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Church Committee Hearings FBI Ops against MLK 1975 — Transcript

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0:00concern that you need to have with the
0:01exercise of secret power as we learn
0:04about the work of the church committee
0:0540 years ago now from November 18th 1975
0:09here is senator Frank Church the
0:10committee chairman opening up a hearing
0:12on the FBI and its abuse of power there
0:16has never been a full public accounting
0:18of FBI domestic intelligence
0:21operations therefore this committee has
0:23undertaken such an
0:27investigation its purpose is not to
0:29impair the FBI's legitimate law
0:31enforcement and counter Espionage
0:33functions but rather to evaluate
0:35domestic intelligence according to the
0:37standards of the Constitution and the
0:40statutes of our
0:42land if fault is to be found it does not
0:46rest in the bureau
0:48alone it is to be found also in the long
0:51line of Attorneys General presidents and
0:56congresses who have failed who have
0:59given power rather and responsibility to
1:03the
1:04FBI but have failed to give it adequate
1:07guidance Direction and
1:10control information is a powerful
1:14Resource One of the FBI's most
1:16significant features is its system for
1:21efficient
1:22processing filing and retrieving of the
1:27data it
1:28gathers the potential dangers in this
1:31system are
1:33obvious today we are here to review the
1:35major findings of our full investigation
1:37of FBI domestic intelligence including
1:40the coel program and other programs
1:43aimed at domestic
1:45targets FBI surveillance of law-abiding
1:48citizens and
1:50groups political abuses of FBI
1:53intelligence and several specific cases
1:56of unjustified intelligence operations
2:01these hearings have one overriding
2:04objective the development of sufficient
2:07information for Congress to legislate
2:09appropriate standards for the
2:12FBI after the Senator's opening
2:14statement Schwarz and Smothers began
2:16their presentation of the FBI
2:18irregularities detailing the broad
2:20surveillance activities of the bureau
2:22mainly in the 1960s and giving some
2:25notable
2:27examples in the area of
2:31uh what they characterize as the new
2:33left uh an example of the
2:37overbath of the requirements for
2:40information laid on the field can be
2:43found in the document that's at
2:4513-1 of your
2:48books and in this document the director
2:51of the
2:52FBI issued an instruction to all Special
2:56Agents of the bureau as to the kind of
2:59information
3:01that he wanted them to collect and
3:03report on now the number of items in the
3:07report uh are in letters from uh a
3:11through R and numbers under each one of
3:14those
3:15entries I will just refer to a couple of
3:20the specific examples of what the FBI
3:23agents are required to report into the
3:25field in the area of finances who are
3:28the so-called angels for the group in
3:31the area of Publications describe all
3:34the
3:35Publications in the area of
3:38religion the policy of what the
3:40organization relating to its approach to
3:43religion and any vehement statements
3:45made against religious bodies by leaders
3:48conversely any statements of support for
3:50the movement by religious groups or
3:53individuals uh in the area of political
3:56activities any and all political
3:58activities in which so-called new left
4:00leaders are involved and details
4:04relating to their position taken on
4:06political matters including efforts to
4:07influence public opinion the electorate
4:09and government
4:10bodies in the area of
4:13Education all information concerning
4:15courses given together with any
4:18educational outline and together with
4:20what is the assigned or suggested
4:22reading in the area of so-called social
4:25reform all information on activities in
4:28connection with demonstration aimed at
4:30social reform whatever that may
4:33be uh in the area of Labor All
4:36Information including all activity in
4:38the Labor
4:39Field with respect to the public
4:41appearance of leaders the identity of
4:44any leader who makes a public appearance
4:46on radio and television and who appears
4:48before groups for example labor church
4:51and minority groups and in connection
4:53with such appearances the identity of
4:55the group sponsoring the speaker and a
4:58succinct summary of the subject matter
5:00discussed in the area of mass media
5:03influence of the new left on mass media
5:06and any indications of support of the
5:09new left by the mass media a wholly
5:12comprehensive listing of everything
5:15those people thought or did on any
5:18subject you can imagine they're having a
5:20concern with uh taking the as a next
5:23example of the how the uh intelligence
5:29desire
5:30seeks
5:32out information of uh
5:36scarcely relevant to subjects that we
5:40had thought the bureau was concerned
5:42with in the area of women's Liberation
5:44report after report about meetings of
5:47women who got together to talk about
5:49their problems now how the bureau got
5:51this information is not entirely clear
5:54but it's apparently by informants so we
5:57have informants running all over the
5:58country checking up about what
6:00housewives are talking about in their
6:02efforts to decide whether women should
6:06have a different role in the
6:08societ uh a reports on particular women
