1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This is the second part of our two 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: part episode on co Intel pro. Part one, which ran 3 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: last Saturday, includes lots of background on the FBI and 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: its counterintelligence programs. Today's installment is focused on co intel 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: pros that targeted civil rights groups and the vaguely defined 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: New Left, as well as the raid on the FBI 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: office in Media, Pennsylvania that brought these programs to light. 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: At the end of this episode, we mentioned that some 9 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: of the people who were part of that raid were 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: also suspected as being part of the Camden twenty eight, 11 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: who broke into the Camden, New Jersey, Draft Board office 12 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: and destroyed draft records there in nineteen seventy one. 13 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 2: We talked about. 14 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: The Camden twenty eight and other Vietnam War era draft 15 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: board raids in a two parter that ran on April 16 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: seventh and ninth, twenty twenty five. This episode originally came 17 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: out July twenty second, twenty twenty Welcome to Stuff You 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:12,959 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 19 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm 20 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: Holly Frye. Today we are wrapping up our two parter 21 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: on co Intel Pro, including its targeting of so called 22 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: black nationalist slash hate groups and a targeting of a 23 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: very vaguely defined movement known as the New Left. To 24 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: briefly recap from part one, which is highly recommended before 25 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: listening to this because it includes a lot of context 26 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: and overview, but just as a quick recap, we're going 27 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: to quote from the Church Report, which followed more than 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: a year of Senate Committee hearings into all this quote. 29 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: The origins of co Intel pro demonstrate that the Bureau 30 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: adopted extra legal methods to counter perceived threats to national 31 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: security and public order because the ordinary legal processes were 32 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: believed to be insufficient to do the job. In essence, 33 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: the Bureau took the law into its own hands, conducting 34 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: a sophisticated vigilante operation against domestic enemies. Whether those targets 35 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: were really enemies, though, that is a different question. The 36 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: report went on to say, quote, the choice of individuals 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: and organizations to be neutralized and disrupted ranged from the 38 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: violent elements of the Black Panther Party to Martin Luther 39 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: King Junior, who the Bureau concedes was an advocate of nonviolence. 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: From the Communist Party to the ku Klux Klan, from 41 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: the advocates of violent revolutions such as the Weathermen, to 42 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: the supporters of peaceful social change, including the Southern Christian 43 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: Leadership Conference and the Inter University Committee for Debate on 44 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: Foreign Policy. Just a heads up in this episode, there 45 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: are going to be some discussions of suicide and also 46 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: police violence. In nineteen sixty seven, the FBI started co 47 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: Intel pro Black Nationalist hate Groups. For the most part, 48 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,959 Speaker 1: targeting of civil rights groups that had been carried out 49 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: under Cointel pro CPUSA, which we talked about last time, 50 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: rolled up under this newly established program. In the words 51 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: of the program supervisor, the targeted groups were selected because 52 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: they were believed to be violent or because of their 53 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 1: quote radical or revolutionary rhetoric and actions. On March fourth, 54 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent a 55 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: memo to be routed through forty one FBI field offices. 56 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: This memo was called Counterintelligence Program Black Nationalist Hate Group's 57 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: Racial Intelligence. And this is a little bit long, but 58 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: it's so illustrative of what the FBI was doing here 59 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: and more generally, what Hoover's mindset was across the other 60 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: co intel pros. We're going to read a chunk of it. 61 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: So it began quote goals for maximum effectiveness of the 62 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: counterintelligence program and to prevent wasted effort. Long range goals 63 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: are being set. Number one, prevent the coalition of militant 64 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: black nationalist groups. In unity, there is strength, a truism 65 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: that is no less valid for all its triteness. An 66 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: effective coalition of black nationalist groups might be the first 67 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: step toward a real mau Mau in America, the beginning 68 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: of a true Black revolution. So, for context, mau Mau 69 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: is a reference to the Mau Mau movement and uprising 70 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,799 Speaker 1: in Kenya, which advocated a violent overthrow of British colonial rule. 71 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: This went on too prevent the rise of a messiah 72 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement. 73 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: Malcolm X might have been such a messiah. He is 74 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: the martyr of the movement today. Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, 75 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: and Elijah Mohammed all aspire to this position. Elijah Mohammed 76 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: is less of a threat because of his age. King 77 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: could be a very real contender for this position, should 78 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: he abandon his supposed quote obedience to quote white liberal 79 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: doctrines in parentheses nonviolence, and embrace black nationalism. Carmichael has 80 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: the necessary charisma to be a real threat in this way. 81 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: Number three prevent violence on the part of black nationalist groups. 82 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: This is of primary importance and is of course a 83 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: goal of our investigative activity. It should also be a 84 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: goal of the counterintelligence program to pinpoint potential troublemakers and 85 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: neutralize them before they exercise their potential for violence. Number 86 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 1: four prevent militant black nationalist groups and leaders from gaining 87 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: respectability by discrediting them to three separate segments of the community. 