J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Black Bag Job | 5

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI carried out more than 2,000 top secret spying operations aimed at American citizens. Their target? The so-called Fifth Column, a network of undercover Soviet agents allegedly working to destroy the American government from within. The agency even had an internal code name for these operations: COINTELPRO. In the name of this mission, Hoover directed agents to infiltrate, penetrate, disorganize and disrupt their targets. But the FBI’s actions weren’t just aimed at taking down suspected Communists. They also targeted activists working across a broad spectrum of progressive causes, including civil rights, feminism, gay rights, abortion rights, and drug policy reforms.

But no target would draw more of the FBI’s scrutiny — or malice — than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine a 2pm on March 8th, 1956.
0:21.1	You're walking through the halls of the White House towards the presidential West Wing.
0:25.9	Then Eisenhower has summoned you and the rest of the National Security Council for a closed
0:30.2	door meeting.
0:31.4	You've worked at the White House for two years, long enough to know that something's
0:34.9	awry.
0:37.7	You walk into the cabinet room and close the door.
0:40.2	President is sitting at the head of the table looking concerned.
0:43.3	Please, everyone.
0:44.3	Have a seat.
0:46.3	We've received intelligence about a coordinated attack by the Soviets on the US.
0:51.5	I have SFVI Director Hoover to brief us on the nature of this threat and outline what
0:56.1	the Bureau intends to do to stop it.
0:58.8	Hoover sits a little straighter in his seat.
1:01.0	In your two years in Washington, you've rarely seen him in person, much less up close.
1:05.8	He is smaller than you expected in real life, but he still exudes power and confidence.
1:10.8	Gentlemen, there are enemies in our midst, communists.
1:15.0	For years they've been living among us, but now we have reason to believe that they are
1:17.8	infiltrating our cultural and industrial institutions.
1:21.5	And why?
	...

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