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The FBI and Martin Luther King
Atlantic, The ^ | Jul 1 2002, 12:00 PM ET | David J. Garrow

Posted on 01/19/2015 1:23:46 PM PST by WhiskeyX

Martin Luther King was never himself a Communist—far from it. But the FBI's wiretapping of King was precipitated by his association with Stanley Levison, a man with reported ties to the Communist Party. Newly available documents reveal what the FBI actually knew—the vast extent of Levinson's Party activities

On October 10, 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy committed what is widely viewed as one of the most ignominious acts in modern American history: he authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation to begin wiretapping the telephones of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy believed that one of King's closest advisers was a top-level member of the American Communist Party, and that King had repeatedly misled Administration officials about his ongoing close ties with the man. Kennedy acted reluctantly, and his order remained secret until May of 1968, just a few weeks after King's assassination and a few days before Kennedy's own. But the FBI onslaught against King that followed Kennedy's authorization remains notorious, and the stains on the reputations of everyone involved are indelible.

Yet at the time, neither Robert Kennedy nor anyone else outside the FBI knew more than a tiny part of the story that had led to that decision, or even the identities of the two FBI informants who had set the investigation in motion. Only in 1981 were their names—Jack and Morris Childs—publicly revealed, but even then the relevant documents were so heavily redacted that only the most bare-bones sketch of what had taken place was possible.

But now an ongoing FBI "reprocessing" of those documents, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, is resulting in the release of hundreds of largely unredacted pages that finally allow the story to be told.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 1963; communists; fbi; garrow; king; levinson; levison; madtinlutherking; stanleylevinson; wiretap; wiretapping
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To: ek_hornbeck

Crap, where did Talisker go? Thought she might come back to this thread and lead in a verse of “We Shall Overcome”


41 posted on 01/19/2015 8:14:07 PM PST by catfish1957 (Everything I needed to know about Islam was written on 11 Sep 2001)
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To: Talisker

Nonsense. It’s as bad now as it’s been since. Obsessions with “diversity” unlawful, unpopular, immoral discrimination against Whites and Asians, males. Racial pandering by the media and self seeking politicians. A divisive Administration. Riots in the streets, fans flamed by all the above. Lives ruined by false accusations by leftist lynch mobs and brainwashed blacks. An out of control entitlement culture by those too lazy to work and act civilly.

And lastly, attempts to cover for adulterous, dishonest, and criminal behavior by “respected” “family men” It’s no conspiracy, it’s an awakening to the fraud and those who continually try to justify/excuse it.


42 posted on 01/20/2015 9:18:02 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Stop calling the plagiarist "Dr." KIng . . .)
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To: catfish1957
Crap, where did Talisker go? Thought she might come back to this thread and lead in a verse of “We Shall Overcome”

Wouldn't surprise me at all. This is the same loon who devoted an FR thread to praising Malcolm X as a conservative icon.

43 posted on 01/20/2015 1:38:56 PM PST by ek_hornbeck
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To: CatherineofAragon

Did you read his book “A Testament of Hope” yourself, or did you just cut and paste it from some other site where it’s also been cut and pasted?

Did you read the 1965 Playboy interview yourself, or did you just cut and paste it from some other site second or third hand site?

Did you read his 1961 speech yourself, in context, or did you just cut and paste it from another second hand source?

I ask because some quotes used to promote how red he was On the internet are taken not from him directly but from a book written by an agenda driven author who hasn’t been fact checked and in some cases is the only online source. The excerpts from that book are spread all over the internet by the CP, but not in full.

Even if it accurately reflects his views
( and it may because I sure haven’t read them all in full)- if Freepers take a moment and reflect on how easy it would be for a few people to revise history on any subject when virtually no one goes to the cited sources to see if the citations are even real, just simply trusting the author. We’re all guilty of it, but in the old days on FR before the lefties sued the site, and everyone started texting from tiny smart phone screens, we made each other link to their sources so we could read it in context.


44 posted on 01/19/2016 9:42:08 PM PST by piasa
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