FBI Taps Martin Luther King Jr.

The FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. began in the fall of 1963, following a directive from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. This action was prompted by concerns that allegations of communist ties within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which King led, could undermine the Kennedy administration's civil rights initiatives. Kennedy's warning to King to sever any associations that could be perceived as communist was a reflection of the political climate of the time, where the fear of communism was pervasive. The FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, who was apprehensive about the civil rights movement, initiated wiretaps on King's phone and those of other SCLC leaders. Despite extensive investigations, the FBI found no substantial evidence to support claims of communist infiltration within the SCLC. However, the agency continued to monitor King, utilizing incidental information gathered through the wiretaps over the subsequent years as part of its COINTELPRO program. This program aimed to disrupt and discredit civil rights leaders, and the FBI sought to undermine King's position within the movement by exploiting personal details obtained through surveillance.