1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. Something that 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: has come up several times on our show is FBI 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: surveillance of people who were associated with the civil rights 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: movement in the United States. Most recently, we talked about 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: the bureau creating this file on James Baldwin that was 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: more than seventeen hundred pages long, and in earlier episodes, 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: we've talked about things like the FBI using wire taps 10 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: to spy on Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr. 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: A lot of this surveillance was connected to a series 12 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:48,519 Speaker 1: of counterintelligence programs or Cohen's hell pros that primarily targeted 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: left wing organizations and people in the US from nineteen 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: fifty six until nineteen seventy one. The FBI framed this 15 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: as work that was necessary to prevent violence and protect 16 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: national purity, But a whole lot of the people and 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: organizations that they targeted, we're not violent and we're not 18 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: threatening national security. Mostly they were just threatening the status quo, 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: and the FBI pursued the one co intel pro that 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: really really was focused on violent organizations with a totally 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: different end in mind than what it pursued with the 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: other operations. Um, this is one of those topics that 23 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: includes a whole lot of history that is just a 24 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,759 Speaker 1: complicated tangle, So we're gonna tackle it in two parts. Today, 25 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: we'll talk about the history of the FBI, especially as 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: it related to communism and perceived subversive threats, because all 27 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: that fed directly into co Intel Pro. We're also going 28 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: to give an overview of the types of tactics that 29 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: the FBI used across these various programs, and we're going 30 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: to talk about the one co intel pro that was 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: kind of an outlier in all of this, which was 32 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: co Intel Pro White Hate. Next time, we will get 33 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: into some of the specifics of the co intel pros 34 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: that geted black liberation organizations and the new Left, as 35 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: well as how these programs were finally exposed to the public. 36 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: The investigation team that would become the US Federal Bureau 37 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: of Investigation was established in nineteen o eight, and at 38 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: first this was a small group of newly hired investigators 39 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: who worked for the Department of Justice under the Office 40 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: of the Chief Examiner. Before this point, when the Department 41 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: of Justice needed investigators, it had either hired private investigators 42 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: or borrowed investigators from other departments. In nineteen o nine, 43 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: the Office of the Chief Examiner was renamed the Bureau 44 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: of Investigation. The Bureau's work involved enforcing federal law and 45 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: helping to protect the nation from threats. In nineteen seventeen, 46 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: just after the US entered World War One, Congress passed 47 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: the Espionage Act, or an Act to punish acts of 48 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: interference with foreign relations, the neutrality of the foreign commerce 49 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: of the United States, to punish espionage and better to 50 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for 51 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: other purposes. The Bureau of Investigation had become the government's 52 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: largest investigative agency, and it was tasked with enforcing the 53 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: Espionage Act. The Bureau of Investigation also had an assortment 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: of other duties, including guarding the US border with Mexico 55 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: during the Mexican Revolution. The same year that the Espionage 56 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: Act was passed, j Edgar Hoover joined the Department of Justice. 57 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: The following year, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which expanded 58 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: the Espionage Act to focus on anti war activists and socialists. 59 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: The Sedition Act made it a federal crime to quote, willfully, utter, print, rite, 60 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: or publish any disloyal, profane, scureless, or abusive language about 61 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: the form of the government of the United States. It 62 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: also outlawed urging, inciting, or advocating any curtailment or reduction 63 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: in the production of war material. Then, in nineteen nineteen 64 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: U s. Attorney General amish Will Palmer his home was bombed. 65 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: This was part of a series of male bombings carried 66 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: out that year, with seven other bombings happening on that 67 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: same night. We have a two part episode on the 68 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: bombings and the massive series of raids and deportations that followed, 69 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: and that two parter originally came out in twenties sixteen. 70 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: J Edgar Hoover led a team to investigate these bombings, 71 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: and the espionage and Sedition Acts were a big part 72 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: of it. The raids, incarcerations, and deportations that followed became 73 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: known as the Palmer Raids and they were part of 74 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: the first Red Scare, which was a widespread fear of Bolshevists, anarchists, socialists, 75 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 1: and immigrants as a threat to American life and national 76 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: security by Attorney General Palmer's handling of these investigations had 77 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: come under intense scrutiny from both within and outside of 78 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: the US government. On May of that year, a team 79 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: of twelve lawyers issued a report on the raids. Mr 80 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: report detailed cruel and unusual punishments, arrests without warrant, unreasonable 81 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: search as in seizures, compelling persons to witness against themselves, 82 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: propaganda by the Department of Justice, and provocative agents, which 83 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: were basically operatives who entrapped people. Palmer's reputation suffered as 84 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: a result of all this, and he returned to private 85 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: practice after failing to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. 