6:11who said why they had come to the
6:13meeting and how she felt depressed
6:14sexually or otherwise reports on such
6:17important matters as the release of
6:19white mice by women at a um protest
6:23demonstration uh reports on such other
6:25important matters as the women's
6:27Liberation movement is in interested in
6:30zapping the Miss America Pageant at
6:32Atlantic City by protesting uh the
6:36standards and and well whatever they
6:39protest in Atlantic
6:41City and
6:44good my favorite example uh in the
6:47Baltimore women's Liberation movement in
6:50a document which was sent not only to
6:52the FBI this one's at tab 5.4 not only
6:56to the FBI but to three military
6:58agencies for some reason a document in
7:02which there's a long discussion of the
7:04origins aims and purposes of the group
7:06its location its pamphlets and in
7:09concluding on the purposes of the group
7:12comes up with such important findings as
7:14they wanted a purpose and that was to
7:16free women from the humdrum existence of
7:18being only a wife and mother they wanted
7:20equal opportunities that men have in
7:22work in society and so forth nothing to
7:25do with violence nothing to do with
7:27these labels of subversion extremis M
7:30and what's the conclusion on the
7:31document quotes will continue to follow
7:34and Report the activities of the women's
7:35Liberation movement not all of the
7:37information collected by the agency was
7:40stashed away in some musty file much of
7:43it was turned over to White House AIDS
7:45and much of it was used for political
7:47purposes there was an indication in the
7:4864 Democratic Convention that violence
7:51May erupt and the bureau was called upon
7:54to supply information regarding the
7:57potential for violence uh assumingly
8:00both on a federal level and to assist
8:02local law enforcement
8:04officials in addition to
8:07that after infiltration of various
8:11groups the challenge plan of the
8:14Mississippi um to the Mississippi
8:17Convention the plans of those who were
8:19challenging the official
8:21delegation uh were developed by the FBI
8:24and
8:25submitted uh to the White House through
8:28a White House Stafford
8:31the plans
8:33of Dr King the plans of core the plans
8:36of Snick with respect to activities at
8:38the convention were also
8:41communicated both as they related to
8:43efforts to disrupt as well as general
8:46political strategy at the
8:48convention this was accomplished really
8:51through a complete infiltration of these
8:54groups and when it became apparent as in
8:57the case of the Mississippi challenge
9:00that it might be politically expedient
9:02to have some information to discredit
9:03the group the FBI provided that also by
9:07providing some bookkeeping data on the
9:10organization and its funding
9:15sources we see the same kind of
9:17unofficial dissemination
9:20occur after the critics of the warrant
9:23commission begin to
9:25surface and the White House is a bit
9:28concerned about these persons who are
9:31criticizing the Warren Commission the
9:34FBI is directed here to gather
9:36information on those persons information
9:39which extended to their personal lives
9:42indeed down to an including sex
9:46activities the name check
9:50process was often used as a basis of
9:55getting a clearer fix on people who had
9:57began to criticize
10:01Administration in several cases we've
10:05identified news correspondents and major
10:08networks who apparently at one point or
10:10another earned the White House's ir and
10:12was were the subject of name
10:15checks the number of reporters from
10:18major
10:19newspapers many of the names there pop
10:23up immediately after Revelations or
10:26accusations about misconduct or the
10:30activities of the White
10:33House we even got to the point where the
10:36name check
10:37process was used as a basis to gather
10:41the views or information on private
10:44citizens who have objected the Vietnam
10:46policy and this information was
10:48subsequently distributed to persons who
10:51may be in a position to point up adverse
10:54information in the individual's
10:56background this took the form for
10:58example of going to political figures
11:01and saying to those figures if you have
11:04an occasion to comment upon so and so
11:06you might want to have this
11:09information we will talk a little more
11:11about that when we come to cointelpro
11:15activities the youo in a political Arena
11:18virtually covered the Spectrum in one
11:21case we will produce information
11:22regarding the FBI's reported efforts to
11:26influence the Speaker of the House
11:28regarding a prom civil rights figure
11:30using information that have been gained
11:34through various investigative techniques
11:36and accomplishing this unofficial over
11:39lunch kind of
11:40dissemination a footnote on the 1964
11:44Democratic Convention a technique which
11:47was used there was the Furnishing to the
11:50FBI of false press credentials by one of
11:52the major networks which the FBI then
11:55used in order to insert itself as a
11:58bogus
12:00newsman into legitimate discussions of
12:04political persons and protest groups and
12:06acquire information concerning their
12:09plans pretending to be a reporter uh and
12:12in fact acquiring it for the purposes of
12:14the bureau and transmission to higher
12:18authority now turning to co inel
12:22Pro
12:25cointelpro is a abbreviation of the
