University of California, Irvine, history professor, Jon Wiener, requested the files on John Lennon from the FBI for a book he is writing about John and the politics of the 60's. A large portion of the material that was released is censored heavily, with entire pages completely blacked out. Professor Wiener and all the rest of us must ask the obvious question: how could any of the information contained in those files affect this country's national security? Who is the FBI protecting and for what reason?
Wiener, along with the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles challenging the federal government's right to keep its files on John Lennon secret. The tactics used by the government to monitor John and Yoko's activities during the early 70's are incredible.
According to the files, the government first became worried about John in late 1971 after he attracted 16,000 people to a University of Michigan rally to free political activist John Sinclair. Sinclair had been given a long prison sentence for selling two joints to an undercover officer. Sinclair was released from prison two days after the concert..and the chase was on.
In early March, 1972, deportation proceedings were filed against John Lennon - the reason given being his hash conviction in England. But press reports indicated the more likely reason for the deportation proceedings: a memo written to Attorney General John Mitchell by Republican Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina suggesting that "headaches might be avoided" if deportation action was taken. At the time, it was not known that Mr. Mitchell would be the one to wind up with a headache as he cooled his heels in a jail cell.
The FBI files began to thicken, as John was linked to Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and Rennie Davis. A review of the Mike Douglas Show TV appearance with Jerry Rubin was included in those files, along with lyrics to the song, "John Sinclair". By now, the FBI felt John would take part in a plan to disrupt the Republican Convention which would eventually take place in Miami. FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, wrote: "In view of subject's avowed intention to engage in disruptive activities surrounding (the convention), New York office will be responsible for closely following his activities until time of actual deportation."
On April 21, a memo from an agent confirmed that John's moves were "being closely followed and any information developed indicating violation of federal laws" was to be sent to appropriate law enforcement officials to "neutralize" the singer. In the FBI's quest to "neutralize" John Lennon, it was tossed around that possibly John and Yoko's request to stay in this country to look for Yoko's daughter, Kyoko, was a lie and that they were actually hiding her for their own purposes. The FBI could never prove this theory, though, because they tried to find Kyoko..and couldn't.
As for the planned disturbance of the Republican National Convention that Nixon was so fearful of, former Yippie leader, Stewart Albert said: "There certainly was a plan for a series of concerts that would culminate at the Republican Convention, but it never got past the discussion stage, mostly because the government stepped in."
A July 17, 1972 memo from the special agent in charge of the New York field office to the acting director of the FBI stated that "Miami (site of the convention) should note that Lennon is a 'heavy user of narcotics' known as 'downers.' This information could be conveyed to law enforcement agencies covering (the convention) with regards to subject being arrested if at all possible on possession of narcotics charge." Wiener writes in his yet unpublished manuscript: "The Nixon administration's persecution of John Lennon was one small part of a massive illegal effort to assure (Nixon's) re-election." Wiener also states that he believes the governmental investigations of Lennon helped cause his marriage with Yoko to fall apart between 1972 and 1975. Stewart Albert agrees: "The impression I got towards the end of the time I was close to Lennon was that he was getting paranoid. The government obviously wanted to deport him, but if it couldn't do that, the next best thing was to force him to become a hermit."
The files' references to John's personal life, especially his use of drugs, are widespread and in many cases, totally inaccurate. One file page reads, "...subject is currently reported heavy user of narcotics and frequently avoided by even Rennie Davis and Jerry Rubin, convicted Chicago Seven Conspiracy Trial defendants, due to his excessive use of narcotics." Albert says that statement is "absolutely ridiculous. At that point, John had given up heroin, and wasn't that much of a drug user at all." In addition to inaccurate information about John's personal life, the FBI couldn't even get a picture of him right. On an information sheet containing the words "the pope smokes dope" was a picture of a long-haired man in glasses. Wiener writes: "It's amazing that the FBI believed its agents needed a photo of John to be able to identify him. But the truly amazing fact is that the photo in the FBI files is not of John. It's David Peel."
Ineptness was the word of the day also when the government requested copies of photos of all persons arrested in Miami during the convention in the hopes of finding John's picture in the batch, thus speeding his deportation from the United States. Wiener, in a TIME article, scoffed at the obvious foolishness of the government's search, considering the fact that if John Lennon were arrested anywhere in the world, it would be headline news.
The surveillance eventually ground to a halt as John's public activities diminished. The New York FBI office wrote in December, 1972: "In view of the subject's inactivity in Revolutionary Activities, and his seemingly (sic) rejection by N.Y. radicals, his case is being closed." The case was officially closed on, of all dates, December 8, 1972. But the files dated after December of '72 continue to document John's deportation proceedings and contain letters directed to President Nixon and various members of Congress and Senators in suppport of Lennon - or against him. John did become, at least in the public's mind, the "hermit" the government wanted him to become until 1980.
Wiener will continue to try to pry the lid off the cookie jar of information being held by the government through the Freedom of Information Act. John Shattuck, an ACLU attorney in Washington DC said the FBI will almost certainly be forced to release at least some new information. "The FBI is allergic to the Freedom of Information Act," he states. "They always over-delete. If there is the slightest chance they can get away with it, they'll black everything out and hope you don't sue." Wiener says, "It's an outrage today that the Reagan Administration continues to conceal from the American people the full facts of the government campaign against Lennon. The suggestion that Lennon's anti-war activities somehow endangered the 'national security' is absurd. But the Reagan Administration is making the same claim about the peace movement today." Yoko has declined to participate in the lawsuit. Family friend, Elliot Mintz tells why: "As far as Yoko feels, she views all those experiences as happening in the past. She prefers to look to the future. For her, personally, this is very painful."