88 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: The goal of discrediting black nationalists must be handled tactically 89 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: in three ways. You must discredit those groups and individuals 90 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: to first, the responsible Negro community. Second, they must be 91 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: discredited to the white community, both the responsible community and 92 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: to liberals who have vestiges of sympathy for militant Black 93 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,119 Speaker 1: national list simply because they are negroes. Third, these groups 94 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: must be discredited in the eyes of Negro radicals, the 95 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 1: followers of the movement. This last area requires entirely different 96 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: tactics from the first two. Publicity about violent tendencies and 97 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: radical statements merely enhances black nationalists to the last group. 98 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: It adds respectability in a different way. Number five. A 99 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: final goal should be to prevent the long range growth 100 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: of militant black organizations, especially among youth. Specific tactics to 101 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: prevent these groups from converting young people must be developed. 102 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:38,720 Speaker 2: This memo went on. 103 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: To outline the primary targets of this co intel, pro 104 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: that everything we just read was going to apply to. 105 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: These were the organizations that Hoover described as the quote 106 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: most violent and radical. It included the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 107 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Revolutionary Action Movement, and the 108 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: Nation of Islam. 109 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 2: This is an. 110 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: Incredibly weird list. 111 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 2: Snick has nonviolent write it in the name, like the 112 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 2: Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Martin Luther King Junior helped found 113 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: this represents the whole spectrum of from nonviolent direct action 114 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 2: to revolutionary black nationalism, and the FBI even noted that 115 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 2: in its view, some individual members of the Nation of 116 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 2: Islam had been involved in violence, but the organization itself 117 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 2: was not violent. It was being targeted because of its separatism. 118 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: Basically, the FBI grouped a lot of different organizations with 119 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: a wide range of objectives and ideologies and tactics under 120 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: this co intel Pro that was supposedly about black nationalism 121 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: and hate groups. Some, as Tracey just mentioned, were strictly pacifist, 122 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: Some advocated gun ownership or violent self defense, Some spoke 123 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: in very theoretical terms about the need for a revolution, 124 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: and some of them called for an actual armed uprising 125 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: or other violence. All very different ideologies, but still under 126 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: this one umbrella. The FBI classed them all together as 127 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: violent and radical, viewing virtually any organization calling for equal 128 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: rights for black people as potentially violent and as a consequence, 129 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: as needing to be disrupted. Yeah, Like, the thing that 130 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: these all had in common was like black people equality, 131 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: equality please, or like demanding equality with very aggressive rhetoric 132 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: and sometimes violence. Like that's what it all had in common. 133 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: The FBI put intense effort into discrediting and disrupting all 134 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: these organizations and other organizations that were not specifically named, 135 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: using all the methods that we talked about in Part one. 136 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: But about a year after this co intel pro was established, 137 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: another different organization rose to national prominence, and that was 138 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party, and this co intel Pro then 139 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: pivoted to shift almost exclusively on that. The Black Panther 140 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: part originally called the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, 141 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: was founded in Oakland, California in nineteen sixty six by 142 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 1: Huey Newton and Bobby Seal. A lot of the Black 143 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: Panthers rhetoric was radical and revolutionary, arguing that the only 144 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: way black people could be truly free is if they 145 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: were able to govern their own affairs. When they were 146 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: establishing the party, Newton and Seal crafted a ten point 147 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: program which began, we want freedom, We want power to 148 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: determine the destiny of our black community. This ten point 149 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: program went on to call for full employment, an end 150 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: to quote the robbery by the capitalists of our black community, 151 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: decent housing, education, exemption from military service for black men, 152 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: an end to police brutality, freedom for black men who 153 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: were held in prisons in jails, and it ended, quote 154 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: we want land, bred, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. 155 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: The ten point Plan elaborated on each of these points. 156 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 1: The exemption from military service stemmed from the United States 157 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: involvement in Vietnam and the idea that black people should 158 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: not be forced to serve in the military of a 159 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: nation that did not protect them. The idea behind the 160 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: release of incarcerated black men was that they had not 161 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,359 Speaker 1: been given a fair and impartial trial, so their convictions 162 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: were not valid. As part of their work, the Black 163 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: Panthers started more than thirty community service programs known as 164 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: survival programs. These included things like free breakfast programs for 165 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: school children, a tuberculosis screening and treatment program, medical clinics, 166 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,440 Speaker 1: ambulance services, legal aid, and education programs. The Black Panthers 167 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: also created a screening program for sickle cell disease that 168 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: later served as a template for the federal government's own 169 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: screening programs. Over time, a lot of these services were 170 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: expanded to include anyone who was oppressed, including poor white people. 