February 1969, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, two parents received an anonymous letter in the mail concerning their daughter, Mary, a student at Florida State University. This letter was intended to be a warning from a ‘concerned friend of Mary’ about her involvement with a left-wing organization, Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.). Though this letter appeared to be from a friend, the reality was far different; it was actually from an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.). Mary was one of the countless targets of the F.B.I.’s Counter-Intelligence Program, commonly known as COINTELPRO.
At the height of the Cold War, the United States was gripped by fear of communism, socialism, and other left-wing ideologies taking root in the U.S. Alarmed by the growing support and activities of these movements, the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated a series of efforts to “expose, disrupt, and neutralize” the dissenting groups called COINTELPRO.
COINTELPRO was only revealed to the public after fifteen years of operations. Despite the exposure, the Bureau did not face significant consequences for its illegal actions — leaders of the FBI were not prosecuted for their actions, and the FBI still remains as a powerful agency in the federal government to this day.
If we are to maintain a free society and fight back against Government overreach, we must be stalwart defenders of our fellow Americans’ rights, regardless of their political orientation, and be ready to hold the Government accountable for its abuses.
Beginning in 1956, the F.B.I. initially focused on disrupting the operations of the Communist Party, USA (C.P.U.S.A.). However, COINTELPRO quickly expanded to target a wide range of domestic organizations and movements. These included the Socialist Workers Party; student groups associated with the New Left, such as Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.); Black nationalist organizations like the Black Panther Party; and even feminist and anti-war groups.
The methods employed under COINTELPRO ranged from overtly sinister and chilling to absurd. One of the more absurd operations conceived by the F.B.I. was COINTELPRO: Hoodwink, which utilized anonymous letters as an attempt to manufacture hostility between the C.P.U.S.A. and La Cosa Nostra (L.C.N.), the Italian-American organized crime families operating in New York City.
The F.B.I. regularly sent anonymous letters to parents regarding their children’s involvement with S.D.S.. Many of these communications are particularly chilling, as they were deliberately crafted to appear as though they came from concerned friends, fellow parents, or even school administrators, and were intended to punish or intimidate students for actions, sometimes entirely fictitious, connected to their association with S.D.S…
The most sinister actions associated with COINTELPRO included the blackmail and involvement in the killings of leaders within dissenting organizations. One of the most notable cases was the killing of Fred Hampton, a socialist leader in the Black Panther Party. As part of their operations, the Bureau orchestrated a police raid on Hampton’s apartment in Chicago, which resulted in his death.
Another infamous operation targeted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The F.B.I. anonymously mailed King a package containing an alleged tape recording of a sexual encounter involving him as well as a letter filled with insults and vague exhortations. While the letter never explicitly stated what was being demanded, King himself, however, interpreted the letter as an ultimatum to commit suicide.
COINTELPRO operations continued for fifteen years, until they were exposed in 1971 following a burglary of an F.B.I. field office by the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the F.B.I.. In the aftermath of this revelation, the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, commonly known as the Church Committee, revealed the operation after an investigation. Though there were lawsuits against the F.B.I., and the government paid settlements to victims’ families, the F.B.I. did not face any legal consequences or leadership changes despite the illegal operations.
Government overreach, like COINTELPRO, erodes liberty when dissent and opinion are persecuted, showing how we need vigilance. Though the F.B.I. primarily targeted left-wing groups, all Americans must remain steadfast and wary of government action. As COINTELPRO expanded past communists to include anti-war groups and civil rights groups, persecution of dissent can expand to reach the perspectives and viewpoints you, I, or anyone else personally aligns with. Studying COINTELPRO equips us to recognize how government agencies already have and can continue to abuse their power and persecute groups, but also how the public fails to hold the government accountable when abuse takes place.
To preserve a truly free and peaceful society, one that upholds the rule of law and constitutional rights, we must take a stand whenever those rights are threatened, and whomever’s rights are threatened. We must defend the rights of all, especially those we personally disagree with. Though you may not personally be a socialist, communist, liberal, conservative, or libertarian, it is paramount that you take a stand against government overreach and protect your fellow Americans’ rights, because if you don’t, then who will be there to protect you when the time comes?
