[A-List] From the Secret Files of J.Edgar Hoover

Sat Apr 7 10:39:48 MDT 2007

¡°If  the construction of the future and its completion for all time is not
our task, all the more certain is what we must accomplish in the present. I
mean, the ruthless criticism of everything that exists; the criticism being
ruthless in the sense that it fears neither its own results nor conflict
with the powers that be.¡±
Karl Marx, letter to Arnold Ruge, 1843

>From ¡°From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover: Edited With Commentary by
Athan Theoharis¡±,  Ivan R Dee Publishers, Chicago, 1991  pp. 102-107

¡°Anonymous letter (drafted by FBI) to Martin Luther King, Jr., undated but
[was sent] November 21, 1964

In view of your low grade, I will not dignify your name with either a Mr.
or a Reverend or a Dr. And, your last name calls to mind only the type of
King such as King Henry the VIII.

King, look into your heart. You know you are a complete fraud and a great
liability to all of us Negroes. White people in this country have enough
frauds of their own but I am sure that they don¡¯t have one at this time
that is anywhere near your equal. You are no clergyman and you know it. I
repeat you are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that. You could
not believe in God and act as you do. Clearly you don¡¯t believe in any
personal moral principles.

King, like all frauds your end is approaching. You could have been our
greatest leader. You, even at an early age have turned out not to be a
leader but a dissolute, abnormal moral imbecile. We will not have to depend
on our older leaders like [NAACP executive secretary Roy] Wilkins a man of
character and thank God we have others like him. But you are done. Your
¡®honorary¡¯ degrees, your Nobel Prize (what a grim farce) and other awards
will not save you King, I repeat you are done.

No person can overcome facts, not even a fraud like yourself. Lend your ear
to the enclosure. [Transcripts of intercepted conversations of King spliced
to convey his involvements in illicit sexual activities] exposed on the
record for all time. I repeat, No person can argue successfully against
facts. You are finished. You will find on the record for all time [line
withheld reference to illicit sexual activities] to your hideous
abnormalities. [Phrase withheld] to pretend to be ministers of the Gospel.
Satan could do no more. What incredible evilness. It is all there on the
record, [five lines withheld, again referring to sexual activities]. King,
you are done.

The American public, the church organizations that you have been
helping¡ªProtestant, Catholic and Jews will know you for what you are¡ªan
evil abnormal beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done.

King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You
have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a
specific reason, it has definite practical significance) [King was to be
formally awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in thirty-four 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.¡±

Memo, FBI Assistant Director Cartha DeLoach to FBI Assistant Director John
Mohr, November 27, 1964, FBI 62-78270-16

Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People¡stated that he had to fly down to Washington to see me
immediately¡

Wilkins arrived at 4:00 pm. He stated to me he was greatly concerned. He
made reference to the Director¡¯s Loyola speech last Tuesday, 11/24/64, in
which the Director made reference to ¡®sexual degenerates¡¯ in pressure
groups. Wilkins stated he personally knew about whom the Director was
talking, although many other Negroes did not know. [Three and a half
paragraphs withheld pertaining to the FBI¡¯s monitoring of King¡¯s
political and personal activities.]

Wilkins stressed the fact that he was not seeing me as an emissary. He
stated he had some influence on King but not much. He added that there were
others within his movement who had greater influence and that perhaps
together some pressure could be brought on King. Wilkins then added that he
hoped that the FBI would not expose King before something could be done.

I interrupted Wilkins at this point. I told him that the Director, of
course, did not have in mind the destruction of the civil rights movement
as a whole. I told him the Director sympathized with the civil rights
movement¡[but] that we deeply and bitterly resented the lies and
falsehoods told by King and that if King wanted war we certainly would give
it to him. Wilkins shook his head and stated there was no doubt in his mind
as to which side would lose if the FBI really came out with all its
ammunition against King. I told him the ammunition was plentiful and that
while we were not responsible for the many rumors being initiated against
King, we had heard of these rumors and were certainly in a position to
substantiate them.

I told Wilkins that¡he should know a few positive facts of life¡[that]
certain highly-placed informants of ours had tipped us off to absolutely
reliable information that King had organized a bitter crusade against the
Director and the FBI. I told Wilkins that these long-standing and well
placed informants had advised us that King had contacted people in various
parts of the United States to get them to send telegrams to the President,
the Attorney General, and the FBI asking for Mr. Hoover¡¯s retirement or
resignation. I told Wilkins that King had also encouraged telegrams to be
sent advising the FBI or laxness in the investigation of civil rights
matters. I asked Wilkins how in the hell could he expect the FBI to believe
his offers of friendship as a request for peace when King was at this time
attempting to ruin us¡

Wilkins stated [King] was wrong in his criticism of the Director. He added
that he was attempting to accomplish, in a mild manner, a division between
the battle of  the Director and King and any phases of the battle which
would reflect upon the civil rights movement¡

Wilkins¡will attempt to see King, along with other Negro leaders, and tell
King he can¡¯t possibly win any battle with FBI¡He stated he may not have
any success in this regard, however he is convinced that FBI can easily
ruin King overnight. [Two lines withheld referring to the FBI¡¯s derogatory
personal information about King¡¯s sexual activities.] I told Wilkins this,
of course, was up to him; however, I wanted to reiterate once again most
strongly, that if King wanted war we were prepared to give it to him and
let the chips fall where they may. Wilkins stated this would be more
disastereous[sic], particularly to the Negro movement and that he hoped
this would never come about. I told him that the monkey was on his back and
that of the other Negro leaders. He stated he realized this¡

[Hoover¡¯s tough stand stemmed from a concern for his job. He was to reach
the mandatory retirement age of seventy on January 1, 1965, and his
continued tenure as director was assured only because of an executive order
issued by President Johnson in May 1964. King¡¯s criticisms had
precipitated demands that Johnson rescind his order and effect Hoover¡¯s
retirement the next month].