171 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: The Black Panthers also showed up to support other marginalized 172 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: groups in their own activism. They are mentioned two different 173 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: times in our Six Impossible episodes from sip Ins to 174 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: fish Ins, which focused on direct action demonstrations and similar protests. 175 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,079 Speaker 1: In that episode, we talked about the Black Panther support 176 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,079 Speaker 1: of the fish In movement in the Pacific Northwest, and 177 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 1: they're providing meals to disabled activists who took over the 178 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,960 Speaker 1: Department of Health Education and Welfare Office in San Francisco 179 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: during the Section five oh four protests. But today, the 180 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: first thing a lot of people, especially a lot of 181 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: white people, think of when someone says the Black Panthers 182 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 1: is guns and violence. The Black Panthers organized armed patrols 183 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: of black neighborhoods to protect residents from police brutality and 184 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: from gang violence. At one point, they staged an armed 185 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: takeover of the California State Legislature that was in response 186 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: to gun control legislation. As other examples outside of the 187 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: party's organized activities, Huey Newton was involved in a shootout 188 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: with police in nineteen sixty seven in which an officer 189 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: was killed. Bobby Seal was charmed urge but not convicted, 190 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: with conspiracy to incite riots at the nineteen sixty eight 191 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: Democratic National Convention, and of the murder of a nineteen 192 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: year old Black Panther who was suspected of being a 193 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: police informant. In a memo back to headquarters, a California 194 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: field office described the Black Panthers as quote the most 195 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,319 Speaker 1: violence prone organization of all the extremist groups now operating 196 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: in the United States, and that alleged that they were 197 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: performing quote not only verbal attacks, but also physical attacks 198 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: on police. Later, J Edgar Hoover called the Black Panthers 199 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: quote one of the greatest threats to the nation's internal security. 200 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: On November twenty fifth, nineteen sixty eight, several FBI field 201 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: offices received a memo ordering them to submit quote imaginative 202 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: and hard hitting counter intelligence measures aimed at crippling the BPPS, 203 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: of course, the Black Panther Party. This directive was expanded 204 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: to additional field offices in January of nineteen sixty nine. 205 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: Collen's hel pro black nationalist hat Green soon focused almost 206 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: entirely on the Black Panthers, rather than on that collection 207 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: of groups that we outlined earlier in that nineteen sixty 208 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: eight memo. Of this co intel pros two hundred and 209 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: ninety five documented actions, two hundred and thirty three of 210 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: them were against the Black Panthers. Using all those various 211 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: techniques that we described in Part one as examples, the 212 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: FBI intentionally undermined the Black Panthers public service programs, for example, 213 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: by sending fake, inflammatory membership materials to food pantries and 214 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: other organizations that were donating food for the breakfast programs. 215 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: The Bureau used disinformation to try to spark violent conflicts 216 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: between the Panthers and area street gangs, and to spark 217 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,480 Speaker 1: violent conflicts between the Panthers and police to reinforce the 218 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: idea that the Black Panthers were just inherently violent. In 219 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, the FBI became aware of a Black 220 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: Panther coloring book. The origins of this book are a 221 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: little bit murky, but Akinsanya Cambone, who was then known 222 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: as Mark Temer, has taken credit for its creation. In 223 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 1: a twenty sixteen interview, he describes it as a history book. 224 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: It depicts slave owners, greedy store owners, and police all 225 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: as obese pigs with exaggerated lower tusks. While Cambone has 226 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: stressed that these pigs can be any color, which is 227 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: why it is a coloring book, they are generally interpreted 228 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: as representations of white people, and this book is full 229 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: of images of black people, adults and children, men and 230 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: women stabbing and shooting the pigs. Black Panther leadership felt 231 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: that the coloring book was inappropriate and ordered Cambone to 232 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: destroy it, but someone made copies, and after the FBI 233 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: obtained one, it made more copies and distributed them, as 234 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: though the Black Panther Party had officially created this book 235 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: with the intent of distributing it to children. The FBI's 236 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: harassment of the Black Panthers also went beyond the organized 237 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: membership and its programs. Dean Seberg was an actress who 238 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: donated to the Black Panthers in support of their breakfast programs. 239 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: During her pregnancy, the FBI sent false tips to news 240 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,640 Speaker 1: organizations alleging that the father of her baby was a 241 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: Black Panther. This, of course, was a huge scandal. Seberg 242 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: tried to take her own life. As a result, she 243 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: went into labor prematurely and her baby died. According to 244 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: family members, she tried to take her own life every 245 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: year around the time of the baby's death, and then 246 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: she died in nineteen seventy nine. Her death was ruled 247 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: a suicide, although some of her families had suspicions that 248 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: there was foul play involved. And perhaps most notoriously, on 249 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: December fourth, nineteen sixty nine, the FBI orchestrated a raid 250 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: that was carried out by Chicago police, who fired between 251 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: eighty two and ninety nine gun shots into an apartment 252 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: where several members of the Black Panther Party were sleeping. 