

omm

ittee from inviting D

r. King

to add

ress the B

WA

's 1965 Con

gress in M

iami B

each. T

he D

irector

rejected a p

roposal, h

owever, for "

arrangin

g for [certain B

WA

mem

-

bers] to listen to sources we have concerning this m

atter." "2

5. Attem

pts to Discredit D

r. Kin

g with

the P

ope

On

Au

gust 31, 1964 . , th

e FB

I learned

that D

r. Kin

g, wh

o was goin

g

to be touring Europe in Septem

ber, might have plans to visit the P

ope.

Internal Security Section Chief B

aumgardner observed :

. It wou

ld b

e shock

ing, in

deed

for such

an u

nscru

pu

lous

character as K

ing to receive an

aud

ience w

ith th

e Pop

e. It is

believed

that if a p

lan to see th

e Pop

e is in th

e ma lti n

g, it

ough

t to be n

ipp

ed in

the b

ud

. We h

ave consid

ered d

ifferent

possib

ilities for meetin

g this p

roblem

and

believe th

at the

best on

e wou

ld b

e to have A

ssistant D

irector Malon

e of the

New

York

office person

ally contact F

rancis C

ardin

al Sp

ell-

inan and on a highly confidential basis bring to the Cardinal's

attention

the fact th

at Kin

g - is to visit Rom

e....

'Mem

orand

um

from C

artha D

eLoach

to John

Moh

r, 4/8/64. DeL

oach stated

that b

e wou

ld "

den

y any su

ch in

formation

had

been

furn

ished

" If th

e nflicial

told an

yone th

at the F

BI h

ad b

riefed h

im.

" M

emoran

du

m from

William

Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t, 12/18/64.

"'M

emoran

du

m from

William

Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t. 12/18/64.

"M

emon

uslu

m from

Milton

Jones to earth

' neLoach,12/9/64.

143

Malon

e shou

ld b

e able to im

press u

pon

the C

ardin

al the

likely em

barrassm

ent th

at may resu

lt to the P

ope sh

ould

he

grant K

ing an

aud

ience an

d K

ing is later d

iscredited

."'

On Septem

ber 8, Baum

gardner reported :

Malon

e called tod

ay and

stated th

at he h

ad d

iscussed

the

situation

with

Card

inal S

pellm

an over th

e week

end

and

he said

that th

e Card

inal took

instan

t steps ad

vise the

Vatican

against gran

ting an

y aud

ience to K

ing . . . C

ard

i-

nal S

pellm

an is goin

g to Rom

e neat w

eek . . . an

d th

us w

ill

be on the scene personally and further insure that the Pope is

not p

laced in

an em

barrassin

g position

throu

gh an

y contact

with

Kin

g.'"

Th

e FB

I's efforts were to n

o avail. Th

e Pop

e wet w

ith D

r. Kin

g. Th

e

Director w

rote across the mem

oranda informing him

of that meeting.

"astou

nd

in*"

and

"I am

amazed

that th

e Pop

e gave an au

dien

ce to

such

a [excised b

y FB

I] .2" T

he D

irector then

initiated

inq

uiries in

to

the reason for the failure of this project.

6. Th

e Attem

pt to Discredit D

r. Kin

g Du

ring H

is Receipt of

the N

obel Peace P

rize

On

Octob

er 14, 1964, Martin

Lu

ther K

ing w

as nam

ed to w

in th

e

Nob

el Peace P

rize. He received

the p

rize in E

urop

e on D

ecemb

er 10.

1965. The F

BI took m

easures to dampen D

r. King's w

elcome, both in

Europe and on his return hom

e.

On N

ovember 22, 1964—

t wo w

eeks before Dr. K

ing's trip to receive

the p

rize—th

e Dom

estic Intelligen

ce Division

assemb

led a th

irteen-

page updated printed version of the monograph w

hich Attorney G

en-

eral Kennedy had ordered recalled in O

ctober 1963.2" A copy w

as sent

to Bill M

oyers, Special Assistant to the P

resident. on Decem

ber I, 1964.

with a letter requesting his advice concerning w

hether the monograph

shou

ld also b

e distrib

uted

to "resp

onsib

le officials in th

e Execu

tive

Branch." "2 M

oyers gave his permission on D

ecember 7,2"

and

copies

were d

istribu

ted to th

e head

s of several executive agen

ciee"

Inform

ation ab

out D

r. Kin

g's private life w

as also mad

e available

to United N

ations representatives Adlai Stevenson and R

alph Bunche,

wh

o the B

ureau

had

learned

were b

eing con

sidered

as possible par-

" M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 8/31/84,

p. 1. T

he C

hief of th

e Secu

rity Section

recomm

end

ed :

"If ap

proved

, Assistan

t Director M

alone sh

ould

person

ally orally brief F

rancis

Card

inal S

pellm

an in

accordan

ce with

the attach

ed T

op S

ecret sum

mary [con

-

tainin

g inform

ation ab

out D

r. Kin

g's private life] . . T

his is th

e same su

mm

ary

we p

reviously u

sed In

preven

ting K

ing's receivin

g an h

onorary d

egree from

Marq

uette U

niversity."

(Bau

mgard

ner to S

ullivan

, 8/31/64.)

" M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 9/8/64

"D

irector's n

otes o

n

UP

I release, 9/8/64, an

d

New

Y

ork H

erald T

ribune, 9/19/64.

a' Mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to Alan

Belm

ont. 11/22/64. S

ee pp

. 131

et seq.

" L

etter from J. E

dgar H

oover to Bill M

oyers, 12/1/64.

" Mem

orandum from

Cartha D

eLoach to John M

ohr. 12/T/64.

"C

opies w

ere distrib

uted

to Actin

g Attorn

ey Gen

eral Nich

olas Katsen

bach

.

the S

ecretaries of State an

d D

efense, th

e Director of th

e CIA

. and

the h

eeds of

the M

ilitary Intelligen

ce agencies, as w

ell as to US

IA.

144

tieipan

ts at the D

ecember 1

964 "w

elcom

e hom

e" receptio

n fo

r Dr.

Three, d

ays after V

ice Presid

ent-elect H

um

phrey

particip

ated in

one of the "welcom

e home - receptions for D

r. King in N

ew Y

ork. the

Bureau

sent h

im a co

py o

f the u

pdated

Kin

g m

onograp

h an

d a sep

-

arate mem

oran

dum

entitled

"Martin

Luth

er Kin

g, Jr.: H

is Perso

nal

Conduct." "2 O

n Decem

ber 8, 1964, the Bureau decided to brief G

ov-

ernor N

elson R

ock

efeller about D

r. Kin

g's p

rivate life an

d alleg

ed

Com

munist asso

ciations, ap

paren

tly to

dissu

ade th

e Govern

or fro

m

taking part in ceremonies com

mending D

r. King for having received

the N

obel P

rize'" U

pon learn

ing th

at. Dr. K

ing m

ight m

eet with

a certain fo

reign

leader. F

BI h

eadquarters in

structed

the F

BI rep

resentativ

e in th

at

country

to b

rief the p

roper au

thorities ab

out D

r. Kin

g.'' T

he U

nited

States am

bassadors in London and O

slo were. briefed about D

r. King

becau

se ",the A

mbassad

ors m

ight co

nsid

er entertain

ing K

ing w

hile

he is in

Euro

pe to

receive th

e Nobel P

eace Prize - an

d it m

ight b

e

poss ible to

"forestall su

ch actio

n b

y th

e Am

bassad

ors if th

ey w

ere

b riefed." T

he am

bassad

ors in

Sto

ckholm

and C

open

hag

en w

ere also

briefed because "King is also to visit those cities." 2"

On N

ovem

ber 1

0, 1

964. th

e FB

I learned

that th

e United

States

Info

rmatio

n A

gen

cy w

as consid

ering req

uestin

g D

r. Kin

g to

engag

e

in a one-week lecture tour in E

urope following his receipt of the N

oble

Prize. H

oover approved the Dom

estic Intelligence Division's recom

-

men

datio

n th

at US

IA b

e furn

ished

with

the latest critical B

ureau

reports ab

out D

r. Kin

g."'

7. A

ttempts to

Blo

ck Dr. K

ing's P

ublica

tions

On S

eptem

ber 1

1, 1

964, th

e FB

I learned

that D

r. Kin

g in

tended

to

publish an article in a major national publication. T

he Dom

estic Intel-

ligence Division noted that it did not know

"what line K

ing will take

in the article or what its specific stands w

ill be," but, nonetheless re

e-

om

mended th

at "it would

be w

ell to p

reven

t any p

ublicatio

n o

f hi7

..

view

s."'" T

he task

of p

reven

ting p

ublicatio

n w

as assigned

to an

agen

t with

contacts at th

e mag

azine w

ho h

ad "fo

restalled" th

e publicatio

n o

f an

article by Dr. K

ing in that magazine earlier in 1964. 2"

The ag

ent su

bseq

uen

tly rep

orted

that h

e had

contacted

an o

fficial

of th

e mag

azine in

late Sep

tember. A

ccord

ing to

the ag

ent. th

e

official h

ad ag

reed to

"endeav

or to

assist - the F

BI, an

d h

ad b

een

briefed

about K

ing. b

ut w

as unab

le to b

lock

publicatio

n b

ecause

a contractu

al agreem

ent h

ad alread

y b

een m

ade." T

he F

BI d

id ap

-

parently have some influence at the m

agazine, however, bkause a m

em-

orandum reporting the incident concludes :

" U

ntitled

mem

orand

um

. 11/12/64. "

Letter from

J. Ed

gar Hoover to H

ub

ert Hu

mp

hrey. 12/21/64.

• M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan. 12/5/6

1

• C

able from

Director, F

BI to L

egat, 11/10/64. r's M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan. 11/30/6- 1

" M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 11/12/61

" M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 9/11/6 4

Bau

mgard

ner m

emoran

du

m, 9/11/64.

"M

emoran

du

m to earth

s DeL

oach, 11/3/64.

145

In co

nnectio

n w

ith th

is [mag

azine] article b

y K

ing, o

ur

sources have indicated that since he was aw

arded the Nobel

Peace P

rize he has attempted through som

e of his associates

to ch

ange th

e [mag

azine] article in

an effo

rt to so

ften criti-

cism m

ade b

y h

im ag

ainst o

ther civ

il rights g

roups an

d

leaders. King feared that such criticism

would cause difficul-

ties in the civil rights movem

ent. The [m

agazine], however,

has resisted King's efforts to m

ake these changes.'"

In February 1964. the D

irector alerted the field offices that Dr. K

ing

was w

riting a n

ew b

ook, an

d n

oted

that "it is en

tirely p

ossib

le that

with the publication of the book the B

ureau may desire to take som

e

action, p

ossib

ly in

the co

unterin

telligen

ce area or o

therw

ise, which

may

be d

esigned

to d

iscredit

Kin

g

or o

therw

ise neu

tralize his

effectiveness ... 281

The field

gffiees w

ere instru

cted to

main

tain in

form

ation relatin

g

to the preparation and publication of the book. The F

BI files indicate

that this information w

as collected, but it is not clear whether it w

as

ever used.