86 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: William J. Flynn was director of the Bureau of Investigation 87 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: at the time, and soon he was replaced as well. 88 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: The Espionage and Sedition Acts were repealed in nineteen twenty 89 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: and ninety one, but Hoover's reputation wasn't really tarnished by 90 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: his involvement in all this. Soon he was being groomed 91 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: to take over the Bureau. J. Edgar Hoover became the 92 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigations director in nineteen twenty four, and the 93 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: Bureau was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in nineteen 94 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: thirty five. Of course, there is a ton of history 95 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: between when Hoover joined the Department of Justice and when 96 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: the FBI started its co into prose. Hoover was involved 97 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: in modernizing and standardizing the FBI, and the bureau itself 98 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: was involved in investigating organized crime during prohibition. During World 99 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: War Two, the FBI also maintained lists of Japanese, German, 100 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: and Italian nationals believed to be a threat to domestic 101 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: security and kept those people under surveillance. Then, of course, 102 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: Japanese immigrants and their American born descendants were incarcerated under 103 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: Executive Order ninety sixty six. That is also covered any 104 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: previous two parter of the podcast. The Central Intelligence Agency 105 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: was founded in nineteen forty seven to focus on foreign intelligence. 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: That left the FBI to focus on domestic intelligence and 107 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: on investigating federal crimes. This creation of the CIA happened 108 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: under the National Security Act of nineteen forty seven, and 109 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: that act also included this definition of counter intelligence quote 110 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other 111 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: intelligence activities, sabotage or assassinations conducted by or on behalf 112 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: of foreign governments or elements thereof foreign organizations or foreign persons, 113 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: or international terrorist activities. A big part of this same 114 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: time span was the fight against communism. Following a precedent 115 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,239 Speaker 1: that had been set by the Palmer Aids, the First 116 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: Red Scare, and the Espionage and Sedition Acts, in nineteen forty, 117 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: Congress passed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the 118 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: Smith Act, and this act included clauses that made it 119 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: illegal for any citizen or resident of the US to quote, advocate, 120 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: a bet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or 121 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: propriety of overthrowing, or destroying any government in the United 122 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: States by force or violence. Just as the Espionage and 123 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: Sedition Acts had been used to target political dissenters and immigrants, 124 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: the Smith Act became a primary tool for prosecuting calm anists. 125 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: In ninety eight, eleven leaders of the Communist Party USA 126 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: were tried and convicted under the Smith Act. They hadn't 127 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: been directly advocating for the overthrow of the U S government, 128 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: but they had been teaching from works by Karl Marx 129 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: and Vladimir Lenin that described the revolutionary overthrow of governments 130 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: as necessary. The Supreme Court upheld these convictions and Dennis 131 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: versus the United States in nineteen fifty one, and this 132 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,559 Speaker 1: court decision moved the country away from an earlier standard 133 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: that required evidence of a clear and present danger in 134 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: order to justify the government placing limits on free speech. 135 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: The focus on communism escalated during the Cold War. World 136 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: War two had left the US and the USS are 137 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: as the two remaining superpowers, and at first the US 138 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: was the only one with nuclear weapons, but the Soviet 139 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: Union detonated its first to nuclear device in nineteen forty nine, 140 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: and soon it became clear that spies had been at 141 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: work within the US nuclear program. This sparked an increasing 142 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: fixation on the idea that Soviet agents were infiltrating the 143 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: United States, including through the US Communist Party. There was 144 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: also a more general fear of Communist infiltration, regardless of 145 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: whether a particular person or organization had ties back to 146 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. The House un American Activities Committee had 147 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: been established in nineteen thirty eight to investigate suspected disloyalty, 148 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:33,079 Speaker 1: including ties to communism, during the Cold War. The committee's 149 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: activities became notorious under the direction of Senator Joseph McCarthy. 150 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: This was all part of the Second Red Scare, which 151 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: was another national panic, this time focused on the idea 152 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: of Communist infiltration. This panic grew out of the tensions 153 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: between the US and the U. S s R, and 154 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: it was further inflamed by other events like the Chinese 155 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,319 Speaker 1: Communist Revolution which started in nineteen forty nine and the 156 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: Korean War which started in nineteen fifty. To be clear, 157 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: some of the people targeted by the House and American 158 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: Activities Committee really were communists or otherwise had ties to 159 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: the Communist Party, and there were some communists who really 160 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,680 Speaker 1: did have ties back to the Soviet Union and its leadership, 161 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: even to the point of spying on the US or 162 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: expressing overt loyalty to the Soviet Union and its leadership. 163 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 1: But the overall paranoia was disproportionate to the actual level 164 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,840 Speaker 1: of threat or the number of Communists who had ties 165 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: to the U. S s R. That also went way 166 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: beyond communism and started targeting more general political activity and dissent. 