253 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: Among other involvement, an FBI informant had provided police with 254 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: a floor plan of the apartment. Chicago Black Panther leaders 255 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,600 Speaker 1: Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed and four other 256 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: people in the apartment were seriously injured. Police claimed that 257 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: this was a violent gunfight, with the Black Panthers being 258 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: the first to open fire, but an investigation revealed that 259 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: only one shot had been fired from inside the apartment, 260 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: most likely by Mark Clark after he had already been 261 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: fatally shot by police. According to Hampton's fiance, Deborah Johnson, 262 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: who was in bed asleep with him when the shooting started, 263 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: an officer who came into the apartment after the shooting 264 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: stopped asked if Hampton was still alive. Another officer fired 265 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: two shots and said he's good and dead now. The 266 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: Black Panther Party dissolved in nineteen eighty two, with co 267 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: intel pro being one of the many factors that contributed 268 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: to its end. Former members say it is unrelated to 269 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: the New Black Panther Party, which was founded in nineteen 270 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: eighty nine and is classified as a hate group by 271 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Southern 272 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: Poverty Law Center. Let's take a break. The last formal 273 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: cointel pro that was described in the Senate investigation reports 274 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,679 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about in a little bit was 275 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: co intel Pro New Left, and that started in nineteen 276 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: sixty eight. And of all the formally named co intel pros, 277 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 1: this was the most loosely focused. And I mean, as 278 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: we've discussed, most of them were loosely focused. As we 279 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: mentioned in part one, the FBI didn't really even have 280 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: a definition for what new Left meant. The New Left supervisor, 281 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: who was quoted in the Church Committee report, said quote, 282 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 1: I cannot recall any document that was written defining New 283 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: Left as such. It is my impression that the characterization 284 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,240 Speaker 1: of New Left groups, rather than being defined at any 285 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: specific time by document, it more or less grew. It 286 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: has never been strictly defined, as far as I know. 287 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: It is more or less an attitude. I would think 288 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,640 Speaker 1: that makes it sound almost like an advertiser sound bite 289 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: New Left. It's an attitude. The incident that prompted the 290 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: FBI to create this co intel pro was a student 291 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 1: uprising at Columbia University in nineteen sixty eight. There was 292 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: a lot involved in this protest, but its most direct 293 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: precursor was the university's decision to build a new gym 294 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 1: in Morningside Park. Even though the gym was being planned 295 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: for public land, its facilities would mostly be for use 296 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: only by the university and not by the public. To 297 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: add to that frustration, this was part of an ongoing 298 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: pattern of the university's expansion into Harlem, which was pushing 299 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: the neighborhood's predominantly black residents out of their homes in 300 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: order to build facilities that they were not going to 301 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: be allowed to access. So the resulting protest was complicated, 302 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: like we cannot get all into all of the nuances here, 303 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: but generally the university. These student Afro American Society or 304 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: SAS started voicing their own and the community's objections to 305 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: this gym, and then the school's chapter of the Students 306 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: for a Democratic Society or SDS, which was predominantly white, 307 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: saw this as an opportunity for a larger protest that 308 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: would also focus on the university's involvement with the Vietnam War. 309 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: Members of the SAS felt like they were being talked 310 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: over and that the SDS was taking the protests in 311 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: an entirely different direction. And the end, the Student Afro 312 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: American Society took over Hamilton Hall, and the Students for 313 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: a Democratic Society took over other buildings on campus and 314 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: took the Dean hostage. There were more than a thousand 315 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: demonstrators who took part in the campus shutdown that lasted 316 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,160 Speaker 1: for a week. At the university's request, the New York 317 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: Police Department began clearing the demonstrators. On April thirtieth, nineteen 318 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: sixty eight. Black demonstrators who had taken over Hamilton Hall 319 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: left peacefully. More more than one thousand police moved into 320 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: the other buildings. Some of the other demonstrators verbally and 321 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: physically resisted, including by throwing things like shoes, bathroom tiles, 322 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: and books at officers. Police forcibly removed people, beating some 323 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: of the resisting students and in some cases bystanders with nightsticks. 