8. A

ttempt to

Underm

ine th

e Natio

nal S

cience F

oundatio

n's

Cooperation w

ith the SCL

C

The F

BI sent the N

ational Science F

oundation (NS

F) a copy of the

second p

rinted

monograp

h o

n K

ing in

ord

er to co

nvin

ce the N

SF

to

remove the S

CL

C from

"the NS

F program

to obtain qualified Negro

students from southern schools."'"'

9. U

nsu

ccessful F

BI A

ttempts to

Loca

te Fin

ancia

l impro

prie-

ties

In early January 1964, the Chief of the Internal S

ecurity Section of

the D

om

estic Intellig

ence D

ivisio

n, F

rederick

J. Bau

mgard

ner, rec-

om

men

ded

that "ex

amin

ation o

f recant in

com

e tax retu

rns o

f kin

g

mig

ht w

ell reveal in

form

ation w

hich

could

assist the B

ureau

in its

efforts to

discred

it Kin

g o

r neu

tralize his effectiv

eness." "2 T

he In

-

telligence Division subsequently acquired from

the Internal Revenue

Serv

ice copies o

f inco

me tax

return

s for th

e prio

r five y

ears of D

r.

Rin

g, th

e SC

LC

, and th

e Gan

dhi S

ociety

,'" an o

rgan

ization w

hich

the F

BI sta

ted "a

ugm

ente

d" th

e fu

nd-ra

ising a

ctiv

ities o

f the

SC

LC

.:" The In

telligen

ce Div

ision o

f the IR

S to

ld th

e Bureau

that

"IRS

had

very

carefully

scrutin

ized K

ing's retu

rns in

the p

ast but

had not been able to establish a cause of action against him." "" H

ow-

ever, th

e IRS

assured

the F

BI th

at Dr. K

ing's cu

rrent retu

rns w

ould

▪ F

BI m

emorandum

, 11/3/64. p. 21. "

Mem

orand

um

from D

irector, FB

I, to Sp

ecial Agen

t In C

harge. N

ew Y

ork,

2/18/64. '

Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 12/17/64,

41

Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 1/8/64.

'Bau

mgard

ner ob

served th

at it was "

essential th

at our cu

rrent req

uests of th

e

Las • • b

e han

dled

in a m

ann

er wh

ich w

ould

provid

e for optim

um

aecurity

so

that n

either K

ing n

or any oth

er un

auth

orised in

divid

uals m

ay becom

e aware of

the B

ureau

's Interest an

d so th

at no em

barrassm

ent m

ay come to th

e Bu

reau."

I" A

wiretap

bad

been

placed

on th

e (Man

dl S

ociety in

Ju

ly, 1963. M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 3/25/61-

" M

emoran

du

m from

Dan

iel Bren

nan

to William

Su

llivan, 3/27/64.

I

146

147

Th

e Com

mittee h

as been un

able to d

etermin

e the exten

t to wh

ich

the FB

I's effort to discredit Dr. K

ing and the SCL

C by dissem

inating

un

favorable in

formation

outsid

e of the G

overnm

ent w

as susp

ected

or knowm

,about by Governm

ent officials responsible for supervising th

e FB

I. Th

e Com

mittee req

uested

the F

BI to p

rovide an

y inform

a-tion

in its p

ossession reflectin

g that an

y Presid

ents or A

ttorneys

General during the relevant periods w

ere aware of any F

RI efforts to

"discredit" or "neutralize" Dr. K

ing. The B

ureau replied :

A review

of the K

ing file in

respon

se to other item

s in-

clud

ed in

the req

uest an

d a p

olling of all H

eadq

uarters p

er-son

nel in

volved in

that an

d p

revious review

s did

not resu

lt in

the location

or recollection of an

y inform

ation in

FB

IHQ

files to in

dicate an

y of the aforem

ention

ed in

divid

uals w

ere sp

ecifically aware of an

y efforts, steps or p

lans or p

roposals

to "discredit" or "neutralize" King.

It is. cif course, evid

ent th

at mu

ch in

formation

develop

ed

in th

e course of th

e Kin

g case involvin

g him

in activities of

interest to th

e Wh

ite Hou

se and

to represen

tatives of the

Departm

ent of Justice, including Attorneys G

eneral Kennedy

and

Katzen

bach

, as well as A

ssistant A

ttorney G

eneral

Marsh

all, was su

ch th

at it could

conceivab

ly have b

een th

e op

inion

of one or m

ore of the ab

ove ind

ividu

als that su

ch

information w

as being provided to "discredit" or "neutralize" K

ing."

Nich

olas Katzen

bach

, Bu

rke M

arshall, W

alter Jenk

ins, an

d B

ill

Moyers h

ave told th

e Com

mittee th

at they d

id n

ot realize that th

e F

BI w

as engaged m a concerted effort to discredit D

r. King, and that

to the best of their knowledge, P

residents John Kennedy and L

yndon

Johnson, as well as A

ttorney General R

obert Kennedy, w

ere not aware

of that effort. T

here w

as no evid

ence th

at the F

BI's p

rogram to d

is-credit D

r. King w

as authorized outside of the FB

I. There is evidence,

how

ever, that. officials resp

onsib

le for sup

ervising th

e FB

I received

ind

ications th

at such

an effort to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g migh

t be tak

ing

place, and failed to take adequate steps to prevent it. President John-

son and his Attorneys G

eneral were aw

are at least of Bureau attem

pts to dissem

inate unfavorable reports about Dr. K

ing to th

e press. T

op

Execu

tive Bran

ch officials h

ave told th

e Com

mittee th

at they h

ad

believed

that th

e FB

I had

tape record

ings em

barrassin

g to Dr. K

ing,

and that the FB

I had offered to play those tapes both to a government

official and to reporters. The evidence reveals a disturbing attitude of

unconcern by responsible officials and a failure on their part to make

appropriate corrective measures. A

s Nicholas K

atzenbach explained to the C

omm

ittee :

Nob

ody in

the D

epartm

ent of Ju

stice conn

ected w

ith C

ivil R

ights cou

ld p

ossibly h

ave been

un

aware of M

r. Hoover's

feelings (again

st Dr. K

ing). N

obod

y could

have b

een u

n-

aware of th

e poten

tial for disaster w

hich

those feelin

gs em-

bodied.

Bu

t, given th

e realities of the situ

ation. I d

o not.

be scrutinized "very carefully to determine w

hether any violations ap.

pear."

222 Non

e did

. U

ndeterred, the Director inform

ed the field offices that "the Bureau

believes that more than ever it w

ould be most desirable to identify any

ban

k w

here [K

ing] m

ay have an

accoun

t . . . and

consid

er an au

dit

of such account." 2"

On

e effort to un

cover derogatory in

formation

abou

t Dr. K

ing w

as

conceived

by th

e Su

pervisor in

charge of th

e Kin

g case during a golf

game."

' A rem

ote acqu

aintan

ce of the S

up

ervisor men

tioned

that h

e

had

heard

from a frien

d th

at an acq

uain

tance h

ad said

that D

r. Kin

g h

ad a n

um

bered

accoun

t in a foreign

ban

k w

ith a b

alance of over on

e

million

dollars. T

he S

up

ervisor suggested

to Su

llivan:

If we can

prove th

at Kin

g is hoard

ing large su

ms of m

oney.

we w

ould have available possibly the best information to date

which could be used to discredit him

. especially in the eves of h

is ow

n p

eop

le . . . . we m

ay ta

ke th

e actio

n to

ditired

it K

ing ou

rselves throu

gh frien

dly n

ews sou

rces, or the lik

e, or w

e migh

t turn

the in

formation

over to the In

ternal R

evenu

e

Service for p

ossible crim

inal p

rosecution

."°

Th

e plan

was ap

proved

by D

irector Hoover an

d an

inq

uiry w

as

initiated

. By D

ecemb

er 1965. the in

vestigation in

to a possib

le foreign

ban

k accou

nt w

as describ

ed b

y the D

irector as "th

e most im

portan

t p

resently p

end

ing"

facet of the K

ing in

vestigation."

' Th

e investiga-

tion w

as drop

ped

shortly afterw

ard, h

owever, w

hen

it develop

ed th

at th

e initia

l sou

rce of th

e alleg

atio

n in

form

ed th

e FB

I that it w

as

merely a w

ild con

clusion

that h

ad b

een p

reviously d

rawn

by som

eone

wh

ose iden

tity he d

oes not n

ow !w

all."'"

F. T

he Q

uestion

of Wh

ether G

overnm

ent O

fficials Ou

tside of the F

BI

Were A

ware of th

e FB

I's Effort to D

iscredit Dr. K

ing

Th

ere is no d

oub

t that th

e respon

sible officials in

the K

enn

edy an

d

John

son ad

min

istrations w

ere aware of th

e FB

I's CO

MIN

FIL

in-

vestigation in

volving D

r. Kin

g and

the S

CL

C an

d th

at the w

iretaps

used

by th

e FB

I to collect its inform

ation w

ere auth

orized u

nd

er

proC

edu

res existing at th

e time. W

hile th

ere is some q

uestion

con-

cernin

g wh

ether officials ou

tside of th

e FB

I were aw

are that th

e FB

I

was using m

icrophones to cover Dr. K

ing's activities, there is no doubt

that th

e prod

uct of th

e microp

hon

e surveillan

ce was w

idely d

is-sem

inated

with

in th

e executive b

ranch

. Ind

eed, d

issemin

ation of th

e

prin

ted "

mon

ograph

" ab

out D

r. Kin

g to several executive agencies

was expressly approved by B

ill Moyers, P

resident JohnsOn's assistant.

in January 1965.

"B

renn

an

mem

orandum, 3

/27/6 4 . O

n th

e bottom

of this m

emoran

du

m,

FIC

X)rei

wrote "W

hat a farce !" M

emoran

du

m from

Director. F

RI to S

pecial A

gent in

Ch

arge, New

Tori.;.

5/21/64. "

R sh

ould

be n

oted th

at the S

up

ervisor In ch

arge of the K

ing case is ell] In

a high

position

with

the F

BI an

d h

and

led th

e comm

ittee's docu

men

ts requ

ests in

the K

ing case in

veatigation.

Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 6/29/61 M

emoran

du

m from

Director, F

BI, to S

pecial A

gent In

Ch

arge, New

Orlean

-.

12/5/65. "

Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

. 12/10/8 .

"L

etter from F

BI to th

e Sen

ate Select C

omm

ittee. 11/6/75.

believe on

e could

have an

ticipated

the extrem

es to wh

ich it

was ap

paren

tly carried."

'

Th

e followin

g incid

ents h

ave played

a part in

our d

etermin

ation

that h

igh officials of th

e Execu

tive Bran

ch m

ust sh

are respon

sibility

for the F

BI's effort again

st Dr. K

ing.

