It's no secret J. Edgar Hoover wanted
to see Dr. King discredited.
J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI
authorized many operations that sought to discredit alleged opponents
of the United States Government that included covert campaigns of
disinformation, blackmail and harassment.
“We must mark him now, if we have not
done so before, as the most dangerous negro of the future in this
Nation from the standpoint of Communism, the negro and National
Security” - FBI Domestic Intelligence Chief William Sullivan.
“You have just 34 days. You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”
Extensive surveillance failed to show
that King was a Communist. However, the investigations did produce
evidence of extramarital sexual liaisons, and they were recorded on
tape.
Copies were later sent to King's home
and discovered by his wife, Coretta Scott King. Dr. King assumed the
letter and tape were from the FBI and a little more than a decade
later, the Senate’s Church Committee on intelligence overreach
confirmed this suspicion.
This should serve as a reminder of what
Government Surveillance Agencies are capable of.
And by Government Surveillance
Agencies, I am really talking about all of them, because they are all
capable. In this day and age, there is no true personal privacy,
unless you decide to disconnect from the real world and live under a
rock.