11 News exclusive: Inside the FBI's secret files on Coretta Scott King

khou.com ^ | 8/30/07 | David Raziq & Mark Greenblatt

[Roberts]

She had an unforgettable face: serene, beautiful and yet with a trace of sadness that few would say she did not earn. Indeed, Coretta Scott King’s life was filled with trouble and adversity caused by those opposed to her cause.

And among those opponents? J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

Now, after more than a year’s work, KHOU-TV in Houston and its investigative unit, 11 News Defenders, have obtained a world-exclusive first look at the FBI’s file on Coretta Scott King.

Comprised of nearly 500 pages, with some of those documents partially or totally censored, the intelligence file paints a disturbing picture.

[Roberts]

Public response to this (if any) will be interesting.

[AppyPappy]

I bet I know what was cut out

[rhombus]

I think this will just be more anti-Gov fodder for the left.

[Alberta's Child]

To reinforce the anti-government fodder we ought to be hearing from the right, too.

The FBI has exposed itself as an incompetent and corrupt government agency over the years. I don't know why anyone would trust those bastards about anything.

[TypeZoNegative]

No different from the Clinton Era governmentistas spying on right wing causes.

[Badeye]

Her biggest problem was the other woman, a caucasian as I recall.

[Nextrush]

What did these reporters find out?

Any mention of the sex life of MLK?

Did Coretta know about it?

When the FBI tapped his lawyers phone in 1963 they picked up info that MLK had mistresses.

Those files dug up by some Ralph Nader investigators reveal the info so we can say with certainty that MLK was an adulterer.

Close associates of MLK confirmed it to author Taylor Branch in the 1980’s.

Ralph Abernathy, his longtime close associate, alluded to it in a book that was denounced by Coretta Scott King.

This info from the FBI’s 1963 taps was passed up to the Attorney General Bobby Kennedy.

Out of fear over MLK’s influence and who was influencing him
as I see it, the authorization was given by RFK to begin tapping MLK’s phones in 1963.

In 1977 a federal judge at Coretta Scott King’s request sealed the MLK FBI tap files for 50 years.

I hope we get the whole story in 2027 when those files are unsealed.

There’s thousands of pages now kept secret.

[elpadre]

To the contrary, the FBI during those years was extremely effective, the epitome of good, honest police work, an agency which ushered in the fantastic, productive investigative and intelligence work going on today. The Agents of the day were thorough in their work and the very essence of integrity. For answers concerning the files on Loretta, one merely has to read the biographies written about her husband. For openers, his advisors, friends and speech writers included some of the best known and radical communists of the day. But there is more.

[SoKatt]

Well, don’t leave us in suspense...share with the class! :)

[rhombus]

I don’t necessarily think it was all bad that the FBI kept an eye on the 60’s anti-war movement. I hope they are watching things now. Do I want them to break the law? Certainly not. But there’s nothing wrong with observing people at protests. After all most people go to protests to be noticed in the first place.

[AppyPappy]

Let’s just say that her husband kept a lot of company when he was on the road. He was counseling troubled young girls.

[savedbygrace]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Alberta's Child]

With all due respect, that's a lot of nonsense.

The U.S. taxpayer is about to foot the bill for a settlement somewhere north of $100 million for that disgraceful case in Massachusetts where the FBI let three men serve 30+ years in prison for a murder they didn't commit.

And today I find myself asking what would happen if J. Edgar Hoover and Idaho Senator Larry Craig found themselves in adjacent bathroom stalls at Reagan National Airport.

With all due respect, the luster has left that agency a long time ago -- and it turns out that most of it was a sham, anyway.

[VOA]

The FBI has exposed itself as an incompetent and corrupt government
agency over the years.

IMHO, those years mostly are contained in the years of the Bubba
Clinton administration, along with a bit of a return to sanity after
9-11. Not to say they are as efficient as they could be yet; some
of the other agencies (CIA, NSA) continued to "not play well with
others" (like the FBI), leading to some major gaffes due to
poor sharing of information.
This I blame mostly on the political correctness and warped lawyering
introduced during the Clinton years.
(e.g., the suspicions about Middle Eastern guys acting strange
on a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight voiced by actor James Woods and
a flight attendant being dismissed as "profiling" by the FBI.
Until 9-12-01).

I don't know why anyone would trust those bastards about anything.

Sadly, given the imbroglio created by some BAD work by SOME of the
FBI forensics folks would even give me pause about cooperating
if approached by FBI field officers.

I'd probably cooperate.
After calling my lawyer.

It's very sad, given the FBI was a group that early on went hard-core
on forensics and evidence analysis...only to have some of their
own lab people betray the concept of objective, dispassionate
analysis of physical evidence.

[VOA]

The FBI has exposed itself as an incompetent and corrupt government
agency over the years.

IMHO, those years mostly are contained in the years of the Bubba
Clinton administration, along with a bit of a return to sanity after
9-11. Not to say they are as efficient as they could be yet; some
of the other agencies (CIA, NSA) continued to "not play well with
others" (like the FBI), leading to some major gaffes due to
poor sharing of information.
This I blame mostly on the political correctness and warped lawyering
introduced during the Clinton years.
(e.g., the suspicions about Middle Eastern guys acting strange
on a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight voiced by actor James Woods and
a flight attendant being dismissed as "profiling" by the FBI.
Until 9-12-01).

I don't know why anyone would trust those bastards about anything.

Sadly, given the imbroglio created by some BAD work by SOME of the
FBI forensics folks would even give me pause about cooperating
if approached by FBI field officers.

I'd probably cooperate.
After calling my lawyer.

It's very sad, given the FBI was a group that early on went hard-core
on forensics and evidence analysis...only to have some of their
own lab people betray the concept of objective, dispassionate
analysis of physical evidence.

[yankeedame]

I think this will just be more anti-Gov fodder for the left.

With opening lines like...

"She had an unforgettable face: serene, beautiful and yet with a trace of sadness that few would say she did not earn. Indeed, Coretta Scott King’s life was filled with trouble and adversity caused by those opposed to her cause.

"And among those opponents? J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI."

...you know it.

O shades of the Pieta!

[JZelle]

The FBI went to hell after Efrem Zimbalist Jr. retired.

[elpadre]

You have it all wrong - swallowed too much of the media hype.

Of all the years and millions of man-hours spent countering crimes and security dangers, of course there will be some anomalies - the Boston case being one.

And this business of Hoover being a cross-dresser has been discredited many times. JEH was a workaholic who devoted 24/7 of his time and energy to law enforcement. The factual record is clear. Although the luster was brightest in his day, it still remains - the FBI is a breath of fresh air in a contaminated world.

[riverdawg]

Your insinuation that J. Edgar Hoover was gay has been rejected by serious historians for some time now. Don’t be duped by the left-wing propaganda machine, which has never forgiven Hoover for going after the left’s Cold War darlings, Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs, and the Rosenbergs - among many others.

[pepsionice]

The report is going to lay out his various liaisons...which is going to upset alot of folks....but you are going to find that one or two more kids of his exist and that will screw up this little Atlanta mafia that currently exists within the family.