(1) A

s described in the previous chapter, a summ

ary mem

orandum

contain

ing in

formation

gathered

from th

e FB

I microp

hon

e placed

i n

Dr. K

ings ro

om

in th

e Willa

rd h

otel w

as sh

ow

n to

Presid

entia

l

Assistan

t Walter Jen

kin

s by C

artha D

eLoach

on Jan

uary 14, 19G

4.

Accord

ing to D

eLoach

's contem

poran

eous accou

nt of th

at meetin

g:

Jenk

ins w

as of the op

inion

that th

e FB

I could

perform

a

good service to th

e coun

try if this m

atter could

someh

ow b

e con

fiden

tially given to m

emb

ers of the p

ress. I told h

im th

e

Director h

ad th

is in m

ind

, how

ever, also believed

we sh

ould

ob

tain ad

dition

al inform

ation p

rior to discu

ssing it w

ith cer-

tain frien

ds."

' D

eLoach

testified th

at he cou

ld n

ot recall the m

eeting w

ith Jen

kin

s.

but that the mem

orandum should accurately reflect his conversation. 2 "

Jenk

ins told

the C

omm

ittee staff in an

un

sworn

interview

that h

e

did

not recall th

e meetin

g describ

ed in

DeL

oach's m

emoran

du

m, b

ut

that he had no reason to doubt that he had read the summ

ary mem

oran-d

um

wh

ich D

eLoach

claims Jen

kin

s saw. Jen

kin

s expressly d

enied

.

how

ever, that h

e had

suggested

that th

e inform

ation in

the su

mm

ary

mem

orand

um

shou

ld b

e "leak

ed"

to the p

ress, or that eith

er he or

Presid

ent Joh

nson

had

ever suggested

that in

formation

abou

t Dr.

Kin

g should be "leaked" to anyone. He added, how

ever, that he might

have u

sed w

ords to th

e effect that "

this is som

ethin

g peop

le shou

ld

kn

ow ab

out"

—referrin

g to peop

le in th

e Govern

men

t—w

hich

could

have b

een m

isinterp

reted b

y DeL

oach. H

e did

not recall D

eLoach

tellin

g him

that th

e Director u

ltimately p

lann

ed to leak

this in

forma-

tion to "certain friends." 167 (2) A

Feb

ruary 5, 1964 F

BI m

emoran

du

m rep

orts a conversation

betw

een E

dw

in au

thm

an, th

e Justice D

epartm

ent's p

ress secretary.

and

John

Moh

r of the D

omestic In

telligence D

ivision. A

ccordin

g to

Moh

r's mem

orand

um

, Gu

thm

an told

Moh

r that h

e had

heard

that

a reporter w

as prep

aring an

article abou

t Dr. K

ing's alleged

Com

-

munist affiliations.

Gu

thm

an stated

he w

as qu

ite concern

ed in

asmu

ch as it

app

eared th

ere had

been

a leak from

the F

BI in

conn

ection

-with

this m

atter. He told

me th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral had

been

m

ost hop

eful th

at there w

ould

be n

o "leak

s" con

cernin

g

Kin

g. F

rom th

e tone of G

uth

man

's entire rem

arks, it w

ould

ap-

pear h

e had

two th

ough

ts in m

ind

with

out actu

ally stating

such

thou

ghts. T

hese th

ough

ts were (1) th

at the A

ttorney

"" Hearing!. vol. 6, p. 208.

'Mem

ora

nd

um

from

earth

s DeL

oach

to J

. Ed

gar H

oover, 1

/14/8

4. T

1

mem

orandum is also discussed pp. 121-122.

" earth

s DeL

out testim

ony. 11/25/75. p

. 150. "

Staff su

mm

ary. Walter Jen

kin

s interview

. 12/1/75. pp

. 1-2. Jenk

ins sald

that

he w

as p

hysica

lly u

nab

le to u

nd

ergo th

e strain

of

a sw

orn

an

d transcribed

session.

Gen

eral is most an

xious th

at inform

ation con

cernin

g Kin

g not be released; and (2) that the A

ttorney General's connec-

tions w

ith K

ing, an

d h

is defen

sive statemen

ts concern

ing

Kin

g to Con

gress in C

ivil Righ

ts hearin

gs, wou

ld certain

ly in

jure th

e Atto

rney

Gen

eral's p

olitica

l chan

ces for th

e future.

(FI)e told

me on

ce again th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral was n

ot w

orried ab

out w

hat an

exposu

re of Kin

g could

do to h

im.

He stated

he an

d th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral are only tryin

g to protect F

BI sources of inform

ation.'"

Th

e mem

orand

um

states that G

uth

man

was told

"th

ere had

been

no

leaks from

the F

BI con

cernin

g Dr. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g," an

d th

at

Gu

thm

an h

ad resp

ond

ed th

at "h

e had

no p

roof wh

atsoever that th

e F

BI had furnished inform

ation to the newspapers concei ting K

ing." G

uthman testified that he recalled the Justice D

epartment had "sus-

pected that the information had been leaked by the F

BI." W

hen asked th

e basis for th

at susp

icion. h

e-said

that "

we felt th

at the q

uestion

of K

ing an

d th

e association w

ith [A

dvisers A

] was a m

atter wh

ich w

as rath

er tightly h

eld sin

ce it was n

ot someth

ing of gen

eral kn

owl-

edge." 299 Guthm

an said that he could "not specifically" recall a reac-tion by A

ttorney General K

ennedy to this "leak":

except to b

e somew

hat d

ispleased

over it. Bu

t that w

as in a

sense a

ll in a

day's w

ork

an

d I d

on

't recall a

nyth

ing

specific.'"

Gu

thm

an testified

that h

e did

not recall an

y furth

er efforts to deter-

mine w

hether the FB

I had in fact leaked the story."' G

uth

man

testified th

at DeL

oach's m

emoran

du

m "

distorted

" h

is

remarks. G

uthman said that. his visit had been m

otivated, not by con-

cerns about Kennedy's political future, but rather by a concern to pro-

tect FB

I sources."

A m

emoran

du

m d

ated F

ebru

ary 5, 1964. by Guth-

man

, does n

ot m

entio

n a

meetin

g w

ith M

oh

r. bu

t does co

nta

in a

n

accoun

t of a meetin

g betw

een G

uth

man

and

Carth

a DeL

oach on

the previous day.

We b

oth agreed

that it w

as inevitable that King's connec-

tions w

ith (A

dviser A

) wou

ld u

ltimately b

ecome p

ub

lic. I told D

eLoach that our concern w

as over the FB

I's source and th

at we h

ad n

o other con

cern as to w

hat th

e Attorn

ey Gen

-eral had said or w

hat our actions had been in connection with

Martin L

uther King.

DeL

oach said he thought we should be concerned in view

of w

hat the. Attorney G

eneral had said on the subject. I pointed ou

t that an

ythin

g the A

ttorney G

eneral h

ad said

had

been

- cleared

with

the FB

I. I told Deke that our record in this m

at-ter cou

ld stan

d any scru

tiny an

d th

at both

Sen

ator Ru

ssell

▪ M

emoran

du

m from

John

Moh

r to earth* D

eLoach

. 2/5/64. Hoover w

rote

at to the last p

aragraph

qu

oted ab

ove, "T

here h

as never b

een su

ch solicitu

de

the p

ast."

— E

dwin G

uthman testim

ony. 11/16/76, p. 13. 'G

uth

man

, 3/16/76, p. 12.

▪ G

nthman, 3/16/76. p. 20-

""

Gu

thm

an, 3/18/76. p

. 22.

IOU

and

Sen

ator Mon

roney h

ad b

een fu

lly app

rised of th

e facts

last sum

mer or last fall."

A

mem

orand

um

by C

ourtn

ey Evan

s later that d

ay reports th

at

Evan

s discu

ssed- th

is matter w

ith A

ssistant A

ttorney G

eneral B

urk

e

Marshall. w

ho said that he did not intend to tell the reporter anything

abou

t Dr. K

ing, b

ut th

at "if h

e develop

ed an

ythin

g at all with

regard

to [the rep

orter's] source of in

formation

, he w

ould

pass th

is along to

us . . ."

Evan

s' mem

orand

um

also notes, "

Accord

ing to in

formation

developed by our Atlanta office on F

ebruary 4,1964, [the reporter] had

in his possession what appeared to he a blind m

emorandum

containing

inform

ation as to [A

dviser A

's alleged con

nection

s with

the C

om

mu

-

nist P

arty]." '4 '

A m

emoran

du

m from

Carth

a DeL

oach to D

irector Hoover d

ated

Feb

ruary 18, 196-1, ap

paren

tly allud

es to this in

ciden

t and

provid

es

some in

sight in

to the p

olitical imp

lications of th

e FB

I's investigation

of Dr. K

ing. A

ccordin

g to DeL

oach's m

emoran

du

m. W

alter Jenk

ins

and Bill M

oyers of-the White H

ouse told him that B

urke Marshall had

called and "indicated that the Attorney G

eneral had thought it highly

advisab

le for the P

residen

t to see the D

epartm

ent of Ju

stice file on

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing . . . to m

ake certain

that. th

e Presid

ent k

new

all

abou

t Kin

g."'"

T

he m

emoran

du

m states th

at Marsh

all then

:

told M

oyers that h

e wan

ted to give th

e Wh

ite Hou

se a little w

arnin

g. He stated

that h

e person

ally kn

ew th

at the F

BI

had

leaked

inform

ation con

cernin

g Martin

Lu

ther K

ing to a

new

spap

er reporter. M

arshall told

Moyers th

at he th

ough

t

the W

hite H

ouse sh

ould

kn

ow th

is inasm

uch

as inform

ation

concern

ing K

ing w

ould

un

dou

bted

ly be com

ing ou

t before

the public in the near future.

Director H

oover wrote n

ext to this en

try. "M

arshall is a liar."

3°5

Th

e mem

orand

um

reports th

at Jenk

ins told

DeL

oach th

at he

thou

ght th

e Attorn

ey Gen

eral was con

cerned

with

"b

eing on

record

with

the P

residen

t with

the fact th

at althou

gh h

e has, for p

olitical

pu

rposes, d

efend

ed K

ing, h

e wan

ts the P

residen

t to realize that h

e.

the A

ttorney G

eneral, Is w

ell aware of K

ing's C

omm

un

istic back

-

groun

d."

'"

Th

e Director's h

and

written

note states: "

Katzen

bach

did

his d

irt

against us b

efore Warren

Com

mission

and

now

Marsh

all is trying to

poison the VV

(hite) H (ouse) about F

BI." ""

Neith

er Bu

rke M

arshall n

or Bill M

oyers recalled th

e events d

e-

scribed in DeL

oach's mem

orandum. M

arshall testified, however, about

an in

ciden

t involvin

g the F

BI's leak

ing in

formation

.to a reporter

that m

ay well h

ave been

the sam

e incid

ent. M

arshall recalled

that

sometim

e in 1964, a rep

orter told h

im th

at the A

tlanta office of th

e

FB

I had

given h

im in

formation

un

favorable to D

r. Kin

g. Marsh

all

said th

at he p

hon

ed th

e Bu

reau official w

ith w

hom

he n

ormally con

-

"'M

emoran

du

m, E

dw

in G

uth

man

, 2/5/64. ." M

emoran

du

m from

Cou

rtney E

vans to A

lan B

elmon

t, 2/5/64.