12:28words founder intelligence
12:32program
12:35cointelpro is the name for the effort by
12:39The Bureau to destroy people and to
12:42destroy
12:43organizations or as they use the words
12:45disrupt and
12:46neutralize and in pursuit of this goal
12:49FBI agents used a wide range of weapons
12:52disseminating misinformation creating
12:54animosities and generally spreading
12:56Havoc among the target groups
13:00one of the
13:01other techniques
13:04utilized was to
13:07destroy the job or family life and
13:10family life was a
13:12particularly opportune Target in bu
13:15bureau's
13:18View and played on some fairly tender
13:22sensitivities without mention of the
13:24name reflected therein if you look to
13:26tab 9-4 of your books
13:29you will
13:31see the bureau's
13:34report on a co-intel pro
13:37effort against a white
13:42female who was involved as an officer in
13:45what is defined as a local black
13:47activist
13:50group the way to discredit or neutralize
13:53this
13:54leader was to take attention away from
13:58activities of the Group by creating
14:00another kind of
14:02distraction the distraction read as
14:05follows Dear Mrs
14:10blank look man I guess your old lady
14:13doesn't get enough at home Mr blank I'm
14:16sorry letters to her husband or she
14:19wouldn't be shucking and Jing with our
14:21black men in action you dig like all she
14:25wants to integrate is the bedroom and US
14:28black sisters ain't going to take no
14:30second best for our men so lay it on her
14:33man or get her the hell out of light it
14:38signed a soul
14:41sister particularly effective technique
14:45as reflected by the memorandum it did
14:47succeed in distracting her uh Bureau
14:50agents were told to attack the new left
14:54by disinformation and misinformation and
14:56I will give you six quick examp examples
14:59of what was done pursuant to that
15:02program the was a body called the
15:04national mobilization committee to end
15:06the war in
15:07Vietnam at the time of the Democratic
15:10National Convention in
15:121968 the that body attempted to obtain
15:16housing in Chicago for demonstrators who
15:18would come to the convention uh the FBI
15:21local office in Chicago obtained 2117 of
15:25those forms and filled them out with
15:27fictitious names and addresses of
15:29persons who purported falsely to have
15:32houses in which the demonstrators could
15:34say uh the tactic had its designed
15:37effect uh because according to FBI
15:41documents the persons who went out to
15:43look for these houses made quotes long
15:45and useless Journeys to locate the
15:47addresses and the effort to find housing
15:50was canceled and what effect that had
15:52upon the attitude of the persons who
15:53were there in Chicago and what
15:55contribution that made to what happened
15:57thereafter I suppose we'll never
15:59know the precisely the same tactic and
16:02program was carried out by the bureau
16:04with respect to the 1969 presidential
16:07authoriz inauguration where they again
16:10filled out false housing forms to
16:12confuse and disrupt efforts by persons
16:15coming to Washington to find places to
16:17stay during those same 1969 inauguration
16:21ceremonies the Washington field office
16:23of the FBI discovered that persons who
16:26were attempting to coordinate and
16:29control the
16:31demonstrations there were Marshals and
16:33this committee has examined in executive
16:35session Mr Eagle Crow who was
16:38responsible uh for coordinating law
16:40enforcement at that demonstration uh and
16:43he has told us that the marshals of the
16:46demonstrators were a very useful and
16:49helpful group of persons in order to
16:52keep the demonstration orderly now what
16:54did the FBI do they found out what
16:58citizen band was being used for
17:00walkie-talkies and they used that
17:02Citizen band to supply the marshals with
17:05misinformation and pretending to be a
17:07unit of the national mobilization to end
17:09the war in Vietnam countermanded the
17:12orders issued by the uh
17:16movement in 1967 there was a rally in
17:19Washington protesting the Vietnam War a
17:23newspaper in New York City indicated
17:26that its contribution to uh this rally
17:29was to be
17:31the um symbolic Act of dropping flowers
17:36on the Pentagon and the newspaper put an
17:39ad in the newspaper asking for a pilot
17:41who could help them do that the Federal
17:43Bureau of Investigation answered the ad
17:46and it kept up the pretense that it was
17:48a genuine pilot up to the point when the
17:50publisher of the newspaper showed up
17:52with 200 lbs of flowers and there was no
17:54one there to fly the plane the most
17:57dramatic testimony today involve the
17:59surveillance of Martin Luther King the
18:01committee staffers has described in
18:03detail attempts to discredit and to
18:05destroy King to try to turn his
18:07followers against him even to find
18:10another Idol for black Americans Martin
18:13Luther King was and is a national hero
18:16to Millions but to Jay Edgar Hoover he
18:18was a dangerous man who would wreck the
18:21country by January of 62 Mr Hoover has
18:25already typed Dr King as no good
18:30Hoover is particularly Disturbed
18:34after in 1963 it became clear
18:38that the concept of
18:42nonviolence was gaining adherence a
18:45inherence to
18:46be uh made even more clear by the time
18:49the March on Washington came
18:53around this development of the concept
