January 18, 1988
Page 5
Civil War: The FBI and
J. Edgar Hoover vs.
Martin Luther King
1.1 ./'••• ^—. ‘jciotncf I'tiL'inrr miahf
by GERDA GALLOP
Staff Writer
“I have a dream . . immortal
words spoken by a remarkable man,
Martin Luther King, Jr., conveyed his
promise for the future of the United
States. In his speech. King spoke of all
men being created equal and a nation of
oppression and injustice being changed in
to one of freedom and justice. However,
the same prejudice and injustice that King
spoke of found their way into the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the United States’
major police agency. For when the FBI
launched an intense investigation into the
private and political dealings of King, its
unproductive and vindictive nature reveal
ed that it was only out to discredit and
destroy one of the most charismatic and
courageous leaders of the 1960's.
The investigation of King loilowed
his pronunciation of the inetfective white
racist agents in the South, to which J.
Hdgar Hoover, head of the FBI. rcactod
in llagrant opposition.
Overwhelming evidence showed that
the FBI in the South did little to protect
the civil rights of blacks. On Sunday,
November 18. 1962. King told a New
York Times reporter that blacks could not
be helped in the South because agents
were white Southerners who. in order to
keep their pi)sitions. had to “be friendly
with local police and promoters ot
segregation." Heading the ottice in
Albany, Gei)rgia was white Southerner
Marion Chocks, whom most Albany
blacks, and even some Bureau agents,
agreed that he haled blacks with a passion.
Arthur L. Murtagh. who worked out ot
the Albany office, described Checks as a
racist who made his sentiments known to
everyone. Checks advised his agents to ig-
niM'c black people's complaints ot local
law enforcement otficcrs' mi.sconduct and
edited all investigatory reports sent to
Washington headquarters so that allega
tions against local otiicers w'cre heavily
watered down. Earlier in February ot
1961. King had caught the attention of
high-level officials in the FBI when he
made a passing reference to the FBI. call
ing tor the elimination ('t racial
discriminatii>n in federal police agencies
in an article written in Nulioii magazine.
In fact, the Civil Rights Commission
found that only 48 of 13,649 FBI
employees were black and none was an
agent with responsibility. King may have
aroused high-level olticials with his ai ti
de, but it was his statement about Albany,
Georgia agents that woke the chief officer
in charge, J. Edgar Hoover. King s tailure
to return phone calls placed by Bureau
executives in an effi'rt to clear up what
they felt was his "erroneous statement
only added fuel to the enraging tire he had
already started.
Intolerant of criticism, the FBI treated
all of its critics as enemies who became
targets for “special and unpleasant atten
tion.” The creation of the “enemies list”
of the FBI is attributed to J. lidgar
Hoover, whose own inability to admit er
ror or exhibit tolerance toward opinions
different from his own reflected the en
tire image of the FBI itself. In November
1964, Hoover described King as "the
most notorious liar" in the country in a
delayed response to his statements about
Albany, Georgia agents. Hoover detested
criticism, blacks and movements for
change, and thus took a special disliking
to King, who epitomized all that threaten
ed his power. Moreover, combined with
hostility toward public critics, the FBI
issued warnings to its own employees
against taking actions that might embar
rass the FBI publicly. That the FBI would
go to such lengths to protect its credibili
ty indicated the fear and dread it had of
seeing any Bureau mistake or wrong
doing written up in public print. It seem
ed the FBI was preoccupied with its public
image and those who threatened to jeopar
dize this image. To Hoover and his
associates, any criticism of the FBI was
proof that a critic was a Communist.
The FBI suspected that pro-
Communist supporters were influencing
King and investigated Stanley Levison and
Jack O'Dell, two staff members of King’s
organization, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. Through reports
of a key informant in the Communist Par
ty heirarchy, the FBI had amassed con
vincing evidence that Levison had been a
secret benefactor of the Communist Par
ty between 1952 and 1955. The FBI lost
interest in Levison until it found that he
was a close associate of King and assum
ed that he was still with the Communist
Party although he had severed connections
with the Party. The FBI regarded Levison
as a high official of the Party, even a top
spy, but never offered proof of its accusa
tions. In 1957, Levison, whom Hoover
believed was the link King had to the
Communists, was under telephone
surveillance. Yet intensive electronic
surveillances of Levison showed no
evidence that he was a Communist Party
official or spy. Furthermore, William
(continued on page 8)
Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of l\/irs. King and daughter Bernice at Dr. King’s funeral in 1968.