167 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: The Communist Party had advocated for things like labor rights, 168 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: civil rights, and women's rights, and that made it really 169 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: easy to brand anyone who fought for these same causes 170 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: as a communist, as McCarthy, Hoover, and other public figures 171 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: stoked existing fear and paranoia, the government and private organizations 172 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: tried to purge themselves of anyone deemed to be disloyal 173 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: or a security threat for any reason, for example, anyone 174 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,959 Speaker 1: who might be susceptible to blackmail, and the national climate 175 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: was one of suspicion, repression, and fear. By early nineteen 176 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: fifty four, McCarthy's support was starting to wane because of 177 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: his aggressive tactics with the Committee. I can't remember now 178 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: if we mentioned this already, but they're are also has 179 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: yet another two parter on this back in the archive. 180 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: After he accused several Army officers of having Communist ties, 181 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,560 Speaker 1: his own behavior was investigated, and the Senate voted to 182 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: condemn his conduct on December two of nineteen fifty four. 183 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: Although the House an American Activities Committee still existed, its 184 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: prominence and its reputation declined through the late nineteen fifties 185 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: and sixties. In a lot of ways, the FBI's co 186 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: Intel Prose picked up where the House on American Activities 187 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: Committee left off. And we're going to talk more about 188 00:11:51,640 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: that after we paused for a sponsor break. The FBI 189 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: and the House an American Activities Committee were actively working 190 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: together during the McCarthy era, but the FBI didn't really 191 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: publicize what it was doing or try to promote the 192 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: overall idea that communists had infiltrated a lot of American institutions, 193 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: particularly Hollywood. It left that to the Committee, whose activities 194 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: were publicly known and reported in the press. One of 195 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: the papers that I read while researching all of this 196 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:31,320 Speaker 1: described the FBI during this time as laundering its intelligence 197 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: and counterintelligence activities through the House an American Activities Committee. 198 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: So when the House an American Activities Committee came under 199 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: scrutiny in nineteen fifty four, its own activities declined, but 200 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: the FBI's related work did not. Instead, J Edgar Hoover 201 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: drew on the Communist Control Act of nineteen fifty four 202 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: or quote, an act to outlaw the Communist Party, to 203 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: prohibit members of communist organizations from serving in certain represented 204 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: of capacities, and for other purposes nice and specific there uh. 205 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: This Act banned the Communist Party of the United States, 206 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: framing it not as a legitimate political party, but as 207 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: a conspiracy to overthrow the government. This law came out 208 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: of the same ongoing fear and suspicion of communism, and 209 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,720 Speaker 1: it also connected specifically to the labor movement. There was 210 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:27,199 Speaker 1: some overlap between the Communist Party and union organizers, and 211 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: the acts specifically banned members of the Communist Party from 212 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: holding office and labor organizations. This was purportedly to protect 213 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: unsuspecting workers from Communist subversion, but really it granted the 214 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: government a lot of leeway to investigate labor organizations and 215 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: to invalidate their collective bargaining agreements if they were determined 216 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: to be Communist infiltrated. Hoover interpreted the Communist Control Act 217 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: as giving the FBI broad authority to investigate and proactively 218 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: disrupt communist threats in the U S and when the 219 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: Bureau started these counter intelligence programs, at first the focus 220 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: was on communism. The first formal co intel pro built 221 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: on ongoing counter intelligence efforts that targeted communists. It was 222 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: called co Intel Pro Communist Party USA or cp U 223 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: s A, and that was launched in nineteen fifty six. 224 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: This formal co intel pro grew out of a series 225 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: of field conferences that were held that year as suspected 226 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: communists had been brought to trial under the Smith Act. 227 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: The FBI's informants from within the Communist Party had been 228 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: exposed when they were brought in to testify in court. 229 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: These field conferences were held in part to figure out 230 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: how the Bureau could recruit new informants. A counter intelligence 231 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: program was recommended as a way to keep targeting communists 232 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: while recruiting new informants. Shortly after the FBI established co 233 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: intel pro Communist Party USA, the U. S. Supreme Court 234 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: partially reversed its earlier decision in Dennis versus the United States. 235 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: This time the decision was in Yates v. United States. 