18:56of nonviolent confrontation or
18:57nonviolent Pro test were seen as a
19:00threat to law
19:02enforcement and something the bureau was
19:04indeed unhappy
19:06about this was aided
19:09apparently by what the bureau regarded
19:12as Dr King's direct attacks on Mr Hoover
19:17and the
19:18bureau and the public controversy was
19:21pretty much fullblown at the time in
19:261963 when
19:29the Mr Sullivan who
19:32should be able to give us some
19:34assistance on this
19:35matter communicates to Mr Hoover a
19:39plan for dealing
19:42with Dr Martin Luther
19:46King quoting from a
19:49memorandum the plan here is to
19:51completely discredit Dr King by quote
19:55taking him off his
19:56pedestal and to reduce him completely an
20:04influence in its effort to reduce Dr
20:08King and influence to take him off his
20:10pedestal and
20:13to change if you will
20:16His Image before the uh masses we begin
20:21to see we began to get some insight into
20:24the thought
20:25process of the FBI
20:29at this time the thinking was that this
20:32would not be a terribly difficult task
20:35the memo indicated for example
20:37that this can be done and will be
20:41done obviously confusion Will Rain
20:45particularly among the Negro
20:47people the Negroes will be left without
20:49a national leader of sufficiently
20:51compelling personality to steer them in
20:53the proper
20:54direction so the FBI decided that if
20:58they were going to take King off his
21:00pedestal it was a part of their task to
21:03find and bring into prominence a new
21:06quote National negro
21:08leader uh after the March on Washington
21:12there was an acceleration he was defined
21:15because of his speech in that
21:18demonstration in Washington as the most
21:20dangerous and effective leader in the
21:22country and there was a paper battle
21:24between within the bureau as to how best
21:26to attack him and he was attacked uh
21:29After Time magazine named him as Man of
21:31the Year again the bureau finds that
21:34reprehensible believes it must attack
21:35and Destroy uh when he was given the
21:38Nobel Prize again they seek to discredit
21:42Dr King with the persons who welcomed
21:45him back from that award uh when he
21:48began to speak out against the Vietnam
21:50War there's a new Crescendo of efforts
21:53by The Bureau to discredit and Destroy
21:55Dr
21:56King when the poor people's campaign
21:59took place once again they go after Dr
22:02King and their activity to go after Dr
22:05King didn't even cease when he died
22:08because as Congress began to consider
22:12the question of whether or not Dr King's
22:15birthday should be named and M made a
22:18national holiday uh the bureau developed
22:21plans to call in Friendly Congressman
22:24for off- the record briefings concerning
22:26King in the hopes that those Congressman
22:29could keep any such bill from being
22:30reported out of
22:35committee the period surrounding the
22:37March on Washington and directly
22:39following it is particularly revealing a
22:42report was written uh for the director
22:45uh
22:46by his chief intelligence officer
22:50reporting that the Communist Party in
22:53fact for 40 years had been trying to
22:55control the Negro movement uh and that
22:59it had always failed and that its
23:01efforts in connection with the March on
23:03Washington were
23:05infinitesimal this was not accepted uh
23:08by the director of the FBI he found that
23:12thinking wrong unacceptable and said
23:16that it must be changed and it was
23:19changed uh and then we find paper coming
23:21in in which the lower level people in
23:24the FBI apologize for having
23:25misunderstood matters and on they go
23:29uh with this effort to discredit and
23:31start they do the
23:34bugs on Dr King the FBI sought to
23:38prevent the pope from meeting with Dr
23:41King uh it intervened with a cardinal
23:44prevent the Pope the pope from meeting
23:46with Dr King it did and when the pope
23:50despite despite that effort did meet
23:52with Dr King the FBI documents record
23:56the adverb astounding must have been
23:59post Pope John was it uh it was in
24:051964 and now someone's got to help me on
24:08that who was the pope then pop Paul was
24:11it Pope Paul in any event that effort
24:14didn't work the
24:16paranoia the belief that American
24:19citizens couldn't deal themselves with
24:22Dr King is indicated by this story uh at
24:25one point Governor Rockefeller was
24:27planning a trip to Latin America and the
24:31bureau felt that it had to approach
24:33Governor Rockefeller so he could be he
24:35was planning to see Dr King before going
24:38so that he could be warned of what a
24:40great danger Dr King was this effort
24:43went on and on and on each time that he
24:45was doing something important there was
24:48an effort to discredit him each person
24:50who the bureau felt uh could give
24:54further credit further further
24:56recognition to Dr King an effort to stop
24:59that from happening uh the bureau went
25:01so far as to mail Anonymous letters to
25:04Dr King and his wife which were mailed
25:08shortly before he was awarded the Nobel
25:10Peace
25:12Prize uh and finishes with
25:16this suggestion King there is only one
25:19thing left for you to do you know what
25:21it is you have just 34 days in which to
25:24do it this exact number has been
25:26selected for a specific reason and it
25:28has definite practical significance it