IN M

emoran

du

m from

Carth

a DeL

oaeh to J. E

dgar H

oover, 2/18/04.

• D

eLoa eh m

emorandum

, 2/15/64. ▪ D

eLoach m

emorandum

, 2/18/64. ▪ D

eLotteh m

emorandum

, 2/18/64.

o

ducted business and said, "I'm inform

ed by a reporter that your people

in Atlanta have given this inform

ation about Martin L

uther King, and

that I think it is outrageous." The official at first said, "I don't believe

it," b

ut p

romised

to inq

uire fu

rther. H

e later called an

d said

, "T

he

Director w

ants you

to kn

ow th

at you're a ... d

amn

ed liar."

Marsh

all

told th

e Com

mittee, It w

as very difficu

lt with

the B

ureau

becau

se

if you said that they were leaking derogatory inform

ation, they would

say, `no, we're not.' "

3"

(3) Bill M

oyers, Presid

ent Joh

nson

's assistant, testified

that som

e-

time d

urin

g the "

hu

rley-bu

rley disorgan

ized p

eriod"

shortly after

Presid

ent K

enn

edy's assassin

ation an

d p

rior to Presid

ent. Joh

nson

's

state of the U

nion

add

ress, he h

eard lau

ghter in

side W

alter Jenk

ins'

office. Moyers inquired and w

as told by a secretary that an FB

I agent

had come to the office and offered to play for Jenkins a tape recording

which w

ould have been personally embarrassing to D

r. King. Jenkins

refused

to listen to th

e tape. A

week

later, the sam

e FB

I agent again

came to th

e Wh

ite Hou

se and

offered to p

lay the tap

e for Jenk

ins,

and

again Jen

kin

s refused

to listen to it.609

Jenkins told the Com

mittee that he did not recall ever having been

offered tap

es by th

e FB

I, and

did

not k

now

of anyon

e on th

e Wh

ite H

ouse staff who had been.110

In ad

dition

to this in

ciden

t, Moyers testified

that b

e had

been

generally aw

are that th

e FB

I reports ab

out D

r. Kin

g inclu

ded

infor-

mation of a personal nature, unrelated to the purpose of the F

BI's in-

vestigation. W

hen

asked

if he h

ad ever ask

ed th

e FB

I wh

y it was d

is-

semin

ating th

is type of m

aterial to the W

hite H

ouse. M

oyers re-sp

ond

ed:

I don't remem

ber. I just assumed it w

as related to a fallout of th

e investigation

s concern

ing th

e comm

un

ist allegations,

which is w

hat the President w

as concerned about. Q

uestion

. Did you ever question the propriety of the F

BI's

disseminating that type of inform

ation ? A

nswer. I never questioned it, no. I thought it w

as spurious an

d irrelevan

t ... If they w

ere lookin

g for other alleged

com-

munist efforts to em

barrass King and the P

resident. which is

wh

at the P

residen

t thou

ght, K

enn

edy or Joh

nson

, it wou

ld

just seem

natu

ral that oth

er irrelevant an

d sp

uriou

s infor-

mation w

ould come along w

ith that investigation. Q

uestion

. An

d you

foun

d n

othin

g imp

roper ab

out th

e F

BI's sending that inform

ation along also? A

nswer. U

nnecessary ? Improper at that tim

e, no. Q

uestion

. Do you

recall anyon

e in th

e Wh

ite Hou

se ever q

uestion

ing th

e prop

riety of the F

BI's d

issemin

ating th

is type of m

aterial? A

nsw

er. I thin

k ... th

ere were com

men

ts that ten

ded

to rid

icule th

e FB

I's doin

g this, b

ut n

o.s".

Moyers testified

that h

e had

not su

spected

that th

e FB

I was cov-

ering D

r. Kin

g's a

ctivities w

ith m

icrop

hon

es, alth

ou

gh

he co

n-

' Burke M

arahall testimony, 8/3/76, pp. 46-47.

Bill M

oyers testimon

y, 3/2/76, p. 19, stair sum

mary of B

M M

oyers Inter-

ear, 11/24/75. 'Jen

kin

s (staff sum

mary ), 12/117

6.13- 4. In M

oyers, 8/2/76, p. 17.

152

ceded

, "I su

bseq

uen

tly realized I sh

ould

have assu

med

that. . • . T

he

natu

re of the gen

eral references th

at were b

eing m

ade I realized

later co

uld

on

ly h

ave co

me fro

m th

at k

ind

of k

now

ledge u

nless

there w

as an in

former in

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing's p

resence a good

bit

of the tim

e." "

(4) A

ccordin

g to Nich

olas Katzen

bach

, on N

ovemb

er 25, 1964, the

Wash

ington

Bu

reau C

hief of a n

ational n

ews p

ub

lication told

him

that on

e of his rep

orters had

been

app

roached

by th

e FB

I and

given

an op

portu

nity to listen

to some 'in

teresting"

tapes in

volving D

r.

Kin

g. Katzen

bach

told th

e Com

mittee :

I was sh

ocked

by th

is revelation, an

d felt th

at the P

resi-

dent should be advised imm

ediately. On N

ovember 28, I flew

,

with

Mr. B

urk

e Marsh

all, the retirin

g head

of the C

ivil

Rights D

ivision, to the LB

J Ranch.

On

that occasion

he an

d I in

formed

the P

residen

t of our

conversation

with

the n

ews -ed

itor and

expressed

in very

strong terms our view

that this was shocking conduct and po-

litically extremely d

angerou

s to the P

residen

cy. I told th

e

President m

y view that it should be stopped im

mediately and

that h

e shou

ld p

ersonally con

tact Mr. H

oover. I received th

e

imp

ression th

at Presid

ent Joh

nson

took th

e matter very seri-

ously and that he would do is I recom

mended.

On

the follow

ing M

ond

ay, I was in

formed

by at least on

e

other rep

orter, and

perh

aps tw

o, of similar offers m

ade to

them

the p

rior week

. I spok

e to the B

ureau

official wh

o had

been identified as having made the offer and asked him

about

it. He flatly denied that any such offer had been m

ade or that

the F

BI w

ould

engage in

any su

ch activity. T

hereu

pon

I

asked

at least one of th

e reporters—

perh

aps all of th

em—

whether they w

ould join me in confronting the B

ureau on this

issue. They declined to do so.

I do n

ot kn

ow w

heth

er Presid

ent Joh

nson

discu

ssed th

is

matter w

ith Mr. H

oover. or what, if anything, w

as said. How

-

ever, I w

as q

uite co

nfid

ent th

at th

at p

articu

lar a

ctivity

ceased at that time, and I attributed it to M

r. Johnson's inter-

vention

. From

that tim

e un

til I left the Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t I

never h

eard from

.any p

erson of su

bseq

uen

t similar activity

by the Bureau. and I assum

ed it had ceased. I should add only

this: I b

elieved th

at the tap

es in q

uestion

were n

ot tapes re-

suitin

g from B

ureau

surveillan

ce bu

t tapes acq

uired

from

State lea enforcement authorities, and that such a representa-

tion was m

ade to the reporter at the time."

Katzen

bach

testified th

at Carth

a DeL

oach w

as the B

ureau

official

whom

the reporters had identified as having offered the tapes. Katzen

bach said that he had contacted DeL

oach on his own volition, and that

he d

id n

ot tell DeL

oach th

at he h

ad d

iscussed

the m

atter with

th,

Presid

ent. H

e said th

at wh

en h

e asked

DeL

oach if th

e Bu

reau h

ail

° Moyers. 3

/2/7

6, p

. 17.

° Th

e two n

ewsm

en tu

rned

dow

n th

e Bu

reau

's offer. •

"• N

icholas S

atsenh

aeh testim

ony, 12/5/75. H

earings, V

ol 8, p. 210.

been

offering to p

lay tape record

ings con

cernin

g Dr. K

ing to rep

ort-

ers, DeL

oach "told me rather angrily they w

ere not." 3"

Bu

rke M

arshall, w

hen

qu

estioned

by th

e Com

mittee ab

out th

ese

events, testified

that th

e same tw

o reporters h

ad also in

formed

him

that. Director H

ooverwas offering to play tape recordings of D

r. King.

He testified that he had assum

ed the reporters "were telling the truth.

that these tape recordings existed, and that they were being leaked by

the F

BI."

3" H

e testified th

at he h

ad n

ot susp

ected th

at the F

BI h

ad

produced the tapes itself from m

icrophone coverage, but that he had

assumed the F

BI had acquired the tape recordings from

Southern law

enforcement agencies.

It did not occur to me that the F

BI w

ould go around placing

microp

hon

es in D

r. Kin

g's hotel . . . T

he n

otion th

at they

would plant the m

icrophone, that they had a whole system

of

surveillan

ce of that sort. in

volving illegal en

try and

trespass

and things like that, did not occur to me. I w

ould not. have put

it past th

e local police, b

ut I con

sidered

at the tim

e—excep

t

for Mr. H

oover him

self—th

at the B

ureau

was a tigh

tly con-

trolled, w

ell-run

, efficient, law

abid

ing law

enforcem

ent

agency, th

at it did

n't. d

o thin

gs like th

at, and

therefore, it

didn't occur to me that they had done it."

Marsh

all recalled th

at he an

d K

atzenb

ach h

ad flow

n to P

residen

t

Johnson's ranch in Texas and had told the P

resident that the FB

I was

offering the tape recordings to reporters. Marshall said that the P

resi-

dent was "shocked," and that the "conversation w

as in the context of

it bein

g very imp

ortant an

d a very n

asty piece of b

usin

ess that h

ad

to be stop

ped

." M

arshall d

id n

ot kn

ow, h

owever. w

hat action

the

President subsequently took, if any, and could not rem

ember w

hether

the P

residen

t had

voiced an

inten

tion to tak

e any sp

ecific action."

DeL

oach, w

hen

asked

if he h

ad ever d

iscussed

the con

tents of tap

e

recordin

gs or surveillan

ces of Dr. K

ing w

ith m

emb

ers of the p

ress.

testified : "

I don

't recall any su

ch con

versations."

"9 DeL

oach d

id

state, how

ever, that h

e had

kn

own

abou

t the tap

e recordin

gs of Dr.

King. H

e testified that one such tape recording had been in his office on

one occasion, and that "it was so garbled and so terrible, I m

ean from

the stan

dp

oint of fid

elity, that I told

them

to kn

ock it off an

d tak

e

it back

.""