236 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled that 237 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: radical reactionary speech was protected under the First Amendment. People 238 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: could talk about revolution and overthrowing the government in the abstract, 239 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: and that was protected speech unless it posed a clear 240 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: and present danger. Thus overturned the convictions of fourteen people 241 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: who had been charged with violating the Smith Act. On 242 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: the same day, the Supreme Court also issued two other 243 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: decisions in cases involving communism and members of the Communist Party, 244 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: and both cases protected their rights to things like privacy 245 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: and due process. These Supreme Court decisions were the first 246 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: of a series that overturned or narrowed the focus of 247 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: laws that had been providing the foundation for the FBI's 248 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: activities against suspected communists. The FBI argued that these court 249 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: rulings left them with no other choice but to fight 250 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: communism through covert counter intelligence, so by the time the 251 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: cointl pros were uncovered and investigated, more than half of 252 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: all the proposed operations had been aimed at the Communist 253 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: Party USA. The FBI carried out one thousand, three hight 254 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: eight separate documented efforts against the Communist Party, whose membership 255 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: went from twenty two thousand in the early nineteen fifties 256 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: to three thousand by nineteen fifty seven. But the focus 257 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: expanded out from communism. Co intel pro CPUs A targeted 258 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: communists and suspected communists, and then organizations that had Communists 259 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: among their members, and then organizations that were maybe tangentially 260 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: connected to suspected communists, and then organizations whose purpose and 261 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: goals had some common themes with the Communist Party even 262 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: if there were no Communists involved, And then the definition 263 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,000 Speaker 1: of communism expanded to include pretty much anything that the 264 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: Bureau considered to be subversive. Coencal pro Cpo SA also 265 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: included counterintelligence operations against civil rights activists, initially because of 266 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: known or suspected ties to communism. For example, Stanley David 267 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 1: Levison was a friend and advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. 268 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: And he had also been one of the major financiers 269 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: of the communist part of USA. But this targeting of 270 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: civil rights activist was not just about actual connections to communism. 271 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: Was also because the Bureau saw civil rights work in 272 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: the US in general as a subversive threat. So as 273 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: coencal pro Cpo s A expanded, the FBI put intense 274 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: efforts into discrediting and disrupting civil rights organizations. The FBI 275 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:50,440 Speaker 1: repeatedly broke into civil rights organizations offices to steal documents, 276 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: and got the I r S to start spurious audits 277 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,159 Speaker 1: of civil rights leaders. In nineteen sixty four, the FBI 278 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,200 Speaker 1: sent an anonymous letter to Martin Luther King June year, 279 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,919 Speaker 1: supposedly written by an anonymous black person, calling him quote 280 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that 281 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: This letter was accompanied by an audio recording purportedly documenting 282 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: evidence of King's extramarital affairs. It ended by saying that 283 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: there was quote only one thing left for you to do. 284 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 1: The implication was that King should take his own life, 285 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: and it said he had thirty four days to do it, 286 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,959 Speaker 1: that deadline being the day he was due to accept 287 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: the Nobel Peace Prize. So those are just examples of 288 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: the targeting of civil rights groups. And as the focus 289 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: of co intel pro CPUSA expanded, the Bureau also started 290 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: establishing other separate counterintelligence programs. When a Senate committee investigated 291 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: the US government's intelligence operations starting in ninety five, we're 292 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: going to talk about that in Part two. They found 293 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: five specific named FBI co intel pros, including co intel 294 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: pro Communist Party USA. The next cointell pro Socialist Workers 295 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: Party started in nineteen sixty one. This one was short lived. 296 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: There's a whole bunch of freedom of information acts stuff 297 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: on the FBI website, and this one only has like 298 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: three pages are three lengths of stuff to go through, 299 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: like the other ones have sometimes twenty and thirty and 300 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: multiple pages of links to go through. So we're not 301 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 1: covering that one in as much detail. But one of 302 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: the things that the Bureau routinely did was to target 303 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: Socialist Workers Party members who were running for public office 304 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: to undermine their political campaigns. In nineteen sixty four, the 305 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: bureau launched co Intel pro White Hate, co Intel pro 306 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: Black Nationalist Slash Hate groups started in nineteen sixty seven, 307 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: and co Intel pro New Left started in nineteen sixty eight. 308 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:52,160 Speaker 1: Other counterintelligence programs were also unearthed later on, with targets 309 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: that included the American Indian Movement and Puerto Rican independence activists. Ostensibly, 310 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 1: the goals of all these counter intelligence programs were to 311 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: protect national security and to prevent violence, and to do 312 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: that the FBI would quote expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or 313 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: otherwise neutralize its targets. The one exception was coin cell 314 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: pro White Hate, and with that the FBI was focused 315 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:23,400 Speaker 1: on curbing white nationalist violence rather than neutralizing the targeted 316 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: groups altogether, which was more the focus and the other 317 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: coin cel pros we're going to get to more about 318 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,160 Speaker 1: that in a bit. At the same time, even though 319 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: the FBI was purportedly preventing violence, some of these operations 320 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: incited violence. For example, the FBI tried to start or 321 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: escalate violent disputes between the black Panthers and street gangs 322 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: operating in the same areas. As another example, it's not 323 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: clear whether the FBI played a direct part in the 324 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,879 Speaker 1: assassination of Malcolm X, but the Bureau definitely stoked the 325 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: divisions and disputes within the Nation of Islam that led 326 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: to his assassination. Another Bureau effort that was unearthed later 327 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: was Operation Hoodwink, which was an effort to quote evoke 328 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 1: a dispute between CPUSA and LaCOSA Nostra, in other words, 329 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: to try to start a war between the Communist Party 330 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: in the Sicilian mafia. And beyond these ideas of national 331 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: security and violence prevention, these programs also worked to maintain 332 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: the existing social and political order in the United States. 