25:30was 34 days before the award you are
25:36done uh if I can interrupt that was
25:39taken by Dr King to mean a suggestion
25:41for suicide was it not that's our
25:43understanding
25:46Senator the who wrote The Letter uh well
25:51that's a matter of dispute it was found
25:53in the files of Mr
25:55Sullivan uh who was the assistant
25:57director of the FBI was heavily involved
25:59in these programs he claims uh that it's
26:02a plant in his files and that someone
26:04else in the bureau in fact wrote the
26:06document the document which was found is
26:09a draft of the letter which was the
26:11anonymous letter which was actually sent
26:12is there any dispute that the letter did
26:14in fact come from the FBI uh we've heard
26:17no dispute of
26:21that one thing that is very clear as we
26:24examine the king information is that
26:29the FBI has not only
26:31presumed to know an awful lot about the
26:34movement which Dr King headed but that
26:37many of its fumbling efforts many of its
26:40failures to convince people that Dr King
26:43should be discredited was born out of
26:46the ignorance and if you will the very
26:50clear racism at large then in the
26:53agency a particularly
26:55revealing aspect of the
26:58bureau's approach to the question even
27:01at a time when they were examining the
27:04so-called negro
27:06question is evidenced by the response to
27:10a memorandum which then attorney general
27:13Kennedy wrote Mr Hoover Mr Kennedy wrote
27:16a memorandum asking Mr Hoover how many
27:19negro special agents he
27:21had Mr Hoover wrote back we don't
27:24catalog people by race Creed or color
27:28and now reading from Mr Sullivan's
27:29transcript on the
27:31point it was assumed by Mr H that this
27:34would take care of Mr Kennedy Mr Kennedy
27:37came back with another very nice letter
27:39that's a little auditory attitude you're
27:41commended to have it but I still want to
27:44know how many negro special agents do
27:46you
27:46have so we were in trouble it so
27:50happened that during the war he had five
27:52Negro chauffers so he automatically made
27:55them special
27:56agents did not matter whether they
27:58finished college or high school or
27:59grammar school or had a law degree so
28:02now we wrote back and said we had
28:05five then Mr Kennedy came back and said
28:07this was atrocious at the time according
28:10to Mr Sullivan the FBI had 5,500 special
28:14agents out of that number 5500 and you
28:17only have five Negro agents Mr Solomon
28:21again of course we did not say in that
28:22memorandum that none of them conducted
28:24investigations they were just drivers
28:27this is not
28:281961 is any wonder that the FBI was
28:32later presumptuous enough to feel that
28:34it could determine the next new National
28:38negro
28:39leader part of the problem as they
28:41attempted to translate the tactics used
28:43first against the Communist Party
28:45against virtually every perceived enemy
28:48as the bureau looked across the
28:49landscape and decided who should be
28:51neutralized discredited or destroyed as
28:54we all know the bureau was originally
28:56set up as a crime fighting agency but in
28:591939 in a directive by President
29:01Roosevelt it assumed a new task of
29:04seeing that the country's internal
29:05security was maintained in the face of a
29:08growing threat from fascism and
29:11communism in
29:131939 uh the
29:16FBI uh had and established uh an index
29:20called the security
29:21index uh which was a list of individuals
29:25both aliens and
29:27citizens now quoting on whom there is
29:29information available to indicate that
29:31their presence at Liberty in this
29:33country in time of war or National
29:35Emergency would be dangerous to the
29:37public peace and safety of the United
29:38States
29:39government uh the documents which
29:42notified all FBI offices of such lists
29:45and to prepare names uh indicated that
29:49the bureau should make certain uh that
29:51the fact it was making such
29:52investigations does not become known to
29:55individuals outside of the bureau
29:58nevertheless the Department of Justice
30:01uh was then
30:02informed uh and in
30:051941 the Department of Justice commenced
30:08to work with the B Bureau on classifying
30:10persons as to degree of
30:12dangerousness in 1943 however the
30:16Attorney General then in office um Mr
30:19Biddle uh wrote a memorandum for Jay
30:22Edgar Hoover in which he instructed Jay
30:27Edgar Hoover
30:28to get rid of the lists and to stamp on
30:33each document in which a person had been
30:35given a
30:36classification for the purpose of being
30:38locked up the following Legend this
30:41classification is unreliable it is
30:43hereby canceled and should not be
30:46used uh attorney general bidd told Jay
30:50Edgar Hoover that after full
30:52reconsideration of these classifications
30:54I am satisfied that they serve no useful
30:56purpose
30:58there is no statutory authorization or
31:01other present justification for keeping
31:03a custodial detention list of citizens
31:06the department fulfills its proper
31:08functions by investigating the
31:10activities of persons who may have
31:12violated the law it is not aided in this
31:15work by classifying persons as to
31:18dangerousness now within a few
31:21days of that instruction very flat
31:24instruction from the attorney
31:26general uh the director ctor of the
31:29FBI uh indicated