324 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: Others were trampled. In the end, one hundred thirty two students, 325 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: four faculty members, and twelve police officers were injured. So 326 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: Coinzel pro New Left was motivated by the FBI's frustrations 327 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: that the university had not brought in police earlier, and 328 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 1: also by a sense that these types of protests should 329 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: not be permitted to happen in the first place. The 330 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: directives for coinsal pro New Left were distributed by a 331 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: memo in May of nineteen sixty eight, and as described 332 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: in the Church Report, agents were to gather information on 333 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,719 Speaker 1: this is all quote. One false allegations of police brutality 334 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: to quote counter the widespread charges of police brutality that 335 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 1: invariably arise following student police encounters. To immorality depicting the 336 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: quote scurrilous and depraved nature of many of the characters, activities, habits, 337 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: and living conditions representative of New Left adherents. And three 338 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: action by college administrators to quote to show the value 339 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,440 Speaker 1: of college administrators and school officials taking a firm stand 340 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: and pointing out quote whether and to what extent faculty 341 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: members rendered aid and encouragement. Point two sounds like a 342 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: lot of the other counterintelligence efforts we've talked about in 343 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: cointel pros, but otherwise, in the FBI's view, the use 344 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:45,120 Speaker 1: of force against demonstrators was warranted, and if demonstrators were 345 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: injured in the process, they deserved it. In nineteen sixty eight, 346 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: both the FBI and the NYPD viewed the amount of 347 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:56,440 Speaker 1: force used at Columbia as appropriate and restrained. No tear 348 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: gas was used, no one was shot, and the injury 349 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: sustained students and faculty were minor enough that those who 350 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: had to go to the hospital were treated and released. 351 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: It's just such a weird bar to such a weird 352 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: bar of whether the use was appropriate. The use of 353 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: forces appropriate was like, well, okay, nobody like died. Was 354 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:20,479 Speaker 1: kind of the right tone of it. However, the FBI 355 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: also had a similar interpretation in cases of police brutality 356 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: that were far more clearly egregious. For example, after riots 357 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: broke out during the nineteen sixty eight Democratic National Convention 358 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 1: in Chicago, a memo from FBI headquarters to the Chicago 359 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: Field Office read quote, once again, the liberal press and 360 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: the bleeding hearts and the forces on the left are 361 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,520 Speaker 1: taking advantage of the situation in Chicago surrounding the Democratic 362 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,959 Speaker 1: National Convention to attack the police and organize law enforcement agencies. 363 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: We should be mindful of this situation and develop all 364 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: possible evidence to expose this activity and to refute these 365 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,200 Speaker 1: false allegations. Conversely, the walker of which was prepared for 366 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of violence 367 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: concluded that there really was police wrongdoing a portion of 368 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: it read quote. Demonstrators attacked two and they posed difficult 369 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: problems for police as they persisted in marching through the streets, 370 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: blocking traffic and intersections. But it was the police who 371 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,360 Speaker 1: forced them out of the park and into the neighborhood. 372 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: And on the part of the police, there was enough 373 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: wild club swinging, enough cries of hatred, enough gratuitous beating 374 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: to make the conclusion inescapable that individual policemen, and lots 375 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: of them, committed violent acts far in excess of the 376 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: requisite force for crowd dispersal or arrests. To read dispassionately 377 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: the hundreds of statements describing at first hand the events 378 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,199 Speaker 1: of Sunday and Monday nights is to become convinced of 379 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: the presence of what can only be called a police riot. 380 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: So while coenfelpro knew left was ostensibly about targeting this 381 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: very vaguely defined collection of left wing demonstrators as being 382 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: a threat to national security, it was also paired up 383 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: with this sense of a much needed law enforcement crackdown 384 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 1: that was justified and necessary, and the need to protect 385 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: police and other law enforcement from false accusations of brutality. 386 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: Aside from that, it is difficult to talk about co 387 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 1: intel Pro New Left in a cohesive way. The counterintelligence 388 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: program wound up targeting virtually every anti war group in 389 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,400 Speaker 1: the US, as well as student demonstrators who were demonstrating 390 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: for just about any reason. In the words of the 391 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,640 Speaker 1: Church Report quote, none of the bureau witnesses deposed believes 392 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: the New Left co intel Pro was generally effective, in 393 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:46,919 Speaker 1: part because of the imprecise targeting. Also, the tone of 394 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: a lot of the FBI memos regarding the New lefts 395 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,879 Speaker 1: sound almost baffled. Agents really did not get these young people, 396 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: most of them white and affluent, a lot of them 397 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:01,440 Speaker 1: looking like stereotypical hippies agitating against the like police brutality 398 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: and the Vietnam War. Memos include kind of perplexed sounding 399 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:11,240 Speaker 1: references to things like yoga and drugs. Participants in the 400 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,119 Speaker 1: organizations targeted under cointel Pro New Left also tended to 401 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: be simultaneously idealistic and cynical, so the Bureau had a 402 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: harder time finding informants or infiltrating organizations. For example, the 403 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,320 Speaker 1: main phone at the national headquarters of Students for a 404 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: Democratic Society had a sign taped to it for more 405 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: than a year that said, in capital letters, this phone 406 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: is tapped. 