333 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: These co intel pros, many of them targeted organizations that 334 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: were not violent and did not threaten national security, but 335 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: they did advocate for changes big and small and how 336 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: the country operated or treated its residents and citizens, especially 337 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: women and people of color. Although there was some variation 338 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: from one to another, which we will get into, the 339 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: Bureau tended to use similar tactics all across all of 340 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: these various counterintelligence programs. Most of these tactics came from 341 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: counterintelligence work that had been carried out in foreign countries 342 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: during wartime with outcomes that the FBI considered to be successful. 343 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: In other words, the United States had honed these techniques 344 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: against its enemies during wartime, and then the FBI started 345 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: using them in the US against its own citizens. To 346 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,920 Speaker 1: quote the Church Committee report, which followed a Senate investigation 347 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,919 Speaker 1: into US intelligence activities. Quote, the techniques were adopted wholesale 348 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: from wartime counter intelligence and ranged from the trivial mailing 349 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: reprints of readers digest articles to college administrators to the 350 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: degrading sending anonymous poison pen letters intending to break up marriages, 351 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:41,479 Speaker 1: and the dangerous encouraging gang warfare and falsely labeling members 352 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:45,719 Speaker 1: of violent groups as police informers. So the bureau relied 353 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: on informants, surveillance, and other investigative tools to get information 354 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: about organizations, their activities, and their members. This included everything 355 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 1: from conducting interviews to opening and photo copying people's mail, 356 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: you breaking into organizations offices to tap phones and copy documents. 357 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,919 Speaker 1: Then it used that information to create division, distrust, and dissent. 358 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:14,159 Speaker 1: Sometimes the interviews themselves did that work. Interviewing members of 359 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: an organization to make others suspect they were informants, or 360 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: conducting multiple simultaneous interviews to make people think that their 361 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: organization had been infiltrated. One specific tactic used to breed 362 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: distrust was called snitch jacketing, also known as bad jacketing, 363 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,359 Speaker 1: which involved using things like planted evidence and faked communications 364 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: to make it seem like a loyal member of an 365 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:41,200 Speaker 1: organization was really an FBI informant. In some cases, FBI 366 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: informants planted the suspicion that loyal members were informants to 367 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: shift the focus off of themselves, and the FBI used 368 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: this tactic within organizations that had a reputation for violence, 369 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: as mentioned earlier, even though that carried the real potential 370 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: for the targeted member to be assassinated or otherwise harmed. 371 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: The Bureau all so called people's parents, employers, landlords, and 372 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: universities to inform them of their involvement in targeted organizations 373 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: to try to get them fired, evicted, or expelled. Many 374 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: of the targets of co intel pro New Left were 375 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: college students, and the FBI either contacted their parents to 376 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: tell them about their children's purportedly subversive activities or they 377 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: faked calls from parents to students haranguing them for their 378 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: political activity. The FBI also created and distributed published material 379 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: that was meant to discredit their targets, and they fed 380 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: news stories, sometimes real and sometimes fabricated, to the media. 381 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: FBI informants gave media interviews in which they intentionally tried 382 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: to make the organizations they were purportedly representing look as 383 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,120 Speaker 1: bad as possible, whether it was through using loaded rhetoric 384 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: or emphasizing a group's most controversial viewpoints, or just seeming unhinged. 385 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: The FBI also paid informants to make false state mints, 386 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: for example, paying informants who were part of non violent 387 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,719 Speaker 1: organizations to make public calls for violence. In some cases, 388 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: the bureau even set up local branches of an organization, 389 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: with the branches entire membership being made up completely of informants, 390 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: or they set up new fictitious organizations whose members were 391 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: all informants so that they could work against their actual targets. 392 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,440 Speaker 1: The FBI also outed gay people and spread rumors about 393 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: people's sexual orientations, regardless of what their sexual orientation actually was. 394 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: They made postcards and mailed them to people's homes like 395 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: for example, a card that said quote thank you for 396 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,680 Speaker 1: your successful participation in anti establishment and anti military Industrial 397 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:50,399 Speaker 1: complex activities, and those were sent to college students parental addresses. 