0 T

he on

ly record of th

is episod

e in th

e FB

I files is a mem

orand

um

by D

eLoach

dated

Decem

ber 1. 1984. statin

g in p

art:

Bill M

oyers. while I w

as at the White H

ouse. today, advised

that word had gotten to the P

resident this afternoon that [the

new

sman

] was tellin

g all over town

. . , that th

e FB

I had

told

him

that M

artin

Lu

ther K

ing w

as [ex

cised]. [T

he

newsm

an] according to Moyers, had stated to several people

° Nich

olas Hatsen

haeh

testimon

y, 11/12/7

5. p

p. 5

7-5

a

°M

arshall testim

ony, 3/3/78, p

. 39. °

Marsh

all testimon

y, 3/3/76, p. 4&

b

larshall testim

ony. 3/3/76, p

. 43. D

eLoach

testimon

y, 11/25/75, p. 156.

" netoach testimon

y, 11/25/76, p. 188.

155

Kin

g p

ub

liclyan

no

un

ced th

at it was tim

e for th

e con

trov

ersy to

end

, and

a meetin

g w

ith D

irector H

oover to

seal a truce. T

he

FB

I's pu

b c criticism

stop

ped

, bu

t the B

ureau

's secret camp

aign

to

discred

it Dr. K

ing co

ntin

ued

. Believ

ing th

at Dr. K

ing's d

ow

nfall

would severely harm

the entire movem

ent for racial equality, several prom

inent civil rights figures met w

ith FB

I officials to voice their con- cern

and

seek assu

rances fro

m th

e FB

I that th

e attacks o

n D

r. Kin

g

would stop.

A. F

irst Steps in

the P

ublic C

ontroversy A

pril–Novem

ber 1964

Although the F

BI had been covertly engaged in a m

assive campaign

to d

iscredit D

r. Kin

g fo

r several m

on

ths, th

e fact that th

e FY

I was

the source of allegations about. comm

unist influence in the civil rights m

ovement did not becom

e public until the release of Director H

oover's off-the-record testim

ony before the House A

ppropriations Com

mittee

in A

pril 1

964. T

he D

irector w

as quoted

in th

e press as h

avin

g testi-

fied that" 'Com

munist influence does exist in the N

egro movem

ent' and can influence 'large m

asses' of people." 1" Dr. K

ing imm

ediately issued a fo

rceful rep

ly:

It is very

un

fortu

nate th

at Mr. J. E

dg

ar Ho

ov

er, in h

is claim

s of alleg

ed co

mm

un

ist infiltratio

n in

the civ

il righ

ts m

ovement, has allow

ed himself to aid and abet the salacious

claims o

f south

ern racists an

d th

e extrem

e right-w

ing

elements.

We ch

allenge all w

ho raise th

e "red" issu

e, wheth

er they

be new

spaper columnists or the head of the F

BI him

self—to

com

e forw

ard an

d p

rovid

e real evid

ence w

hich

contrad

icts th

is stand of the S

CL

C. W

e are confident that this cannot be done.

We affirm

that S

CL

C is u

nalterab

ly o

pposed

to th

e mis-

guided philosophy of comm

unist. It is d

ifficult to

accept th

e wo

rd o

f the F

BI o

n co

mm

u-

nist infiltration in the civil rights movem

ent, when they have

been so c

om

ple

tely

ineffectual in resolving the continued may-

hem and brutality inflicted upon the N

egro in the deep south. It w

ou

ld b

e enco

urag

ing

to u

s if Mr. H

oo

ver an

d th

e FB

I w

ou

ld b

e as dilig

ent in

app

rehen

din

g th

ose resp

on

sible fo

r b

om

bin

g ch

urch

es and

killin

g little ch

ildren

as they

are in

seeking out alleged comm

unist infiltration in the civil rights m

ov

emen

t."

In early May 1964, D

irector Hoover m

ade the following response to a

qu

estion

from

Un

ited P

resss Intern

ation

al con

cernin

g w

heth

er any

New

York T

imes, 4/22/64, p. 30.

`FB

I tranaerietton of Dr. K

ing's statem

ent to p

ress, Mem

orand

um

from W

il-liam

Su

llivan to A

lan B

elmon

t, 4/23/64_ An

other F

BI m

emoran

du

m w

hich

dealt

With

Dr. K

ing's statem

ent In

dicated

the B

ureau

's opin

ion th

at someon

e "h

igh in

th

e Ad

min

istration n

ot kn

own

to us . . . ap

paren

tly agreed with

Dr. K

ing's p

ress release." sunivaree

report ab

out D

r. Kin

g'. statemen

t p

ointed

out th

at "K

ing

qu

oted

the A

G a

ga

inst th

e Director, to th

e effect that it is to b

e expected

that

comm

un

ist will try to In

filtrate civil rights m

ovemen

ts, bu

t they h

ad n

ot suc-

ceeded

in m

akin

g the exp

ected Im

pact"

(Mem

orand

um

from W

illiam S

ullivan

to A

lan B

elmon

t, 4/24/64.)

119-1711 0 - 711.

154

that, "If th

e FB

I will d

o th

is to M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, th

ey

will u

ndoubted

ly d

o it to

anyone fo

r perso

nal reaso

ns."

Moyers stated

the P

residen

t wan

ted to

get th

is word

to u

s so

we w

ould

know

not to

trust [th

e new

sman

]. Moyers also

stated

that th

e Presid

ent felt th

at [the n

ewsm

an] lack

ed in

-tegrity and w

as certainly no lover of the Johnson administra-

tion o

r the F

BI. I to

ld M

oyers th

is was certain

ly o

bvio

us."'

DeL

oach

testified th

at he co

uld

no

t recall the ev

ents su

rrou

nd

itis th

is mem

oran

du

m. B

ill Mo

yers, after rev

iewin

g D

eLo

aches m

emo

-randum

, testified that he recalled nothing about the incident involving th

e new

sman

or ab

ou

t Katzen

bach

's and

Marsh

all's discu

ssion

with

th

e Presid

ent. H

e did

no

t recall ever h

avin

g h

eard th

at the B

ureau

had

offered

to p

lay tap

e record

ings o

f Dr. K

ing to

reporters. o

r ever

having discussed the matter w

ith DeL

oach. He testified. how

ever. this

DeL

oach 's mem

orandum

sounds very plausible. Fin sure the P

resident called me or he

told

me to

tell him

wh

atever [D

eLo

ach's d

ocu

men

t reflects]. Q

ue stion. D

id th

e. Presid

ent tell y

ou th

at he u

ndersto

od

that [the newsm

an] was saying all over tow

n that the Bureau

had been offering tapes? A

nsw

er. I can't rem

ember th

e details o

f that. Y

ou k

now

, I can't tell you the num

ber of times the P

resident was sounding

off at [the newsm

an]." W

hen asked if it would be fair to conclude that the P

resident had com-

plain

ed to

Moyers ab

out th

e new

sman

's revealin

g th

at the B

ureau

h

ad o

ffered to

play

tapes rath

er than

abo

ut th

e fact that th

e Bu

reau

had such tapes and had offered to play them, M

overs replied. "It would

be fair to

conclu

de th

at. I don't recall if th

at was ex

actly th

e way

I lie

Presid

ent said

it." 1"

VT

. TH

E H

OO

VE

R- K

ING

CO

NT

RO

VE

RS

Y B

EC

OM

ES

PC

BL

IC A

ND

A T

RU

cE 1-

CA

LL

ED

: AP

RIL

—D

EC

EM

BE

R 1

Su

mm

ary D

irector Hoover's dislike for D

r. King, w

hich had been known w

ith-in

the B

ureau

since early

1962," 1 becam

e a matter of public record in

Novem

ber 19

64

when D

irector Hoover described D

r. Icing at a meet-

ing w

ith wom

en reporters as the "most notorious liar" in the country.

Dr. K

ing responded that the Director w

as obviously. "faltering" under th

e responsib

ilities of h

is office. T

he F

BI im

med

iately in

tensified

its secret cam

paig

n ag

ainst D

r. Kin

g, o

ffering

to p

lay th

e tapes fro

m

micro

phone su

rveillan

ce of D

r. Kin

g to

reporters an

d to

leak sto

ries concerning him

to the press. The F

BI also sent a tape recording m

ade from

the microphone surveillance to D

r. King, w

ith a warning w

hich D

r. Kin

g an

d h

is close asso

ciates interp

reted as an

invitatio

n ts

suicide. T

he public aspects of the dispute peaked in Decem

ber 1964. shorty before D

r. King w

ent to Eurdpe to receive the N

obel Peace P

rize. 111

Mem

orandum from

Cartha D

eLoach to John M

ohr, 12/1/64. =

Bill M

oyers testimon

y. 3/2/76, p. 8.

▪ M

oyers testimon

y. 3/2/76, p.9.

▪ A

s early as Feb

ruary 19e2 th

e Director h

ad in

formed

the D

omestic In

telli -

gence D

ivision : "

Kin

g is no good

anyw

ay."

Both

You

ng an

d R

alph

Ab

ernath

y, wh

o also heard

the tap

e and

read

the letter, in

terpreted

it as in

vitin

g D

r. Kin

g to

tak

e his o

wn

life."

William

Su

llivan testified

that h

e could

not recall su

ch a letter."

' T

he F

BI p

rovided

the C

omm

ittee with

a copy of a letter w

hich

was

foun

d in

Su

llivan's office files follow

ing h

is disch

arge in 1971."

' Th

e letter stated

in p

art : K

ing. look

into you

r heart. Y

ou k

now

you are a com

plete

fraud

and

a greater liability to all of u

s Negroes. W

hite p

eople

in th

is coun

try have en

ough

fraud

s of their ow

n b

ut I am

sure

they d

on't h

ave one at th

is time th

at is any w

here n

ear your

equ

al. You

are no clergym

an an

d you

kn

ow it. I rep

eat that

you are a colossal frau

d an

d an

evil, vicious on

e at that. • • .

Kin

g. like all frau

ds you

r end

is app

roachin

g. You

could

h

av

e been

ou

r grea

test lead

er.... Bu

t yo

u a

re do

ne. Y

ou

r "

hon

orary" d

egrees. your N

obel P

rize (wh

at a grim farce)

and

other aw

ards w

ill not save you

. Kin

g. I repeat you

are d

on

e....

Th

e Am

erican p

ub

lic.. the ch

urch

organization

s that h

ave b

een h

elpin

g—P

rotestants. C

atholics an

d Jew

s will k

now

you

for w

hat y

ou

are—

an

evil b

east. S

o w

ill oth

ers wh

o h

ave

back

ed you

. You

are don

e. K

ing. th

ere is only on

e thin

g left for you to d

o. You

kn

ow

wh

at it is. You

have ju

st. 34 days in

wh

ich to d

o (this exact

nu

mb

er has b

een selected

for a specific reason

. it has d

efinite

practical sign

ificance). Y

ou are d

one. T

here is b

ut on

e way

out for you

. You

better tak

e it before you

r filthy frau

du

lent

self is bared

to the n

ation.

An

drew

Yo

un

g sta

ted th

at th

e last p

ara

gra

ph

of th

is letter wa

s id

entical w

ith th

e letter that h

ad b

een sen

t to the S

CL

C h

eadq

uarters,

bu

t that th

e other p

ortions of th

e letter app

eared to b

e an earlier d

raft of th

e letter that h

e had

seen."