Memo, FBI Assistant Director Cartha DeLoach to FBI Assistant Director John
Mohr, December 2, 1964, FBI 100-1066770-634 

At Reverend King¡¯s request,  the Director met with King; Reverend Ralph
Abernathy, Secretary of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC); Dr. Andrew Young, Executive Assistant to King; and Walter Fauntroy,
SCLC representative here in Washington, at 3:35 p.m., 12-1-64, in the
Director¡¯s Office¡

Reverend King spoke up. He stated that it was vitally necessary to keep a
working relationship with the FBI. He wanted to clear up any
misunderstanding which might have occurred. He stated that some Negroes had
told him that the FBI had been ineffective, however, he was inclined to
discount such criticism. Reverend King asked that the Director please
understand that any criticism of the Director and the FBI which had been
attributed to King was either a misquote or an outright
misrepresentation¡He stated that the only time he had ever criticized the
FBI was because of instances in which Special Agents who had been given
complaints in civil rights cases regarding brutality by police officers
were seen the following day being friendly with those same police
officers¡

Reverend King said he personally appreciated the great work of the FBI
which had been done in so many instances. He stated this was particularly
true in Mississippi¡Reverend King denied that he had ever stated that
Negroes should not report information to the FBI. He said he had actually
encouraged such reporting¡[and] would continue to strongly urge all of his
people to work closely with the FBI.

Reverend King stated he has never made any personal attack upon Mr. Hoover.
He stated he mad merely tried to articulate the feelings of the Negroes in
the South in order to keep a tradition of nonviolence rather than
violence¡

Reverend King stated he has been, and still is, very concerned regarding
the matter of communism in the civil rights movement. He stated he knew
that the Director was very concerned because he bore the responsibility of
security in the Nation¡He claims that when he learns the identity of a
communist in his midst he immediately deals with the problem by removing
this man¡

The Director interrupted King to state that the FBI had learned from long
experience that the communists move in when trouble starts. The Director
explained that communists thrive on chaos. The Director mentioned that his
riot report [of 1964] to the President reflected the opportunistic efforts
of communists. He then stated that communists have no interest in the
future of the Negro race and that King, of all people, should be aware of
this fact. The Director spoke briefly about communist attempts to
infiltrate the labor movement.

The Director told King and his associates that the FBI shares the same
despair which the Negroes suffer when Negro leaders refused to accept the
deep responsibility they have in the civil rights movement. He stated when
Negroes are encouraged not to cooperate with the FBI this sometimes
frustrates or delays successful solution of investigations¡

The Director told Reverend King that the FBI had put ¡®the fear of God¡¯ in
the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)¡The Director then spoke of the terror in
Mississippi backwoods and of the fact that sheriffs and deputy sheriffs
participate in crimes of violence¡The Director added that the KKK
constantly damns the FBI and that we have currently been classified as the
¡®Federal Bureau of Integration¡¯ in Mississippi.

The Director told King that many cases, which have been brought about as a
result of FBI investigation, must be tried in State Court. He spoke of the
difficulty of obtaining a verdict of guilty in instances in which white
juries were impaneled in cases involving white men.

The Director made reference to Reverend King¡¯s allegation that the FBI
deals or associates with law enforcement officers who have been involved in
civil rights violations. He stated emphatically that ¡®I¡¯ll be damned if
the FBI has associated with any of these people nor will be associated with
them in the future¡¯¡He added that he made it a point, several years ago,
to transfer northern Special Agents to southern offices. He stressed that,
for the most part, northern-born Agents are assigned civil rights cases in
the South. The Director added that he feels that our Special Agents,
regardless of where they were born, will investigate a case impartially and
thoroughly¡

The Director explained that there is a great misunderstanding today among
the general public and particularly the Negro race as to what the FBI can
and cannot do in the way of investigations.  The Director emphasized that
the FBI cannot recommend prosecution¡[but] merely investigates and then
the Department of Justice determines whether prosecution be entertained or
not¡

The Director told Reverend King and his associates that FBI representatives
have held several thousand law enforcement conferences in which southern
police officers have been educated as to civil rights legislation¡He added
that this educational campaign will be continued and that it will
eventually take hold¡

The Director told King he desired to give him some advice. He stated that
one of the greatest things the Negro leaders could accomplish would be to
encourage voting registration among their people. Another thing would be to
educate their people in the skills so that they could compete in the open
market. The Director mentioned several professions in which Negroes could
easily learn skills. The Director also told King he wanted him to know that
the registrars in the South were now more careful in their actions.  He
stated that there were less attempts now to prevent Negroes from
registering 
inasmuch as the FBI is watching such actions very carefully. The Director
told Reverend King that the FBI was making progress in violations regarding
discrimination in eating places¡The Director stated he personally was in
favor of equality in eating places and in schools. He stated emphatically,
however, he was not in favor of taking Negro children 10 or 12 miles across
town simply because their parents wanted them to go to a school other than
those in their specific neighborhood¡

The Director told King that he wanted to make it clear that the question is
often raised as to whether the FBI will protect civil rights workers or
Negroes. He stated that¡the FBI does not have the authority nor the
jurisdiction to protect anyone. He stated that when the Department of
Justice desires that Negroes be protected this is the responsibility of
U.S. Marshalls¡

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