398 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: During co intel pro New Left, the Bureau used postcards 399 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: specifically so that mail carriers, other members of a target's household, 400 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: and others could also see the messaging, and so the 401 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: intended target would wonder who else might have seen it. 402 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,320 Speaker 1: Although most of these tactics were used across all the 403 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: different counterintelligence programs, they weren't used identically or to the 404 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: same extent from one to another. For example, the FBI 405 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: didn't really create a lot of false documents to drive 406 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 1: negative publicity for the Ku Klux Klan under cointell pro 407 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: White Hate. It didn't really need to, since the Ku 408 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: Klux Klan's activities included openly harassing and murdering civil rights activists. 409 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: As another example, the FBI also used tactics that had 410 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,560 Speaker 1: the potential to cause really serious physical, emotional, or economic 411 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: harm during coin cell pro black nationalists hate groups, but 412 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: really rarely used similar tactics when they were working in 413 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,679 Speaker 1: cointell pro White Hate. Although the FBI was fairly insulated 414 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: from other government departments, which is how it was able 415 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: to carry out these kinds of programs for so long. 416 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 1: It also pulled in other departments in bureaus. As part 417 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: of this work, the FBI leaked real and false information 418 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: to the i r S, prompting audits of civil rights 419 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: leaders and other targets, essentially using the i r S 420 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: to harass people. It did the same with local police, 421 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: leading to things like police harassment, arrests, false charges, and 422 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: just a selective enforcement of existing laws depending on who 423 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: the FBI thought deserved to be prosecuted. Basically, all these 424 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: efforts combined investigation, disinformation, psychological warfare, and harassment to try 425 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: to destroy organizations that the FBI thought were threatening or, 426 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: in the case of coin cell pro white hate, to 427 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: just try to curb those organizations violence rather than trying 428 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 1: to neutralize them altogether. And all of this the FBI's 429 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: focus was on whether what it was doing was effective, 430 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: not on whether these tactics were constitutional or otherwise legal. 431 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: According to the FBI, co intel pro operations were a 432 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 1: tiny proportion of its overall work between nineteen fifty six 433 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: and nineteen seventy one, quote about two tenths of one 434 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: percent of the FBI's workload over a fifteen year period. 435 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 1: At the same time, more than fifty thousand pages of 436 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: co intel pro documents were released to the public. Starting 437 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies, a Senate investigation concluded that the 438 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 1: FBI had carried out two thousand, three hundred seventies separate 439 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: counterintelligence actions, with almost one thousand additional actions being proposed 440 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: but not carried out. More were unearthed. Later on, we're 441 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,239 Speaker 1: going to talk about coincal pro white hate, which, as 442 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: we've noted, as kind of an outlier in all of this. 443 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: After a quick sponsor break, the FBI established most of 444 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: its cointal prose because I believe that the people and 445 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: organizations that it was targeting were a threat. Overwhelmingly, these 446 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: targets were on the political left. They were people in 447 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: groups who were advocating for things like civil rights, black liberation, 448 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:09,239 Speaker 1: women's liberation, pacifism, socialism, communism, nuclear disarmament, and an end 449 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: to the US involvement in the Vietnam War, things like that. 450 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: As we noted at the top of the show, there 451 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: were exceptions, but most of the time the people and 452 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: organizations being targeted weren't violent threats. Even organizations that weren't 453 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: specifically non violent. A lot of the time, we're focused 454 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: on defending themselves with violence if necessary, not on instigating violence, 455 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: or in some cases there were individual members of an 456 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: organization that were involved in violence while the organization itself 457 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: was not. Co Intel Pro White Hate started on July 458 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: four and in many ways it was an outlier when 459 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,200 Speaker 1: compared to the other co intel pros. Most of the 460 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: other programs shifted and expanded over time, and some of 461 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: them were particularly vague. For example, in co Intel pro 462 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: New Left, the FBI did not have a precise definition 463 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: for what New Left and ment, but co Intel pro 464 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: White Hate was focused on white supremacist groups, especially the 465 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: Ku Klux Klan, and it kept that focus throughout its 466 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: whole existence. The Ku Klux Klan has been through a 467 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: few iterations in the United States, and it surged in 468 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: popularity during the Civil Rights movement, with its members fighting 469 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: against integration and terrorizing black people in other communities, using 470 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 1: everything from cross burnings to murder. Coincil pro White Hate 471 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: targeted seven Team Ku Klux Klan organizations and nine other 472 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 1: hate groups, including the American Nazi Party. Another big difference 473 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: is that many of the other co intel pros were 474 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: focused on organizations that were challenging the status quo. The 475 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,720 Speaker 1: Ku Klux Klan and other targeted hate groups, on the 476 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: other hand, were maintaining the status quo by upholding segregation, racism, 477 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: and white supremacy. They harassed, threatened, and murdered integrationists and 478 00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: civil rights workers, primarily in the Southern United States. In general, 479 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: members of these organizations