3 Su

llivan testified

that h

e did

not re-

call ever havin

g seen th

e docu

men

t. althou

gh it w

as "p

ossible"

that h

e h

ad som

ethin

g to do w

ith it an

d sim

ply can

not rem

emb

er.' Su

llivan

also testified th

at he cou

ld n

ot recall any con

versations at th

e FB

I con-

cernin

g the p

ossibility of D

r. Kin

g's comm

itting su

icide. A

fter read-

ing th

e last paragrap

h of th

e letter. he con

ceded

that it cou

ld b

e inter-

preted

as an in

vitation to su

icide, alth

ough

so far as Su

llivan k

new

,

"Y

ou

ng, 2

/19/7

6, p

. 8; sta

ff sum

mary

of R

alp

h A

bern

ath

y in

terview

, 11/1

9/

75

.p. 3

. S

ulliran

. 11/1/75, p. 112.

"T

he B

urea

u sa

id it co

uld

not fin

d a

cop

y in

an

y o

f its oth

er files. "

'Th

e letter giv

en to

the C

om

mittee b

y th

e FB

I wa

s sing

le spa

ced; A

nd

rew

Yo

un

g testified

tha

t Dr. K

ing

ha

d receiv

ed "

a d

ou

ble sp

aced

letter an

d It w

as

ab

ou

t a p

age a

nd

a h

alf. It w

as ty

ped

in a

very

old

typ

ewriter, v

ery b

ad

typ

ing."

H

e was certa

in, h

ow

ever th

at th

e last p

ara

gra

ph

of th

e two letters w

ere nea

rly

iden

tical. T

he o

ne sen

t to D

r. Kin

g "

was sim

plified

an

d h

as sh

orter, sim

pler

senten

ces, bu

t essentia

lly sa

id th

e sam

e thin

g, esp

ecially

the p

art a

bou

t 'there's

on

ly o

ne th

ing

left fo

r y

ou

to d

o. . .

I remem

ber th

at v

ivid

ly."

(You

ng.

2/1

9/7

6, p

. 38)

"S

ulliv

an

. 11

/1/7

5, p

. 11

2. S

ulliv

an

sug

gested

tha

t the letter m

igh

t ha

ve

been

"p

lanted

" in

his files.

the F

BI's g

oal w

as sim

ply

to co

nvin

ce Dr. K

ing to

resign

from

the

SC

LC

, not to k

ill him

self."'

Wh

en ask

ed b

y the ('om

inittee w

hat h

ad u

ltimately h

app

ened

to th

e letter received b

y Reveren

d K

ing, A

nd

rew Y

oun

g testified :

I'm n

ot really sure ab

out th

is now

, bu

t I thin

k w

e discu

ssed

som

ethin

g a

bo

ut a

letter w

ith

DeL

oach—

I'm n

ot certain

wh

ether it w

as Delm

ach or th

e local FB

I agents—

and

they

said th

ey wou

ld b

e glad to look

into it. T

hey said

, wh

enever

we got an

y of these k

ind

of threaten

ing letters, to sen

d th

em

to them

, and

they w

ould

be glad

to investigate. T

hat letter

may h

ave been

sent b

ack to D

eLoach

.333

C. A

ttempts b

y the F

BI to

"L

eak"

to R

eporters T

ape R

ecord

ings

Em

barrassing to D

r. Ii ing

After D

irector Hoover d

enou

nced

Dr. K

ing as a "

notoriou

s liar" in

m

id-N

ovemb

er, the F

BI ap

paren

tly mad

e several attemp

ts to "leak

"

tape record

ings con

cernin

g Dr. K

ing to n

ewsm

en. O

ne offer in

volving

the B

ureau

Ch

ief of a nation

al new

s pu

blication

has b

een d

iscussed

at len

gth in

the p

recedin

g chap

ter." D

avid K

raslow, an

other rep

orter, h

as told a C

omm

ittee staff mem

ber, th

at one of h

is "b

etter sources at

1 th

e Bu

reau"

offered h

im a tran

script of a tap

e recordin

g abou

t Dr.

1 K

ing. K

raslow said

that h

is source read

him

a portion

of the tran

script

on th

e ph

one, an

d claim

ed th

at it came from

a "b

ug"

operated

by a

Sou

thern

police a

gen

cy. K

raslo

w sa

id th

at h

e declin

ed th

e offer."

It is n

ot kn

own

how

man

y other rep

orters were ap

proach

ed b

y the

FB

I du

ring th

at period

; Nich

olas Katzen

bach

testified th

at at least on

e other rep

orter lied in

formed

him

of a similar B

ureau

offer," an

d

other w

itnesses, su

ch as Jam

es Farm

er, have m

ention

ed ad

dition

al "

leaks"

from th

e Bu

reau.'"

"1 O

ne F

BI w

itness testified

tha

t he in

terpreted

the "

34

da

ys"

to refer to

C

hristm

as, and

that th

e FB

I ha

d a

pp

aren

tly h

op

ed D

r. Kin

g w

ou

ld resig

n fo

r C

hristm

as. (J

am

es Ad

am

s testimon

y. 1

1/1

9/7

5, H

earin

gs. V

ol. 6

. pp

. 66-6

S.

Wh

en ask

ed ab

out th

is interp

retation. A

nd

rew Y

oun

g testified :

"W

e did

n't th

ink

of th

at. W

e tho

ug

ht th

at h

e wa

s talk

ing

ab

ou

t com

mittin

g

suicid

e, an

d w

e tied th

e da

te to th

e No

ble P

rise.... Th

at is th

e wa

y w

e dis-

cussed

It; to

com

mit su

icide, o

r tha

t he w

as g

oin

g to

be p

ub

licly h

um

iliated

Ju

st at th

e mom

ent o

f ills receipt o

f the N

ob

le Prize."

(An

drew

You

ng, 2

/19/7

6,

p. ST

) C

arl R

ow

an

stated

du

ring

a sta

ff Interv

iew th

at h

e ha

d b

een in

form

ed b

y

a relia

ble so

urce, w

ho

m b

e declin

ed to

Iden

tify, th

at th

e decisio

n to

ma

il the

tap

e record

ing a

nd

letter had

been

mad

e du

ring a

meetin

g a

t wh

ich D

irector

Hoover w

as p

resent. R

ow

an

's sou

rce said

that th

e Directo

r was

"livid

" over

Dr. K

ing

's receipt o

f the N

ob

el Pea

ce Prize, a

nd

tha

t meth

od

s of p

reven

ting

Dr.

Kin

g fro

m receiv

ing th

e Prize w

ere discu

ssed a

t the m

eeting. A

ccord

ing to

the

sou

rce, there w

as a

discu

ssion

at th

e meetin

g co

ncern

ing a

llegatio

ns th

at D

r.

Kin

g b

ad

tried to

com

mit su

icide w

hen

he w

as y

ou

ng su

ch a

llegatio

ns h

ad

ap

pea

red In

the n

ews m

edia

—e.g

. Tim

e 1/3

/64, p

. 141, a

nd

that h

e still had

su

icidal ten

den

cies. Th

e sou

rce told

Row

an

that th

e particip

an

ts in th

e meetin

g

had

conclu

ded

that if th

e tape w

ere mailed

. Dr. K

ing m

ight b

e so distressed

that

he w

ou

ld co

mm

it suicid

e. (Sta

ff sum

ma

ry o

f Ca

rl Ro

wa

n in

terview

, 9/2

9/7

5.

p. 2.) "

Yo

un

g. 2

/19

/76

, p. 3

9. Y

ou

ng's co

nferen

ce with

DeL

oa

ch is d

iscussed

p. 1

09

. 's

ee p

. 152 et seq.

Staff su

mm

ary. David

Kraslow

interview

. n"

Katzen

bacii. 1

1/1

2/7

5. p

. 91. K

atzen

bach

was u

nab

le to reca

ll the Id

entity

of th

e reporter.

James F

armer S

taff Interview

. 11/13/75, p. 5.

176

In October 1966, the D

omestic Intelligence D

ivision recomm

ended that an article "indicting JU

T* for his failure to take a stand on the

[black power] issue and at the sam

e time exposing the degree of com

-m

unist influence on him" be given to a new

spaper contact "friendly" to th

e Bu

reau, "

such

as . . [the] E

ditor of U

.S. N

ews an

d W

orld

Report."

It is felt that the public should again be reminded of this com

-m

unist influence on King, and the current controversy am

ong civil rights leaders m

akes this timely to do $0.412

Attached to the m

emorandum

was a proposed article w

hich noted th

at the efforts of several civil righ

ts leaders to d

enou

nce "

Black

P

ower" had been "underm

ined by one man in the civil rights m

ove-m

ent who holds in his hands the pow

er to silence the rabble rousers and to give the m

ovement renew

ed mom

entum." T

he article attributed Dr.

Kin

g's equ

ivocation to h

is advisers, w

ho w

ere alleged to h

ave had

affiliations w

ith the Com

munist P

arty or organizations associated with

the Party. D

r. King's decision to oppose the V

ietnamese w

ar was also

attributed to these advisers."' O

ne project involving the mass m

edia which the F

BI felt had been

particularly successful was its attem

pt to prevent Dr. K

ing from ob-

taining contributions from Jam

es Hoffa of the T

eamsters U

nion. In O

ctober 1966, the FB

I discovered that Dr. K

ing planned to meet w

ith H

offa, bu

t that D

r. Kin

g had wanted to avoid publicity because, in

the words of the B

ureau : D

isclosure of King's transpareet attem

pt to blackmail H

offa w

ith the large Negro m

embership of H

offea union, to solve the Southern C

hristian Leadership C

onference's financial problem

s, would cause an uproar am

ong leaders of organiza-tion

s havin

g large Negro m

emb

ership

s; poin

ting ou

t their

own vulnerability to such a squeeze by any unscrupulous civil

rights leader. This potential collusion betw

een large labor unions and the civil rights m

ovement could also react to the

detriment of the N

egro in that through large financial dona-tions, an unscrupulous labor leader could subvert the legiti-_m

ate aims an d objectives of the civil rights m

ovement to his

own purposes.'"

• T

he Crim

e Records D

ivision prepared an article for public release raisin

g the q

uestion

of "w

ho really gets sq

ueezed

wh

en th

ese two

pyth

ons get togeth

er."'"

Th

e Dom

estic Intelligen

ce Division

also recom

mended :

a Bureau official be designated now

to alert friendly news

media of the m

eeting once the meeting date is learned so that

"M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan, 10/27/66.

Director tioarer's "

O.K

." ap

pears at th

e bottom

of the m

emoran

du

m. T

here

N a

lso a

note sta

ting, "

U.S

. New

s an

d W

orld

Rep

ort w

ill not u

se article o

f this

ruitu

te." It is n

ot k

now

n w

heth

er the a

rticle was a

ctually

distrib

uted

. '114 M

emoran

du

m from

Fred

erick B

aum

gardn

er to William

Su

llivan. 10/28/66.

