FBI — Bunk History

Lerone A. Martin

Christian Nationalists Don’t Want Us To Remember the Real MLK

The same Christian ideology that inspired J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to surveil MLK is alive and well in the Trump administration.

by Lerone A. Martin, Josiah R. Daniels via Sojourners on January 21, 2025

How Would Kash Patel Compare to J. Edgar Hoover?

If Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I. gets confirmed, the Bureau could be politicized in ways that even its notorious first director would have rejected.

by Beverly Gage via The New Yorker on December 11, 2024

An FBI insignia on an officer's jacket.

To Fix the FBI, Abolish It

A new study of the national security apparatus finds the existing Bureau incompatible with republican government.

by Phillip Linderman via The American Conservative on May 25, 2024

J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover Shaped US History for the Worse

As director of the FBI for decades, J. Edgar Hoover helped build a massive, professionalized national security state and hounded leftists out of public life.

by Beverly Gage, Micah Uetricht via Jacobin on December 30, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover in front of a stained glass church window

One Bureau Under God

On the white Christian legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.

by Jeanne Theoharis, Lerone A. Martin via Boston Review on October 10, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover and two other men pose with guns.

The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover

A zealot through and through, he ran the FBI like a religious sect.

by Adam Hochschild via The Nation on March 7, 2023

Rev. Billy Graham with President Kennedy.

Suing the FBI and Uncovering a History of White Christian Nationalism

A new book calls white evangelicals to reckon with the fact that the groundwork for their movement was laid, in part, by J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI.

by Lerone A. Martin via The Revealer on February 7, 2023

J. Edgar Hoover collage.

J. Edgar Hoover’s Long Shadow

The FBI’s first director built the agency around some of his own worst instincts.

by Michael Kazin via The New Republic on December 9, 2022

J. Edgar Hoover (center) with President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, February 23, 1961.

J. Edgar Hoover Tried to Destroy the Left — and Liberals Enabled Him

The author of a new biography explains how liberals played an important role in enabling Hoover’s antidemocratic crusade.

by Beverly Gage, Michael Brenes via Jacobin on November 28, 2022

J. Edgar Hoover in 1924.

How J. Edgar Hoover Went From Hero to Villain

Before his abuses of power were exposed, he was celebrated as a scourge of Nazis, Communists, and subversives.

by Jack Goldsmith via The Atlantic on November 22, 2022

J. Edgar Hoover.

A Biography That May Change Your Mind About J. Edgar Hoover

Behind his tough image, the longtime FBI director was a man of profound contradictions.

by Kai Bird via Washington Post on November 9, 2022

Black and white picture of J. Edgar Hoover, sitting at a desk, 1932.

The FBI and the Madams

J. Edgar Hoover saw the political effectiveness of cracking down on elite brothel madams—but not their clients—in New York City.

by Matthew Wills, Jessica Pliley via JSTOR Daily on November 5, 2022

Black-and-white photo of Aretha Franklin's face.

Aretha Franklin’s Unsealed FBI File Shows Bureau Tracked Her Civil Rights Activism

The huge, declassified document includes death threats, red scare performances, and extensive investigation into her Yahoo! Groups fan site.

by Nina Corcoran, Jazz Monroe via Pitchfork on September 8, 2022

Charles Joseph Bonaparte formal portrait photograph.

The Architect of the FBI Was Napoleon’s Great-Nephew, Charles Bonaparte

A history of the bureau and its place in the federal government.

by Ronald G. Shafer via Retropolis on August 15, 2022

Actors James Stewart as George Bailey, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, and Frank Faylen as Ernie in the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images)

That Time the FBI Scrutinized “It's a Wonderful Life” for Communist Messaging

The film “deliberately maligned the upper class,” according to a report that didn’t like the portrayal of Mr. Potter as a bad guy.

by John Nichols via The Nation on December 24, 2021

James Baldwin, sitting.

James Baldwin and the FBI

The author was monitored for his political activities, but also for being gay. The surveillance took a toll on him.

by Ashawnta Jackson via JSTOR Daily on June 17, 2021

When the FBI Targeted the Poor People’s Campaign

Recently unearthed surveillance documents show how the FBI tried to destroy the Poor People’s Movement.

by Daniel Chard via Jacobin on August 12, 2019

Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

Information the FBI Once Hoped Could Destroy Martin Luther King Jr. Has Been Declassified

Revealing these materials could be considered “Hoover’s revenge.”

by Trevor Griffey via The Conversation on May 30, 2019

Infiltrating the Left

The FBI has long tried to destroy socialist organizations, but its actions aren't limited to surveillance.

by Aaron J. Leonard, Micah Uetricht via Jacobin on August 19, 2018

James Comey, a tall white man in a suit, receiving a certificate in front of wall with a "Birmingham Civil Rights Institute" sign and a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Under Comey's Leadership, the FBI Targeted Black Activists and Muslim Communities

This is the man who has criticized the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King as "shameful."

by Jeanne Theoharis via The Intercept on April 24, 2018

Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux.

New Documents Reveal How the FBI Deployed a Televangelist to Discredit Martin Luther King

Elder Michaux, a popular black evangelist, aided the bureau's campaign to destroy King's reputation.

by Lerone A. Martin via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on April 3, 2018

Donald Trump Wants to Fight the FBI? It’s a Suicide Mission.

Presidents who take on the Bureau rarely win.

by Tim Weiner via Politico Magazine on January 26, 2018

Stokely Carmichael talking to members of the press at the House Rules Committee (1966).

Watching the Watchers

Confessions of an FBI special agent.

by Robert Wall via New York Review of Books on January 27, 1972

A Look Inside James Baldwin’s 1,884 Page FBI File

Memos on "aliases," sexuality, and The Blood Counters.

by William J. Maxwell via Literary Hub on July 8, 1964

Leonard Peltier adjusts the black bandana around his head.

Leonard Peltier’s Story Isn’t Over Yet

The Native activist spent nearly fifty years in prison for the killing of two F.B.I. agents. In January, Joe Biden commuted his sentence, and he went home.

by Nick Estes, Leonard Peltier via The New Yorker on June 26, 2025

Men work in an FBI office.

FBI and CIA Conducted Illegal Surveillance of 1960s Student Activists in the South

Newly declassified records reveal how paranoia about subversion in conservative states resulted in major constitutional violations.

by Jeremy Kuzmarov via CovertAction Magazine on March 13, 2025

Actress moves away from a microphone held a red hand.

How the Red Scare Shaped American Television

The fear of communism silenced actors, writers and producers, altering the entertainment industry for decades.

by Carol Stabile via PBS on February 28, 2025

Beverly Gage with Joe Biden and others in the oval office.

Beverly Gage's Bizarre Apologia for J. Edgar Hoover

What’s going on here, and are we ever going to talk about it?

by Tim Barker via Origins of Our Time on December 27, 2024

Henry Kissinger

Who Wanted to Kill Henry Kissinger?

Newly-released FBI files show a lot of strange threats against the former secretary of state’s safety—and say a lot about 1970s America.

by Matthew Petti via Reason on September 18, 2024

Emmett Till's photo is seen on his grave marker in 2002.

Journalist Withheld Information About Emmett Till’s Murder, Documents Show

William Bradford Huie’s newly released research notes show he suspected more than two men tortured and killed Emmett Till, but suggest that he left it out.

by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on August 29, 2024

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