31:33to all FBI agents uh that the
31:38instruction in effect indicated that the
31:40instruction should not be carried
31:42out uh he's told them that what they
31:45should do is simply to change the label
31:48on the files from quote security M to
31:51quote security matter and from quotes
31:55custodial detention and he instructed
31:58the Agents of the FBI as follows that
32:01the bureau will also continue to prepare
32:04and maintain security index cards and
32:07this was for the same purpose of knowing
32:08who the bureau might lock up and he
32:11further instructed them the fact that
32:13the security index and security index
32:16cards are prepared and maintained should
32:17be considered as strictly confidential
32:20and should at no time be alluded to in
32:23investigative reports or discussed with
32:25agencies or individuals outside the
32:27bureau
32:28other than representatives of the
32:31military intelligence agencies who were
32:33going to be l in on the
32:37secret in 1948 there was a new attorney
32:40general in office and
32:43he contrary to attorney general bidd who
32:47had instructed that this be turned off
32:49the new Attorney General in
32:511948 uh instructed the FBI to prepare an
32:56emergency detention program
32:58following something called the attorney
33:00general's
33:02portfolio uh this included plans to
33:04suspend the rid of habus Corpus it
33:07included uh ultimately plans for a
33:11master warrant of arrest whereby on the
33:13signature of the Attorney General uh and
33:16only that signature and without
33:17reference to the courts thousands of
33:19people could be locked
33:21up have they continued to um uh maintain
33:26these files for for lock up
33:30purposes the key question is your last
33:33three words senator they have
33:36continued uh upon the agreement of the
33:39Department of
33:40Justice to maintain the same files the
33:45numbers have now been reduced to 1,200
33:49persons the name has been changed to
33:53something called the administrative
33:55index what purpose that reses and
33:58whether it still is used as a reserve
34:01list of persons to lock up I think we're
34:03going to have to ask the bureau and I
34:05can't give you a definitive answer well
34:08for most of the hearing the members of
34:09the senate committee sat silently
34:11listening to the documentation of abuses
34:13from Stafford Schwarz and Smothers one
34:16Senator said he regarded the FBI
34:18wrongdoing as more serious than the CIA
34:21wrongdoing all were stunned and appalled
34:23by the disclosures and at Day end
34:26several gave vent to their fear
34:28feelings I've been told for
34:32years by among others some of my own
34:37family that this is exactly what the
34:40bureau was doing all the
34:42time and in my great wisdom and high
34:47office uh I assured them they
34:54were uh on pot
34:57this just wasn't
34:59true couldn't happen they wouldn't do
35:03it
35:08uh what you've described is a series of
35:11illegal
35:13actions
35:16um intended squarely to deny First
35:20Amendment rights to some
35:23Americans that's what my children have
35:25told me was going on now I didn't
35:28believe
35:29it the trick
35:31now as I see it Mr
35:34chairman is for this
35:36committee to be able to figure out how
35:39to
35:40persuade the people of this country that
35:43indeed it did go
35:46on and how shall we ensure that it never
35:50happened
35:52again and I would hope as we lead to the
35:55strengthening of the FBI and the
35:57criminal field we impose very clear and
36:02unquestioned limits so that this kind of
36:06um
36:08unrestrained
36:10illegal
36:12secret intimidation and
36:15harassment of the of the
36:17essential ability of Americans to
36:20participate
36:21freely in American political life shall
36:24never happen
36:25again seems to me that we have moved
36:28away from concern by The
36:31Bureau for actual actions that might be
36:34violent or might be uh
36:38criminal toward action toward ideas that
36:42might be unpopular or may not be
36:44acceptable to some people within the
36:47bureau or perhaps within the
36:50administration the FBI has never had a
36:53statute clearly defining its Authority
36:59and after all these many years this is
37:01the first serious Congressional
37:03investigation of its
37:07activities and we have seen today the
37:09Dark Side of those
37:13activities where many Americans who were
37:16not even suspected of
37:20crime were not only spied
37:24upon but they were harassed
37:29they were
37:31discredited and at
37:33times
37:37endangered uh through the uh covert
37:41operations of the Federal Bureau of
37:46Investigation such Revelations um place
37:50a serious responsibility upon this
37:54committee uh to see to it that
37:58that can't happen again FRS as a result
38:02of the committee's investigation did you
38:04ever learn who wrote that letter to
38:06Martin Luther King or who authorized
38:09it well um I think it was a man called
38:12Sullivan Who We examined actually
38:16Senator Montel took his deposition up in
38:19New Hampshire and then he died before we
38:21could call him at a public hearing but
38:24he was head of the domestic intelligence
38:26group on under Jay Edgar Hoover and I
38:29think he was the person who did it um
38:32whether
38:34Hoover himself
38:37authorized I'm certain Hoover would not
38:39have objected because all of the
38:43so-called Co Andel Pro proposals like