" M

emora

nd

um

from

Ch

arles B

renn

an

to F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner, W

illiam

S

ullivan

, attached

to Bau

mgard

ner m

emoran

du

m, 10/28/611

177

arrangements can be m

ade for appropriate press coverage of the planned m

eeting to expose and disrupt

Director H

oover's "O.K

. - appeida below

that recomm

endation. O

n discovering that the meeting W

as about to occur, the Crim

e R

ecords Division notified a reporter for the N

ew Y

ork Daily N

ews

and a national columnist. "N

ews photographers and w

ire services are also being alerted to give coverage. . . ' 4"

A

Crim

e Records D

ivision mem

orandum on the follow

ing day re-ported that "in view

of publicity in the New

York D

aily New

s regard-ing this proposed m

eeting, King and his aides had decided that it w

ould be unw

ise to meet w

ith Hoffa." T

he Bureau then notified reporters that

Dr. K

ing was com

ing to Washington, D

.C. T

he reporters "cornered" D

r. King as he cam

e off the plane and quizzed him about the proposed

meeting. T

he Crim

e Records D

ivision reported these events to the D

irector desith the assessment that "our counterintelligence aim

to thw

art King from

receiving money. from

the Team

sters has been quite successful to date." D

irector Hoover initialed the m

emorandum

re-porting this new

s, "Excellent." '"

In March 1967 D

irector Hoover approved a recom

mendation by th

e D

omestic Intelligence D

ivision to furnish' "friendly" reporters ques-tion

s to ask D

r. Kin

g. Th

e Intelligen

ce Division

believed

that D

r. K

ing w

ould be particularly "vulnerable" to questions concerning his opposition to the w

ar in Vietnam

, and recOm

mended that a reporter

be selected to interne* Dr..K

ing "ostensibly to question King about

his n

ew b

ook," b

ut w

ith th

e objective of b

ringin

g out th

e foreign-

policy aspects of Dr. K

ing'sphiloeophy. T

his could then be linked to show that K

ing's current policies rem

arkably parallel comm

unist efforts. This w

ould cause ex-trem

e embarrassm

ent to King.'"

In October 1967 the D

omestic Intelligence D

ivision recomm

ended that an editorial in a N

egro magazine, w

hich criticized Dr. K

ing for his stance on the V

ietnam w

ar, be given to "friendly news sources."

The purpose of the dissem

ination was to "publicize K

ing as a traitor to his country and his race" and to "reduce his incom

e" from a series of

show

s given b

y Harry B

elafonte to earn

fun

ds for th

e SC

LC

. Th

e recom

mendation w

as approved by

the

Director an

d is m

arked

"H

andled 10/28/67." "" 4. A

ttempts to D

iscredit Dr. K

Mg 'W

ith M

eijer Political an

d F

inancial Leaders

In March 1965 the F

BI learned that a "M

artin Luther K

ing Day"

was being planned in a m

ajor city. The D

omesf.ic Intelligence D

ivision recom

mended that the Special A

gent in . Charge "personally m

eet w

ith the Governor and brief him

concerning King" in order to "in-

duce him to m

inimize the affair and especially the aw

ard for King."

". Mem

orand

um

from F

rederick

Bau

mgard

ner to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 11/11/438. "

Mem

orand

um

from R

obert W

ick to C

iartha D

eLoach

, 11/8A69.

Mem

orand

um

from R

obert W

ick to C

arlin. D

eLeach

, 11/9/88. "

Mem

orand

um

from C

harier' B

renn

an to W

illiam S

ullivan

, 318/87. Th

e pro-

posal w

as given D

irector Hoover's -tax" a

nd

a h

an

tivid

iten n

ote in

the m

arg

in

Initialed

by th

e Ch

ief at the C

rime R

ecords D

ivision,stab

ea, "h

and

led."

M

emoran

du

m from

George M

oore to William

lialliviid, 10/18/67.

180

Th

e pu

rpose of th

is new

coun

terintelligen

ce end

eavor is to exp

ose, disru

pt, m

isdirect, d

iscredit, or oth

erwise n

eutralize

the activities of black-nationalist, hate-type organizations and grou

pin

gs, their lead

ership

, spok

esmen

, mem

bersh

ip an

d

sup

porters, an

d to cou

nter th

eir prop

ensity for violen

ce and civil disorder.

Intensified attention under this program should be afforded

to the activities of su

ch grou

ps as th

e Stu

den

t Non

violent

Coord

inatin

g Com

mittee,

Sou

thern

Ch

ristian L

eadership

Con

ference, R

evolution

ary Action

Movem

ent, th

e Deacon

s for D

efense and Justice, Congress of R

acial Equality, and the

Nation

of Islam. [E

mp

hasis ad

ded

.] "u

Th

e Dom

estic Intelligen

ce Division

expan

ded

the B

lack N

ational-

ist-Hate G

roup

s CO

INT

EL

PR

O in

Feb

ruary 1968. T

he in

struction

s to the field offices listed as a "goal":

Preven

t the rise of a "

messiah

- wh

o could

un

ify and

elec-trify th

e militan

t black

nation

alist movem

ent. M

alcolm X

m

ight h

ave been

such

a "m

essiah;"

he is th

e martyr of th

e m

ovemen

t today. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, Stok

ely Carm

ichael,

and

Elijah

Mu

ham

med

all aspire to th

is position

. Elijah

M

uh

amm

ed is less of a th

reat becau

se of his age. K

ing cou

ld

be a real con

tend

er for this p

osition sh

ould

he ab

and

on h

is su

pp

osed "

obed

ience"

to "w

hite, lib

eral doctrin

es" (n

onvio-

lence) an

d em

brace b

lack n

ationalism

. . . 434

Th

e SC

LC

was retain

ed as a "p

rimary target" of th

e CO

INT

EL

PR

O,

and

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing's n

ame w

as add

ed to th

e list of person

s wh

o w

ere targets. T

he su

pervisor of th

e Black

Nation

alist CO

INT

EL

PR

O, told

the

Com

mittee th

at he cou

ld recall n

o coun

terintelligen

ce activities di-

rected again

st the S

CL

C, b

ut th

at several were tak

en again

st Dr.

Kin

g."'

C. T

he F

BI's E

fforts to Discredit D

r. Kin

g Du

ring H

is Last M

onth

s

Betw

een 1965 and early 1967, the files indicate that Bureau concern

about Dr. K

ing had decreased. This concern w

as revived by Dr. K

ing's A

pril 4, 1967. sp

eech at N

ew Y

ork's R

iverside C

hu

rch, in

wh

ich lie

opp

osed th

e Ad

min

istration's p

osition in

Vietn

am. T

he F

BI in

ter-p

reted th

is position

as proof h

e "h

as been

influ

enced

by com

mu

nist

advisers:: an

d n

oted th

at Kin

g's remark

s were "

a direct p

arallel of th

e comm

un

ist position

on V

ietnam

."'"

A w

eek after th

e speech

the

FB

I sent th

e Wh

ite Hou

se and

the Ju

stice Dep

artmen

t a revised ed

i-tion of the printed K

ing monograph.

In early D

ecemb

er 1967 Dr. K

ing an

nou

nced

plan

s to hold

dem

on-

strations in

major A

merican

cities, inclu

din

g Wash

ington

, D.C

., to sp

ur C

ongress in

to enactin

g civil rights legislation

. Th

e FB

I followed

closely d

evelopm

ents in

Dr. K

ing's "

Wash

ington

Sp

ring P

roject" for-

ward

ing to th

e Wh

ite Hou

se inform

ation con

cernin

g Ad

viser A's

"M

emora

nd

um

from

Directo

r. FB

I to S

pecia

l Agen

ts in C

harg

e, 8/2

5/6

7.

'Mem

ora

nd

um

from

Directo

r. FB

I to S

pecia

l Agen

ts In C

harg

e, 3/4

/68

" T

estimon

y, 10/17/76, p. 14.

"M

emo

ran

du

m fro

m C

ha

rles Bren

na

n to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 4/1

0/6

7.

is'

fund-raising activities and Dr. K

ing's plans to tape a lecture series for a foreign

television system

, allegedly to raise fu

nd

s for the p

roject.'"

In F

ebru

ary 1968 the F

BI again

revised th

e Kin

g mon

ograph

and

distributed it to certain officials in the E

xecutive Branch. T

he Dom

estic Intelligence D

ivision mem

orandum recom

mending the new

monograph

stated th

at its dissem

ination

"p

rior to Kin

g's 'Wash

ington

Sp

ring

Project' sh

ould

serve again to rem

ind

top-level officials in

Govern

-m

ent of th

e wh

olly disrep

utab

le character of K

ing."

'"

In early M

arch, th

e Bu

reau b

roaden

ed its B

lack N

ationalist-H

ate G

roup

s CO

INT

EL

PR

O exp

licitly to inclu

de D

r. Kin

g."' T

oward

the

end

of the m

onth

, the F

BI b

egan to d

issemin

ate inform

ation to th

e p

ress "d

esigned

to curtail su

ccess of Martin

Lu

ther K

ing's fu

nd

raisin

g camp

aign for th

e Wash

ington

Sp

ring P

roject." T

he first of

man

y plan

s inclu

ded

circulatin

g a story

that King does not need contributions from

the 70,000 people he solicited. Since the churches have offered support, no m

ore m

oney is needed and any contributed would only be used by

Kin

g for other p

urp

oses. Th

is item w

ould

need

nation

-wid

e circulation in order to reach all the potential contributors and cu

rtail their d

onation

s.'"

On

March

25, the B

ureau

app

roved a p

lan to m

ail an an

onym

ous

letter to a civil rights lead

er in S

elma, A

labam

a, wh

o was "

miffed

"

with D

r. King, and a copy of that letter to a Selm

a newspaper. hoping

that the newspaper m

ight interview the leader about its contents. T

he B

ureau

describ

ed th

e pu

rpose of th

e letter as calling

to the attention of [the civil rights leader] that King is m

erely u

sing th

e Negroes of th

e Selm

a area for his ow

n p

ersonal

aggrand

izemen

t ; that h

e is not gen

uin

ely interested

in th

eir w

elfare, bu

t only in

their d

onation

s; that in

all prob

ability

the in

divid

uals goin

g to Wash

ington

for the S

prin

g Project

will b

e left strand

ed w

ithou

t suitab

le hou

sing or food

. Th

e letter sh

ould

also play u

p th

e possib

ility of violence."

'

Th

ere is no in

dication

in F

BI files th

at the letter w

as mailed

. D

urin

g the latter p

art of March

, Dr. K

ing w

ent to M

emp

his, T

en-

nessee, where a strike by Sanitation W

orkers had erupted into violent riots.

A M

arch 28, 1968, D

omestic In

telligence D

ivision m

emoran

du

m

stated: A

sanitation strike has been going on in Mem

phis for some

time. M

artin L

uth

er Kin

g, Jr., today led

a march

comp

osed

of 5,000 to 6,000 people through the streets of Mem

phis. King

was in an autom

obile preceding the marchers. A

s the march

developed, acts of violence and vandalism broke out including

the breaking of window

s in stores and some looting.