407 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 2: Yeah. 408 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: That is not to suggest that the other targeted organizations 409 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: were clueless, like they were just particularly cynical about the 410 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: bureau by this point. The people who ultimately got the 411 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: ball rolling on exposing co intel pro were members of 412 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,960 Speaker 1: anti war and other activist movements that had been targeted 413 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:57,719 Speaker 1: during these programs history, and we'll talk more about that 414 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: after a sponsor break. Counterintelligence is still part of the 415 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: FBI's work, But in terms of these formally named cohen 416 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: Cel pros, those came to an end thanks to the 417 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,119 Speaker 1: work of some regular people who pulled off a heist. 418 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: When we say regular people, they included a cab driver, 419 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,680 Speaker 1: a daycare center director, a social worker, and a professor. 420 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,920 Speaker 1: It sounds like one of those walk into a bar jokes. 421 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 2: I know. 422 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,880 Speaker 1: It's my favorite part of these episodes for the number 423 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: of reasons, one of them being it's the most straightforward. Yeah. 424 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:42,679 Speaker 1: Also it being just kind of a David and Goliath story, 425 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,360 Speaker 1: so would had become clear to many of these groups 426 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: that the FBI was targeting them. Left wing activists viewed 427 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: the FBI with increasing suspicion, but nobody had evidence of 428 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: what they thought was happening. In nineteen seventy, a group 429 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,199 Speaker 1: of anti war activists in the Philadelphia area decided to 430 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 1: do something about it. Anti war activist and college professor 431 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: William C. Davidon came up with the idea. John and 432 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 1: Bonnie Raines, a married couple with small children, were also involved. 433 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: John had also been a freedom writer. Others included Keith Forsyth, 434 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: Robert Williamson, Judy Fine Gold, and two people known by pseudonyms. 435 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,680 Speaker 1: One of those is Susan Smith and the other is 436 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: Ron Durst. A ninth participant dropped out before the burglary 437 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: actually took place. 438 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 2: There was no way. 439 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: They could break into the Philadelphia FBI office, which had 440 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: tight security, so they looked for other FBI field offices, 441 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,399 Speaker 1: finding one nearby in Media, Pennsylvania. This office was housed 442 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: in an apartment building with a shared lobby space, which 443 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: was adjacent to the county courthouse that cased this area. 444 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: Bonnie rains posed as a student from Swarthmore College and 445 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: arranged a meeting under the guise of researching career opportunities 446 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 1: for women at the bureau. They scheduled their burglary for 447 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: March eighth, nineteen seventy one, the night of the Fight 448 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: of the Century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, reasoning 449 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: that most people would be watching the fight. After breaking in, 450 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 1: they removed thousands of files which were being stored in 451 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: regular file cabinets. After sorting through what they had stolen, 452 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: they mailed selections to newspapers and members of Congress, anonymously 453 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:29,639 Speaker 1: calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI. Most 454 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: of the newspapers returned these documents to the Bureau, but 455 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,680 Speaker 1: the Washington Post confirmed their authenticity and ran a front 456 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: page story on March twenty fourth, nineteen seventy one. It 457 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: was titled Stolen documents describe FBI surveillance activities. The article 458 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: described surveillance of black activist organizations and efforts to enhance 459 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: existing paranoia. To quote further serve to get the point 460 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox. 461 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: Mail documents and more articles followed. J Edgar Hoover officially 462 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: canceled co Intel pro on April twenty seventh, nineteen seventy one, 463 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: citing security reasons. Although some co Intel pro activities continued, 464 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: just without a specific name attached, but it wasn't yet 465 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: clear to anyone outside the bureau what the term co 466 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: intel pro meant or what its scope was. Jay Edgar 467 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: Hoover died on May second, nineteen seventy two. He had 468 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: been the director of the FBI for forty eight years. 469 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy three and nineteen seventy four, NBC journalist 470 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: Carl Stern filed a series of requests under the Freedom 471 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: of Information Act. Those requests were repeatedly turned down until 472 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: the documents were finally released under a court order, and 473 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: that is when people finally started to get a sense 474 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: of what co intel pro meant and just how huge 475 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: it was. In nineteen seventy four, Seymour Hirsch wrote a 476 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: front page article for The New York Times titled huge 477 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: CIA operation reported in US against anti war forces. This 478 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: article reported that the CIA was engaged in very co 479 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: intel pro like operations against peace activists in the US, 480 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: but the CIA was not supposed to be operating domestically 481 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: at all. These news reports sparked outrage within the government 482 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: and among the general public. President Gerald Ford appointed the 483 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: Rockefeller Commission to investigate the CIA. The House established the 484 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 1: Pike Committee to investigate illegal activities by the CIA, the FBI, 485 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: and the NSA. The Pike Committee's report was never published. 