38:47for example one in Chicago where the FBI
38:50tried to get one black leader to kill
38:54another black leader um by sending an
38:57anonymous letter to the the one they
38:59wanted to do the killing but all of
39:02those actions were authorized by Hoover
39:06and he would say okay go ahead and do it
39:10so long as you don't embarrass the
39:12bureau that was the exact word so long
39:15as you don't embarrass the bureau by
39:17which of course he meant so long as you
39:19can keep it secret but we didn't
39:22find internal evidence in the FBI Beyond
39:27being certain that Mr Sullivan had been
39:30responsible for producing that letter we
39:33didn't find internal evidence about
39:36whether the approval went up to Hoover a
39:39lot of Hoover's documents the day he
39:41died
39:43his famous close secretary and one of
39:48his closest AIDS went through his files
39:51and destroyed a lot of them fortunately
39:55they didn't destroy everything and we
39:56found an enormous amount but it may be
40:00there was a over approval of the suicide
40:03letter but that was one of the things
40:05that was destroyed I I don't know the
40:07answer to that Mr Maxwell do we know did
40:09the committee find out what impact this
40:11had on Dr Martin Luther King at the time
40:14well I think it was I'll I'll leave that
40:16to Fritz to to answer because Fritz was
40:18much more much deep more deeply involved
40:20in the uh domestic side than I was so
40:23all right do was there any uh witness
40:26that who testified whether or not the
40:28FBI's uh was Dr Martin Luther King aware
40:31of the FBI's uh surveillance of him and
40:33did it affect his
40:35activities yeah yes he was and yes it
40:38did affect his activity but it didn't it
40:40didn't suppress his activity but that
40:45letter which was received and talked
40:47about not only between King and his wife
40:51but between King and his close advisors
40:55was of great concern Le to them it just
40:59proved further the extent to which the
41:01FBI was trying to hurt them I mean the
41:05FBI pedal information about King to the
41:09pope to the White House to universities
41:12to foundations to foreign leaders they
41:15tried to prevent his getting the Nobel
41:18PR Peace Prize but you know Eliot made a
41:22great point which where he used Phil
41:24Hart for this the king of course is a
41:30known counter leader to the the
41:34practices of Jay Edgar Hoover but the
41:37FBI did things that injured all kinds of
41:41people civil rights leaders where they
41:43would write anom Anonymous letters
41:46trying to break up
41:48marriages um unitarians
41:52from Ohio who traveled to Chicago for
41:56the Democratic a convention in 1968
41:59where the FBI used false information to
42:02have them not have housing and get all
42:05mixed up in where they were staying uh a
42:08an actress who did commit suicide after
42:12the FBI had pedal information about her
42:17relations with um people of another
42:21race um and it was it was deeply deeply
42:26disturbing
42:27that a law enforcement
42:30agency uh knowingly and intentionally
42:33violated the law and did it in ways that
42:36were designed to hurt lots of ordinary
42:40people and lots of significant and
42:44famous people in just a few minutes
42:46you're going to see 30 minutes of the
42:48Deputy associate FBI director whose name
42:50is James Adams who appeared before the
42:53committee the day after the Martin
42:54Luther King Revelations but to give you
42:56a taste for what that 30 minutes is like
42:58let's show you a short clip of uh
43:00Democratic senator Phil Hart questioning
43:02director Adams it's the segment that we
43:04just heard about from Mr Maxell let's
43:06watch there were an awful lot of people
43:09who never got close to a Nobel
43:12Prize whose name is Jones and
43:16Smith that my review of the file
43:19show had violence done to their first
43:22amendment
43:24rights and uh
43:33Nobel Prize winners will always get
43:36protection but Joe potatoes
43:39doesn't and this committee should focus
43:41on him
43:43too Joe potatoes quite a memorable
43:45reference by Senator Phil Hart uh we're
43:48going to show the entirety of this in a
43:50few minutes and you talked about the the
43:52impact of this on you Mr Maxwell but
43:54would you give us a sense of what the
43:55atmosphere was like in that room at the
43:58time I I think it it was
44:01electric the extent of what the FBI had
44:06done was almost
44:09unbelievable and it came against a uh a
44:13public backdrop about the FBI which was
44:18the Crime Busters the elite uh police
44:22activities on on the federal level
44:25Incorruptible uh
44:28unbeatable the a bul workk of American
44:32institutions and to think that these
44:35things had been going on below the
44:39surface uh and in such contrast to the
44:42image of the FBI was extraordinary sure
44:45and we should tell people because this
44:46is such a vintage time but that image
44:48was propelled by Hollywood because there
44:49were in the popular culture the FBI
44:51agent was always the type of person that
44:53you describ so this was a real
44:55Revelation to the public that there were
44:57two sides absolutely it was The
44:59Untouchables in in a sense and all of a
45:02sudden to think that the Untouchables
45:04had been doing things that were so
45:06destructive so wrong so uh in violation
45:10of the oath that they took was I think