were also Christian, anti communist, intensely patriotic, 480 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: and supportive of both local and federal law enforcement. So, 481 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: unlike with the other co intel pros, the FBI's goal 482 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: wasn't to totally neutralize these groups. It was just to 483 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: curb their violence and prevent that violence from spreading to 484 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: other groups. The FBI also took the initiative to launch 485 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: its othern coincal pros based on its own assessments of 486 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: what constituted a threat, But coincal pro white hate followed 487 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: intense pressure from outside the bureau, including from President London 488 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: Baines Johnson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Current and 489 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: former Klansman and other white supremacists had carried out a 490 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: whole series of murders and other acts of violence has 491 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: included the nineteen six Street Baptist church bonding, which killed 492 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: fourteen year olds Addie mccollins, Denise McNair and Carol Robertson 493 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: and eleven year old Cynthia Wesley. Also included the nineteen 494 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: sixty three murder of Medgar Evers and the nineteen sixty 495 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: four murders of civil rights activists Michael Schwermer, Andrew Goodman, 496 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: and James Cheney. After coin Cell pro white Hate started, 497 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 1: members of the clan also murdered Violet Luzo, and one 498 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: of the participants in that murder might have been a 499 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: paid FBI informant. The FBI was criticized for failing to 500 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,880 Speaker 1: prevent or intervene in any of this, something that the 501 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: Bureau had argued was not part of its jurisdiction, but 502 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four had guaranteed 503 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: black Americans equal protection under the law in a number 504 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: of different contexts, which made it hard for the FBI 505 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: to continue that argument. Coin Cell pro white hate ben 506 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,920 Speaker 1: served several purposes for the FBI. It allowed the bureau 507 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: to demonstrate for the President and the Attorney General that 508 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: it was doing something to investigate these crimes at the 509 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: same time, by using covert counter intelligence, the FBI could 510 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: do most of this work in secret without alienating or 511 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: antagonize things Southern law enforcement, many of whom tacitly allowed 512 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: the Ku Klex Klan and other hate groups to operate 513 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: in their area or actively participated. As a side note, 514 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: when j Edgar Hoover said quote Dr. Martin Loser King 515 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: is the most notorious liar in the country in nineteen 516 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: sixty four, that was in response to King's criticisms that 517 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: the Bureau was too friendly with Southern segregationists and that 518 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: the Southern FBI agents were not taking threats to Black 519 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: Americans seriously. The FBI used a lot of the types 520 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: of tactics that we discussed earlier in the episode during 521 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,520 Speaker 1: co and cel pro white hate. As we noted earlier, 522 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,280 Speaker 1: the Bureau didn't really need to create materials to try 523 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: to bring bad pr to the clan because the clan 524 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 1: was doing a lot of that work for them. The 525 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,040 Speaker 1: FBI publicized not only their hate crimes, but also other 526 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: crimes committed by clan leaders and members, including things like 527 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: embezzlement and attempting to arrange marriages between clan members and 528 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 1: underage girls. The SBI also publicly identified clan leaders, including 529 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: leaking their names to the press who published critical articles 530 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: and satirical editorial cartoons. After the House on American Activities 531 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: Committee held hearings on the clan, something that the committee 532 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: was pressured to take on, the FBI released those findings 533 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,840 Speaker 1: to the press as well. The FBI also worked to 534 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,879 Speaker 1: so distrust within these organizations. They sent thousands of postcards 535 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,839 Speaker 1: to clan members that either implied or a flat out 536 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: said that the government had infiltrated the organization or that 537 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: accused KKK leaders of fraud or other wrongdoing. Postcards said 538 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: things like clansmen, trying to hide your identity behind your sheet? 539 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: You received this, someone knows who you are. Once again, 540 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 1: these postcards served multiple purposes to make clan members think 541 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: the organization had been infiltrated, to make them wonder how 542 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: many other people had seen that postcard on its way 543 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: to them, and to make it possible for other people 544 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: in including postal workers, to see that the target was 545 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: in the clan. During coin Cell pro White Hate, the 546 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: Bureau created the National Committee for Domestic Tranquility, which sent 547 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,240 Speaker 1: letters and other materials to clan members to stoke dissent 548 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: and spread rumors about informants. They printed accusations that clan 549 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 1: leaders were the Antichrist and kind of a weird irony. 550 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,880 Speaker 1: The FBI, which because we've talked about, was really focused 551 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: on undermining communism, tried to undermine clan membership by spreading 552 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 1: rumors that communists had infiltrated the organizations. The organization itself 553 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: was fiercely anti Communist. Some of the operations were almost bizarre. 