486 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: On January twenty first, nineteen seventy five, a resolution was 487 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: introduced in the Senate to create a committee to investigate 488 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: federal intelligence operations and determine quote the extent, if any, 489 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: to which illegal, improper, or unethical activities were engaged in 490 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: by any agency of the federal government. Congressional hearings went 491 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: on through nineteen seventy five and nineteen seventy six. The 492 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: Senate committee was dubbed the Church Committee, was headed by 493 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: Senator Frank Church, a Democrat from Ohio. The other committee 494 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: members were selected to represent a range of viewpoints and 495 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: experience levels, with the final group including six Democrats and 496 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: five Republicans. A staff of one hundred and fifty people 497 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: went through the thousands and thousands of pages of documents 498 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: that were involved in all this. We should take a 499 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: moment to talk about the FBI documentation. The FBI under 500 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: j Edgar Hoover was intensely bureaucratic, with a relentless focus 501 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: on documenting everything. Also, most of cointel Pro's existence took 502 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: place before the Freedom of Information Act was passed in 503 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven. All of it took place before the 504 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: Privacy Act amendments were added in nineteen seventy four, which 505 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: gave citizens the right to see the FBI's files about themselves. 506 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: In other words, the FBI was right everything down, and 507 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: it was not doing so with the thought that anyone 508 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: might ever read any of this outside of the Bureau. 509 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: Whether the information flow was going out to field offices 510 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: and agents or back into headquarters, nobody was disguising their 511 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: meeting or intent. Everyone was saying the quiet part loud 512 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,000 Speaker 1: and doing it in writing. Also, FBI documents from the 513 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 1: cointel pro era are full of racist slurs and offensive 514 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: stereotypes of black people. After the FBI formally started co 515 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: intel pro black nationalists slash hate groups, agents talked candidly 516 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: about how if they didn't do a good enough job, 517 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: the Bureau was going to be forced to hire black agents. 518 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: This idea even came with its own slogan that mimicked 519 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: the accent of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, a rhyming 520 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: couplet that ended with the N word. Also, as a 521 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: continuation of that note there were only five black FBI 522 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: agents during most of the co Intel pro era. They 523 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: had been hired as personal assistants or drivers for J. 524 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: Edgar Hoover, and then they had been given the title 525 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: special agent during World War II so that they would 526 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: not be drafted. So back to the investigations. Most of 527 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,800 Speaker 1: the hearings were behind closed doors, both to try to 528 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: prevent them from turning into a TV spectacle and also 529 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: to protect information about the US methods for conducting intelligence work. 530 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: Even so, the hearings were criticized for threatening US intelligence efforts, 531 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: and Senator Church was accused of using it to bolster 532 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: a presidential bid. While the Church Committee wanted to protect 533 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: legitimate US intelligence efforts, it also wanted the public to 534 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: have a chance to learn about what was going on, 535 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: and to that end, the committee held public hearings in 536 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: September and October of nineteen seventy five. These hearings were 537 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 1: focused on specific areas of misconduct. This included information about 538 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: a biological agent's program run by the CIA, a domestic 539 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: surveillance program from the White House, and the FBI's programs 540 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: to disrupt the civil rights movement and the anti Vietnam 541 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: war movement. After one hundred twenty six full committee meetings, 542 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: forty subcommittee meetings, more than eight hundred witness interviews, and 543 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: a review of more than one hundred ten thousand documents, 544 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 1: the Church Committee issued a report that described quote a 545 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: pattern of reckless disregard of activities that threatened our constitutional system. 546 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 1: And this was not just unique to the FBI, but 547 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 1: the FBI is our focus here. The report went on 548 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: to say, quote The abusive techniques used by the FBI 549 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 1: in co intel pro from nineteen fifty six to nineteen 550 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: seventy one included violations of both federal and state statutes 551 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:45,240 Speaker 1: prohibiting mail fraud, wire fraud, and citement to violence, sending 552 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: obscene material through the mail, and extortion. More fundamentally, the 553 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: harassment of innocent citizens engaged in lawful forms of political 554 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: expression did serious injury to the First Amendment guarantee of 555 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: freedom of speech and the right of the people to 556 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 1: assemble peaceably and to petition the government for our redress 557 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: of grievances. The report also made it clear that the 558 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: national security and violence prevention concerns were not the FBI's 559 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: only motivation. Quote. The unexpressed major premise of the programs 560 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 1: was that a law enforcement agency has the duty to 561 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,440 Speaker 1: do whatever is necessary to combat perceived threats to the 562 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: existing social and political order. Eighteen percent of the approved 563 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: co intel pro proposals targeted speakers, teachers, writers, or publications, meetings, 564 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: and peaceful demonstrations, all of which were just exercising a 565 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: constitutional right to free speech. Operations tried to stop lawful 566 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: speakers from speaking, teachers from teaching, writers from writing, and 567 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: demonstrators from demonstrating. The Senate Committee made ninety six recommendations 568 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 1: to quote place intelligence activities within the Constitutional Scheme for 569 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 1: controlling government power. This included changes to how the FBI 570 00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:07,080 Speaker 1: was run that included a ten year term limit for 571 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: the Director of the Bureau. It also included recommendations for 572 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: additional oversight within the Bureau. Every counterintelligence proposal had to 573 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: be approved by headquarters, but