Considering King’s association with Stanley Levison and others tied to the CPUSA during the height of the Cold War, the FBI surveillance of King was justified.
I know the story and Levison was working for the USSR, no doubt.
But Communist associations would help Kennedy with his main reason for ramping up FBI surveillance in 1963, 1964.
The FBI sent MLK a sex tape in 1964 letting him know they knew. The Democrat machine, now controlled by LBJ, didn’t want protests to disrupt the 1964 election, hurting Dems and helping Goldwater.
King and other civil rights leaders backed off on protests at the end of July 1964 to do what LBJ and the Dems wanted.