The FBI’s Monitoring of MLK and the Use of Surveillance for Intimidation

Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as one of America’s most consequential voices. While revered today, the government once saw him as a threat to delegitimize. In the mid-1950s, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover began relentless surveillance of King. They wiretapped his phones, bugged his hotel rooms, and planted informants. Persuaded by Hoover, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy approved the wiretaps.

Wiretapping then existed in a legal gray area. In Olmstead (1928), the Supreme Court allowed the practice if there was no physical trespass. By 1942, the Court began including elements of Brandeis’s “right to privacy” logic. However, the modern “expectation of privacy” test from Katz (1967) was years away.

But what did this surveillance power amount to? The FBI’s remit quickly transformed from discussions of national security to a toxic smear campaign. They gathered prurient details from private conversations and used them in an unsuccessful effort to discredit King publicly and tried to blackmail him into committing suicide.

Thus, the King challenge remains a constant criticism of the typical response: “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.” King was no criminal; he was not a violent extremist. He was targeted because he was an activist and challenged the status quo.

Though laws have changed, the central issue survives. Each generation has to deal with new surveillance technology, with many believing it will be used wisely. History warns that some will find reasons to use these powers in illiberal ways. Defending privacy is not about hiding in the dark; it ensures future voices like King’s can speak without government ears.

For more on this topic, see two relevant Independent Institute books: The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance by David Beto and American Surveillance: Intelligence, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment by Anthony Gregory.