12. The FBI Were Deeply Suspicious Of King... And Labelled Him "The Most Dangerous Negro Of The Future" Of The USA
During the 1960s the Federal Bureau of Investigation was still feeling the after-effects of McCarthyism - and they believed the Civil Rights Movement to be a hotbed of socialism. In fact, following King's "I Have A Dream" speech of August 1963, the FBI sent a memo around their offices that labelled the pastor as "the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation". It read:
"In the light of Kings powerful demagogic speech yesterday he stands heads and shoulders over all other Negro leaders put together when it comes to influencing great masses of Negros. "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."
The FBI began tapping King's phone from the autumn of 1963 - under written directive from Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, who warned the leader of the Civil Rights Movement that any progress made could be brought to a shuddering halt if allegations of Communism within the group were proven. With the Director of the FBI J Edgar Hoover failing to prove Communists were in the movement despite the phone tapping, he instead attempted to have King removed as the leader right up until the moment of the pastor's assassination in 1968. In fact, according to a 1975 US Congress investigation called the Church Committee, Hoover personally wanted the removal of King. The report concluded:
"From December 1963 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was the target of an intensive campaign by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 'neutralise' him as an effective civil rights leader."
Some of the FBI's records and recordings of King remain hidden in the US National Archives, and some will not be released to the public until as late as 2027.