554 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,759 Speaker 1: In one instance, the FBI collected the charred remnants of 555 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: a cross that the clan had burned and then had 556 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: it delivered by courier to a clan meeting, hoping to 557 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,319 Speaker 1: reinforce the idea that not only had someone known about 558 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,840 Speaker 1: the cross burning and who was behind it, but that 559 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: they also knew when and where the group gathered. Is 560 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:06,239 Speaker 1: not clear how effective this was. According to the book 561 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: that I was reading about this um, they took it 562 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: outside and tried to light it on fire again. The 563 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,239 Speaker 1: targeted hate groups naturally realized that they had informants in 564 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 1: their midst Some turned towards requiring lie detector tests and 565 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: questioning people under the effects of sodium pentahal to try 566 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,800 Speaker 1: to determine whether a person was loyal. It is not 567 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,760 Speaker 1: clear whether co Intel pro white hate thwarted white supremacist violence, 568 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,840 Speaker 1: but overall membership in the clan did drop during these years, 569 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 1: from an estimated fourteen to fifteen thousand members before co 570 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: Intel pro to four thousand, three hundred in nineteen seventy one. 571 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 1: It does also seem that public perceptions of the clan 572 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,719 Speaker 1: shifted during these same years, with more people, especially more 573 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 1: white people, seeing the Clan and similar hate groups as 574 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: violent and unstable and mentally connecting the clan to Nazis. 575 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,480 Speaker 1: Some white sub earned leaders who had tacitly or directly 576 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:06,680 Speaker 1: approved of the clans activities gradually distanced themselves during the 577 00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: Bureau's operations. So in the next episode, we're going to 578 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 1: talk more about some of the other co and Tell pros, 579 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:17,600 Speaker 1: including intense targeting of the Black Panthers, and we'll also 580 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: talk about, honestly, one of my favorite parts of this 581 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: whole story, which is how these programs were finally exposed. 582 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,800 Speaker 1: That is a very very good story. So good do 583 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,759 Speaker 1: you have in the realm of good stories? I hope 584 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,839 Speaker 1: a listener mail I do I do? This is from uh, 585 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: I think this name is pronounced Leah. I'm very sorry 586 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,600 Speaker 1: if I have said it wrong. Leah says, Hello, Holly 587 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,279 Speaker 1: and Tracy. Thank you for all the great subjects to 588 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,400 Speaker 1: cover in your episodes. I enjoy listening whenever my toddler 589 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,920 Speaker 1: allows me to. I never thought I'd be sending you 590 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: an email, but the episode on the history of beekeeping 591 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: changed my mind. My grandparents lived in Oregon in an 592 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: old depost station building that was converted into a home. 593 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: The building still exists as far as I know, but 594 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,040 Speaker 1: as a child, I visit of this building, which was 595 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:04,160 Speaker 1: then the home of a real estate business, and what 596 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 1: was once the kitchen my grandparents had an observation beehive. 597 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,439 Speaker 1: The beehive was still there when I visited as a child, 598 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,879 Speaker 1: but the room was no longer a kitchen. This home 599 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,360 Speaker 1: has some history because, as the story was told in 600 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: my family, my grandfather used some dynamite to remove plaster 601 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: off the walls when doing some home renovation. It did 602 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,440 Speaker 1: just that and split a hole in the corner of 603 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: the house. I don't remember my grandparents very well. They 604 00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: died when I was very young. Your episode on beekeeping 605 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: reminded me of them, as a side note, I grew 606 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: up with my father keeping bees in our lot in California. 607 00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:39,239 Speaker 1: We kept them at the very back of the lot 608 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: in the chicken coop. I grew up chewing on the 609 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,400 Speaker 1: honeycomb caps that were sliced off the honeycomb itself with 610 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,239 Speaker 1: a hot knife. We collected so much honey that I 611 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,720 Speaker 1: don't think we ever bought honey for twenty years later, however, 612 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 1: when my mom passed away and we had to clean 613 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: out and sell her house, we found some honey containers 614 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:57,719 Speaker 1: that had leaked and left stains on the cement floor 615 00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:59,719 Speaker 1: of the basement. I don't think the new owners will 616 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: ever guess that the stain was cast by honey. Thanks 617 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: again for your great storytelling and unlocking the world beyond 618 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: my home during this time. Leah. Ps, I know you 619 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: like really long titles. I hope the long subject line 620 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:16,680 Speaker 1: catches your attention. UM, and this subject line, for everyone's delight, 621 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: is observation be hive in the kitchen, dynamite for home 622 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: reno and honey stains on cement floor. So thank you 623 00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: so much for this email, Leah. I hope everybody, as 624 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: we've said before, is is just keeping themselves as safe 625 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: as it's possible to do. I know, stuff is still 626 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: really hard for everyone, and you know, particularly hard for 627 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:46,800 Speaker 1: the people that UM are are facing multiple, multiple crises 628 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 1: that are unfolding at the same time. UM So, thank 629 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 1: you everyone for listening, Thank you Leah for this email. 630 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us on this 631 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:57,759 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, or at history Podcasts at i 632 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,040 Speaker 1: heart radio dot com. You can also find us on 633 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,319 Speaker 1: social media as missed in History. That's our our name 634 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 1: on the sites that we used, and you can subscribe 635 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: to our show in the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, 636 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: and anywhere else you get your podcast. Stuff you Missed 637 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I heart Radio. 638 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 639 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 1: heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 640 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.