'Politically... they had to do it!' RFK Jr DEFENDS his dad and JFK's spying on and wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr during the civil rights movement - a day before the US celebrates MLK Day

Daily Mail ^ | 1/14/24 | Alex Hammer

[Libloather]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has defended his family's role in the secret government surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr.

Kennedy's comments came on the eve of the MLK Jr holiday, on a campaign stop in Atlanta.

He defended his father Robert F Kennedy and JFK for permitting the eavesdropping - calling it a necessary step amid the political tensions of the era.

The FBI began wiretapping King's home in Atlanta on November 8, 1963 - with then-AG Robert Kennedy's written approval. It remained in place until April of 1965, while another in his office stayed until June of 1966.

Some contended the probe's premise was to prove that King was a communist threat, but unsealed documents revealed it was the March on Washington a few months earlier that ruffled the Kennedy's Administration's feathers.

The 260000- strong display - and King's accompanying 'I have a dream' speech - caused the FBI to brand the civil rights leader as 'demagogic', and 'the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation'. They went on to bill the probe an in-depth look into King's communist links, before simply spying on him instead.

Speaking to Politico, the longshot presidential candidate argued that his dad and uncle permitted the eavesdropping due to the early '60s' political climate - and thus should be looked at with some leniency.

'They were betting not only the civil rights movement but their own careers,' said Kennedy, 69.

'They knew that Hoover was out to ruin King,' he continued, referring to then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who, after JFK's death a few weeks after the wiretap was carried out, started directly providing Lyndon B. Johnson the information gleaned.

'There was good reason for them doing that at the time,' he said...

[MinorityRepublican]

Randolph Jefferson

There's no way that we'll know if it was Thomas. Only that it was one of the Jeffersons. Unless we're able to discover more evidence somehow. But it isn't too far-fetched that Thomas did it himself. Most people are flawed humans, after all.

[Reily]

Agree!

[MinorityRepublican]

The FBI needs to justify its existence and growth—and when they don’t have real national security threats fake ones work just as well.

Back then it was the Civil Rights Movement. Today it's MAGA Republicans.

[cowboyusa]

Read Fredrick Douglas’s defence of and praise of the Decleration and Constitution.

[Fester Chugabrew]

I see you are well-read. Who do you believe to be the most even-handed historians these days?

[cgbg]

Thanks for the kind words.

I am not sure that even-handed historians really exist—everybody, even folks I respect, seem to have an agenda or multiple agendas.

Probably the best book on the FBI during that period imho:

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Confidential-Secret-Edgar-Hoover/dp/0399138005

[Fester Chugabrew]

Somewhere in my family archives is a letter from J. Edgar Hoover to my Dad. It was concerning the increasing dangers of communist infiltration.