outside the Bureau the programs 574 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:25,360 Speaker 1: were almost completely unknown. Specific elements of cointel pro CPUSA 575 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: and White Hate were both known to various Attorneys General, 576 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: presidential advisors, and Cabinet and committee members. For example, Attorney 577 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:37,479 Speaker 1: General Robert F. Kennedy authorized the bureau's wiretaps of Martin 578 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: Luther King junior. The Bureau also notified multiple Attorneys general 579 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 1: of various accomplishments and progress those are their words against 580 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 1: the ku Klux Klan, without describing the breadth of what 581 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,280 Speaker 1: had led to that progress. Even with these two programs, 582 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: though the full scope wasn't known outside the Bureau, and 583 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: it appears that the other co intel pros weren't known 584 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:03,399 Speaker 1: to anyone outside the FBI at all. Efforts to bring 585 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,800 Speaker 1: in more oversight of the bureau's activities included the Foreign 586 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,400 Speaker 1: Intelligence Surveillance Act of nineteen seventy eight. The exposure of 587 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 1: co Intel Pro and the hearings that followed drastically affected 588 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:20,320 Speaker 1: mainstream American perceptions of the FBI. According to Gallup polls, 589 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: the proportion of Americans with a highly favorable view of 590 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,920 Speaker 1: the FBI dropped from eighty four percent in nineteen sixty 591 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: five to thirty seven percent in nineteen seventy five. At 592 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: the same time, no criminal convictions followed the investigations and 593 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,480 Speaker 1: the Church report, even though that report detailed numerous instances 594 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,320 Speaker 1: of criminal activity. As we said, the FBI is still 595 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,160 Speaker 1: engaged in counterintelligence. In the years just after co Intel 596 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 1: Pro was disbanded, the FBI did extensive counter intelligence work 597 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: against the American Indian Movement and the Committee in Solidarity 598 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: with the People of El Salvador. This included a disinformation 599 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: campaign during the nineteen seventy three occupation of Wounded Knee, 600 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: both to discredit the American Indian Movement to the general 601 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,799 Speaker 1: public and to try to create division within that occupation. 602 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,840 Speaker 1: Co Intel pro has also made headlines at numerous points 603 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,880 Speaker 1: since the mid seventies, comparing it to policies and programs 604 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: that have been introduced during multiple presidential administrations. This includes 605 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: comparisons to various aspects of the Patriot Act and the 606 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,280 Speaker 1: NSA's warrantless surveillance programs in the two thousands. The general 607 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,440 Speaker 1: focus on black liberation as somehow inherently threatening and violent 608 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: has also continued to be part of the FBI's rhetoric. 609 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen, leaked documents revealed that 610 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:47,280 Speaker 1: the FBI had targeted black identity extremists as a major threat, 611 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:51,160 Speaker 1: with really similar language about potential violence to what was 612 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:55,360 Speaker 1: used during Cointel pro Quote. The FBI assesses it is 613 00:38:55,560 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: very likely black identity extremist bie perceptions of police brutality 614 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:06,960 Speaker 1: against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal 615 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,759 Speaker 1: violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as 616 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: justification for such violence. This was paired with criticisms that 617 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: the FBI and other federal agencies were ignoring credible threats 618 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:24,440 Speaker 1: of white nationalist violence. Yeah, this was basically very similar 619 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: protests to what has been going on in the last 620 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: few months as we're recording this, which is on July seventh, 621 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, with demonstrators basically saying, please stop shooting unarmed 622 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 1: black people, and the FBI creating this category of black 623 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 1: identity extremist, which led people to go, that's not a 624 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,839 Speaker 1: thing though, made that up to circle back around to 625 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,359 Speaker 1: the Citizens Commission to investigate the FBI. None of them 626 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 1: were ever prosecuted in connection with this break in in 627 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: media Pennsylvania. It is possible that law enforcement believed that 628 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,360 Speaker 1: the culprits went on to be involved with a different 629 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,359 Speaker 1: group of anti Vietnam War activists who were known as 630 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: the Camden twenty eight. This group broke into the Camden, 631 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,160 Speaker 1: New Jersey, Draft Board office and they destroyed draft records there. 632 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 1: The Camden twenty eight were acquitted two of the Citizens' 633 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: Commission to Investigate the FBI actually were involved in that, 634 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:25,319 Speaker 1: So there's some speculation that law enforcement was like, well, 635 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,359 Speaker 1: they've already been tried and acquitted of this other thing. 636 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:32,239 Speaker 1: We probably have no chance. Regardless, though several members of 637 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,360 Speaker 1: the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI came forward in 638 00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. Their story is told in the book The 639 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:42,839 Speaker 1: Burglary The Discovery of j Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI by 640 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: Betty Metzger, who also wrote that front page Washington Post 641 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,479 Speaker 1: story that we mentioned earlier on. I have not read 642 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:53,960 Speaker 1: that book, but I have watched the twenty fourteen documentary 643 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:59,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, which also tells that story. It's Coen 644 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:07,960 Speaker 1: tel Pro. I know it was a lot. Thanks so 645 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd like 646 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,000 Speaker 1: to send us a note, our email addresses History Podcast 647 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,759 Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the 648 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 1: show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 649 00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:22,680 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.