45:14uh almost unimaginable at the start of
45:17the at the investigation so thanks to
45:20Elli Maxwell and frit Schwarz for
45:22setting the stage for this and up next
45:23you're going to see from November 19th
45:261975 the PBS uh broadcasting of uh this
45:31hearing and it's anchored by Paul Duke
45:33which might be a familiar name to many
45:35of you watching and it's the edited
45:38highlights of testimony of Deputy
45:39associate FBI director James Adams let's
45:44watch from the outset today it was plain
45:47that much of the interrogation would
45:48revolve around the committee's
45:50disclosures yesterday of the attempts to
45:52discredit Dr King an intensive campaign
45:55that was waged over a year span the hand
45:59of Hoover was everywhere in the
46:00harassment of Dr King Adams told of 25
46:04separate acts acknowledging there was no
46:07legal basis for any of them as we pick
46:10up the proceedings Adams is being
46:12questioned about an anonymous letter
46:14sent to Dr King in 1964 shortly before
46:17he received the Nobel Peace Prize a
46:20letter which some suggest was an attempt
46:22to induce suicide Democratic chairman
46:25Frank Church quoted directly ly from The
46:27Letter King there is only one thing left
46:30for you to do you know what it
46:33is you have just 34 days in which to
46:38do
46:40this exact number has been selected for
46:44a specific reason it has definite
46:46practical significance you are done
46:49there is but one way out for you
46:59now if you had received such a letter
47:01[Music]
47:04um how would you have interpreted it uh
47:08what would you have thought it
47:10meant I have read that statement uh I
47:13have heard the conclusions of your staff
47:15that it was a suicide urging I can't
47:18find any basis upon which they drew that
47:22conclusion I think that uh approaching
47:25it from an objective standpoint as I
47:28read it I don't know what it means uh I
47:31could uh I think uh rather than a
47:34conclusion it should be a speculation in
47:37a realm of possibilities as to what was
47:40intended but uh I I cannot uh I don't
47:44understand the basis for it it's a
47:46possibility but uh I certainly would not
47:49reach such a conclusion from my reading
47:51of now if you had received a letter of
47:52this
47:54kind and and and it had been directed to
47:56to you and you were in in Dr King's
48:01position and you read King there is only
48:03one thing left for you to do you know
48:05what it
48:07is you have just 34 days in which to do
48:11it now that happens to roughly
48:13correspond
48:15to uh the
48:18time before which he was to receive the
48:22Nobel Peace Prize
48:27what would you think that meant I would
48:29have to consider what I was being
48:31accused of I would have to consider what
48:33the facts were I would have to consider
48:36uh what the intent of the person was uh
48:40uh writing such a note uh uh coming just
48:43before Christmas I don't know if it
48:45means uh is an urging to repent from
48:48something this person whoever he was
48:50that sent it I have no idea what it is
48:52certainly no Christmas card is it it's
48:53certainly no Christmas card it reads it
48:56read if you are done there is but one
48:58way out for you what does that
49:02mean I don't know I don't know if it
49:04means confession I don't know if it
49:06means uh uh uh suicide as has been
49:10raised uh I have no idea uh you have the
49:13statement uh
49:17uh I'm not in a position to to say uh I
49:21haven't interviewed anyone that uh was
49:23with him at the time he received it
49:25would you just would you disown this
49:26statement and and say that that any
49:29connection the FBI had with it was
49:32utterly improper and grotesque I
49:34certainly would say it was improper and
49:36I can't justify it's being prepared or
49:39sent yes sir I gather that there was no
49:42never any question raised about whether
49:46Dr King was a communist that was never
49:48charged not as a Communist Party member
49:51that's right never remember or that he
49:53was about or had committed acts of
49:56violence no all right but the the peg
49:59for investigating was apparently that he
50:02was subject to communist influence yes
50:05now
50:06what what makes that a Justified reason
50:09for investigating him is it is it a
50:12crime to
50:14be approached by someone who's a
50:16communist no what what is the legal
50:19basis for that
50:23investigation the basis would be the uh
50:28uh
50:30communist influence on him and the
50:32effect it would have upon the
50:34organization
50:36uh would be in connection with our basic
50:39investigation of the Communist Party
50:42yeah well I'm as I understand the law
50:44today it
50:47um it is not a crime to be a member of a
50:50Communist party that's
50:52correct how can it be a crime to know
50:55someone who is a member of the Communist
50:58Party it isn't well then how do you
51:01investigate something as tenuous as that
51:04what is the basis for it
51:07legally well it it falls into the area
51:10of one the intelligence jurisdiction of
51:14uh the activities of the Communist party
51:17uh you
51:18have
51:20um a situation where an
51:24individual uh in an organization a
51:26leader of an organization efforts are
51:29being made to influence him and Achieve
51:32control over the
51:33organization and uh it's part of the uh
51:37overall investigation of the

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