"?

Jem

ora

ntiu

m fro

m G

eorg

e Moore to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 12/1

8/6

7; m

emo.

rand

om from

Director, F

BI to L

BG

AT

, 12/21/67. "

' Mem

ora

nd

um

from

Geo

rge M

oore to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 2/2

9/6

8.

" S

ee discu

ssion, su

pra. p

„ 180. M

emora

nd

um

from

Geo

rge M

oore to

Willia

m S

ulliv

an

, 3/2

6/6

8

'Mem

ora

nd

um

from

S

AC

, Mob

ile to D

irector, F

BI, 3

/25/6

8; m

emora

nd

um

fro

m D

irector, F

ill to S

AC

, Mob

ile, 4/2

/68.

182

This d

early d

emonstrates th

at acts of so-called nonviolence advocated by K

ing cannot be controlled. The sam

e thing could happen in his planned m

assive civil disobedience for Washing-

ton in

April.

AC

TIO

N

Attach

ed is a b

lind

mem

oran

du

m p

oin

ting

ou

t the ab

ov

e, w

hich

if yo

u ap

pro

ve, sh

ou

ld b

e mad

e availab

le by

Crim

e R

ecords Division to cooperative new

s media sources.

The m

emorandum

carried Director H

oover's "O.K

." and the notation, "h

and

led o

n 3

38

/68

. -4"

On M

arch 29,1968, the Dom

estic Intelligence Division recom

mended

that th

e follo

win

g article b

e furn

ished

to a co

operativ

e new

s source:

Martin

Lu

ther K

ing

, du

ring

the san

itation

wo

rkers' strik

e in M

emphis, T

ennessee, has urged Negroes to boycott dow

n-tow

n white m

erchants to achieve Negro dem

ands. On 3/29/68

King led a m

arch for the sanitation workers. L

ike Judas lead-ing lam

bs to slaughter King led the m

archers to violence, and w

hen the violence broke out, King disappeared.

The fine H

otel Lorraine in M

emphis is ow

ned and patron-ized

exclu

sively

by N

egro

es bu

t Kin

g d

idn

't go

there fo

r his

hasty

exit. In

stead K

ing d

ecided

the p

lush

Holid

ay In

n

Motel, w

hite owned, operated and alm

ost exclusively patron-ized

, was th

e place to

"cool it." T

here w

ill be n

o b

oyco

tt of

white m

erchan

ts for K

ing, o

nly

for h

is follo

wers." 6

On

Ap

ril 4, D

r. Kin

g retu

rned

to M

emp

his. T

his tim

e he re.g

istered

at the L

orrain

e Ho

tel. We h

ave d

iscov

ered n

o ev

iden

ce that th

e FB

I w

as respo

nsib

le for D

r. Kin

g's m

ov

e to th

e Lo

rraine H

otel."'

**

Mem

ora

nd

um

from

Geo

rge M

oo

re to W

illiam

Su

lliva

n, 3

/28

/88

. An

article

ab

ou

t vio

lence in

the sa

nita

tion

strike, p

ub

lished

in th

e Mem

ph

is Com

mercia

l C

larion on

March

29,1988, echoed

the w

ordin

g of the F

BI m

emoran

du

m, alth

ough

th

ere Is no

pro

of th

at th

e FB

I wa

s respo

nsib

le for th

e article, T

he a

rticle stated

: "

Yesterd

ay's march

, ostensib

ly a protest on

beh

alf of the city's strik

ing san

ita-tio

n w

ork

ers, wa

s gen

erally

con

sidered

to b

e a 'd

ress rehea

rsal' b

y D

r. Kin

g fo

r h

is pla

nn

ed m

arch

on

Wash

ingto

n A

pril 2

2."

(Mem

ph

is Com

mercia

l Cla

rion

, 3

/29

/88

.) M

emoran

du

m from

George M

oore to William

Su

llivan, 3/29/88.

Dr. K

ing

's asso

ciates a

nd

the F

BI b

oth

den

y th

at th

is last effo

rt to d

iscredit

Dr. K

ing

influ

enced

his d

ecision

to m

ov

e to th

e Lo

rrain

e Ho

tel. Dr. R

alp

h A

ber-

nath

y, w

ho w

as w

ith D

r. Kin

g d

urin

g h

is last d

ays, to

ld th

e Com

mittee th

at h

e h

ad n

ot been

aware of an

y new

spap

er articles criticizing D

r. Kin

g fo

r stayin

g a

t th

e Holid

ay In

n d

urin

g h

is visit th

e prev

iou

s week

. He w

as certa

in th

at th

e Lor-

rain

e had

not b

een ch

osen

beca

use o

f an

y a

rticles that m

igh

t have a

pp

eared

an

d

said

tha

t Dr. K

ing

alw

ay

s stay

ed a

t the L

orra

ine w

hen

he v

isited \iem

ph

is. with

th

e excep

tion

of the prior v

isit. In th

at in

stan

ce, Dr. K

ing

ha

d b

een b

rou

gh

t to

the H

oliday In

n b

y pollee follow

ing a riot d

urin

g the san

itation strik

e. (Staff su

m-

mary of R

alph

Ab

ernath

y interview

, 11/19/75, p. 2.)

A h

an

dw

ritten note on th

e FB

I mem

orand

um

criUcitin

g Dr. K

ing for stayin

g at

the H

olid

ay

Inn

states: "

ha

nd

led, 4

-3-8

8."

Th

e FB

I qu

estion

ed th

e ag

ent

wh

o wrote "

han

dled

" on

the m

emoran

du

m an

d in

formed

the C

omm

ittee that b

e d

id n

ot recall the m

emoran

du

m, an

d d

id n

ot kn

ow w

heth

er "h

and

led"

Ind

icated

that h

e had

dissem

inated

the article or sim

ply cleared

the m

emoran

du

m th

rough

th

e Crim

e Record

s Division

of the F

BI.

Acco

rdin

g to

the F

BI. D

r. Kin

g ch

ecked

into

the L

orra

ine H

otel a

t 10

:30

s-in

on

Ap

ril 3. T

he F

BI h

as co

nclu

ded

tha

t "th

e no

tatio

n in

dica

ting

tha

t the p

ro.

po

sed fu

rnish

ing

of Inform

ation C

O n

ews m

edia

wa

s 'ha

nd

led' o

n A

pril 3

, 198'. w

ou

ld, o

f coarse, p

reclud

e an

y su

ch in

form

atio

n fro

m a

pp

earin

g in

the p

ress prior to K

ing's ch

eckin

g into th

e Hotel L

orraine. . . ."

183

D. A

ttempts to D

iscredit Dr. K

ing's R

eputation

After H

is Death

The F

BI's attem

pts to

discred

it Dr. K

ing d

id n

ot en

d w

ith h

is d

eath. In

March

19

69

the B

ureau

was in

form

ed th

at Co

ng

ress was

con

siderin

g d

eclaring

Dr. K

ing

's birth

day

a natio

nal h

olid

ay, an

d

that mem

bers of the House C

omm

ittee on Internal Security m

ight be co

ntactin

g th

e Bu

reau fo

r a briefin

g ab

ou

t I)r. Kin

g. T

he C

rime

Records D

ivision recomm

ended briefing the Congressm

en because they w

ere "in a p

ositio

n to

keep

the b

ill from

bein

g rep

orted

ou

t of C

om

-m

ittee" if "they realize King w

as a scoundrel." DeL

oach noted : "This

is a delicate m

atter—but can

be h

andled

very

cautio

usly

." Directo

r H

oover wrote, "I agree. It m

ust be handled very cautiou

sly." "

4• In

Ap

ril 19

69

FB

I Head

qu

arters received

a recom

men

datio

n fo

r a counterintelligence program

from the A

tlanta Field O

ffice. The nature

of th

e pro

po

sed p

rog

ram h

as no

t been

revealed

to th

e Co

mm

ittee. A

mem

oran

du

m co

ncern

ing

the p

lan w

hich

the B

ureau

has g

iven

to

the C

om

mittee, h

ow

ever. n

otes th

at the p

lan m

igh

t. be u

sed -in

the event the Bureau is inclined to entertain counterintelligence action

again

st Co

retta Sco

tt Kin

g an

d/o

r the co

ntin

uo

us p

rojectio

n o

f the

public im

age o

f Martin

Luth

er Kin

g...." "" T

he D

irector in

form

ed

the Atlanta office that "the B

ureau does not desire counterintelligence actio

n ag

ainst C

oretta K

ing o

f the n

ature y

ou su

ggest at th

is time."'

CO

NC

LU

SION

Alth

ough it is im

possib

le to g

auge th

e full ex

tent to

which

the

FB

I's discred

iting

pro

gram

s affected th

e civil rig

hts m

ov

emen

t, the

fact that th

ere was im

pact is u

nq

uestio

nab

le. R

um

ors circu

lated b

y th

e FB

I had

a pro

fou

nd

imp

act on

the

SC

LC

's ability

to raise fu

nd

s. Acco

rdin

g to

Co

ng

ressman

An

drew

Y

ou

ng

, a perso

nal frien

d an

d asso

ciate of D

r. Kin

g, th

e FB

I's effort

against Dr. K

ing and the SC

LC

"chilled contributions. There w

ere di-rect attem

pts at some of our larger contributors w

ho told us that they had been told by agents that M

artin had a Sw

iss bank account, or that M

artin had confiscated some of the m

onies from the M

arch on Wash-

ington for his personal use. None of that w

as true.- "'Harry

Wach

tel, one of D

r. King's legal counsels w

ho handled many of the financial and

fun

d raisin

g activ

ities of th

e SC

LC

, emp

hasized

that th

e SC

LC

was

alway

s in n

eed o

f fun

ds. "G

etting

a gran

t or g

etting

a con

tribu

tion

is a v

ery frag

ile thin

g. A

gran

t delay

ed h

as a very

seriou

s imp

act on

an

org

anizatio

n w

hoee fm

ancial co

nditio

n w

as pretty

rough."'

Wachtel testified that the S

CL

C continually had to overcom

e rumors

of poor financial managem

ent and comm

unist. connections. T

he m

aterial . . . stayed

in th

e po

litical blo

od

stream all th

e w

ay through to the time of D

r. King's death, and even after.

In o

ur effo

rts to b

uild

a Kin

g C

enter, it w

as around. It w

as like a contam

ination."'

"s" M

emoran

du

m from

Milton

Jones to T

hom

as Bish

op, 3/18/69. [E

mp

hasis in

origin

al.] "

" M

emo

ran

du

m fro

m S

AC

, Atla

nta

to D

irector. F

BI, 4

/3/8

9.

"M

emora

nd

um

from

Directo

r, FB

I to S

AC

. Atlanta. 4

/14/8

9.

"' Y

ou

ng

, 2/1

9/7

8, p

p. 2

5-2

8.

"*. W

achtel, 2/27/78, p

p. 31-32.

Wach

tel, 2/27/78, p. 49.