40 Years Later: Was There A Conspiracy to Kill King?

dirtyp · 04-04-08, 09:27 PM

In 1999, Coretta Scott King, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.Debate over a conspiracy remains to this day. Here's Part 1 of an episode of the classic 80s television show Unsolved Mysteries devoted to this question:
The Movement: 40 Years Later: Was There A Conspiracy to Kill King?

Alex · 04-04-08, 11:50 PM

What we do know for sure is that the FBI did some questionable things to MLK Jr. The Church Report disclosed some of them. It was a report by a government oversight committee to investigate the operations of the FBI in 1976.

"The FBI collected information about Dr. King's plans and activities through an extensive surveillance program, employing nearly every intelligence-gathering technique at the Bureau's disposal."

"The FBI's formal program to discredit Dr. King with Government officials began with the distribution of a 'monograph' which the FBI realized could 'be regarded as a personal attack on Martin Luther King,' 4 and which was subsequently described by a Justice Department official as 'a personal diatribe ... a personal attack without evidentiary support.'"

"The FBI responded to Dr. King's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize by attempting to undermine his reception by foreign heads of state and American ambassadors in the countries that be planned to visit. "

"The FBI's program to destroy Dr. King as the leader of the civil rights movement entailed attempts to discredit him with churches, universities, and the press."

"The FBI mailed Dr. King a tape recording made from its microphone coverage. According to the Chief of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division, the tape was intended to precipitate a separation between Dr. King and his wife in the belief that the separation would reduce Dr. King's stature. 7a The tape recording was accompanied by a note which Dr. King and his advisers interpreted as a threat to release the tape recording unless Dr. King committed suicide. The FBI also made preparations to promote someone "to assume the role of leadership of the Negro people when King has been completely discredited."

These are only the tip of the iceberg. The above quotes are only from the first page of the report.

INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CASE STUDY

Lightdemon · 04-05-08, 12:56 AM

Dr. King was considered an enemy of the state at one point, if I remember correctly. King was a man who was in charge of a large group of people, who were sick and tired of being sick and tired. A person who has control over that amount of people, could possibly be a danger to the nation.

And yea, the FBI did do many things that surviellanced King. We know today that King's telephones were tapped at all, or most, of his hotels that he stayed in. Otherwise, we would not know that King was committing adultery against his wife.

There are many reasons to keep King on check and they were good reasons. King was certainly a liability when it came to national security, considering the mass protests that he conducted.

However, at the same time, the US was being criticized at a national level, especially by the communist world. How is it that a nation, who's foundation is built on democracy and on the principle that every man is created equal and still have second class citizens? The US was under scrutiny by the Soviets, and communism was also a threat to national security as well.

So we really have 2 sides of the story. On one side, King was definately a liability and a national security issue. But on a larger scale, the whole second class citizen issue, was even more of a problem because of the Cold War.

I'm skeptical that the gov't had a hand in King's death. However, if the gov't knew about a plot to kill King, I would venture a guess that they wouldn't want to stop it either.

Tashah · 04-05-08, 04:30 AM

Moderator's Warning:

Non-suited for *BN*. Thread moved.