There i am in the back of the johnson signed the Voting Rights act of 1965. I had a better seat than i did for the Martin Luther king speech. One more antidote you might be anecdote you might be interested in, in 2008, i was in the rotunda, we were celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of lbj and i met lucy johnson who i had never met before. On thelucy, i was here day your dad signed the Voting Rights act. She said i was, too. Nobody knew i was here, but im sure everyone knew you were here. She said her dad said , on, get in the car. I will take you to the capital, this is something important. Oh he explained to her that every person was be right beside while he signed the bill and she said why would you want to have a republican there . He said it was important that the American People understood this was not on a bipartisan basis of the American People would be like much more likely to accept what we are doing if they think both sides are involved. That was the story lucy told me 100 birthday. You talked about your internships, when did this interest in politics start . Probably in high school. Mentor or were you following politics . I just got interested, in my fifth grade picture, it was a little mug shot every year, my fifth grade picture not many republicans in georgia at that time, my dad served in world war ii down in the foot served foot soldier level and he voted for eisenhower. Eisenhower did not carry any southern states, but my dad was a great admirer of the commander. I sort of began to identify with republicans a little bit and four years later we were in kentucky and even though it was a democratic state, republicans occasionally won. I decided to take a shot at it, iran for president of the student body in college and law school. Clean sweep. You can watch this or any other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website cspan. Org history. Weekend,emorial day book tv features three days of nonfiction arthurs. Authors. Democracy now host amy goodwin interviews tamra about her new book Sleeping Giant how the new workingclass will transform america. An interview with chris jackson, publisher and editor in chief of world. D one he discusses the life of jayz sunday evening at 10 00 eastern, a Book Release Party for steve hilton and his book more human more human designing a world where people come first. Of crowd back, he argues that we need to redesign our economic and political systems to meet the needs of americans today. On memorial day, an extra day of dennisfeaturing gregor on the importance of the 10 commitments and diane ream on the right to die movement. The committee met for 16 months, reviewing more than 10,000 documents. His legacy in includes the creation of the senate. New requirements for the executive branch to notify congress of about covert activities. Two former staffers of the Church Committee are with us to provide context for the 40yearold video you are about to see. Here in our studio in washington is Elliot Maxwell who was counsel to the committee. Thanks to the both of you. In this, our third installment in the series, we are looking at in looking at the Church Committee hearings on possible Illicit Activity of the fbi. To share the staff findings on these activities. Were going to see a clip of you reading an anonymous letter to Martin Luther king. Mr. Schwarz the bureau went so far as to mail anonymous letters to dr. King and his wife. They were mailed shortly before he was awarded the nobel peace prize. It finishes with this suggestion. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You have just 34 days in which to do it. You are done. Ms. Swain give us some context for what we just saw. Why were they looking into the activities of Martin Luther king . Mr. Maxwell everybody was a hero but he was a special one. That was taken to mean that was such a suggestion for suicide. The answer was it was intended and it was taken as an effort by the king family and the king associate to get him to commit suicide. J edgar hoover hated king. Hoover had a negative view of what were then called negroes. Indeed on the very afternoon of kings i have a dream speech dc in the bowels of the fbi office, they result result to destroy Martin Luther d to destroy Martin Luther king and they set out to do that in lots of ways. They persuaded the kennedy brothers to wiretapping of king and his close associates. They did that by exaggerating the role of advisor to king. Theyve said he was a member of the communist party and a close advisor of king. They did not have to obtain permission of the rules. In anybodys house are in anybodys bedroom. They put bugs in hotel rooms. They made recordings from that. Just one final thought that may be helpful, we obviously focused very much on the cia and the fbi. A lot on institutions like the nsa. I am ever mentioning this to the committee was that the cia was a danger to the country because its successes undermined in the world. The fbi was a danger to the country because it undermines democracy in america. Both of those things one should be worried about. I thought that the effort to undermine democracy in america was the more dangerous, and so my personal view is our hearings on the fbi were the most important work we did. Other people might not agree with that, but they were enormously important. Watching that video 40 years later, what kind of emotions does it bring . Mr. Maxwell the hearing about Martin Luther king had a profound affect on me in part because of the statement that senator hart made. I think the gist of it was in response to all of this, talking about Martin Luther king and his impact on america. What he said was that there will always be protectors for people like Martin Luther king. What we need to worry about are the actions of the government about people who will have no protectors. The socialist Workers Party representatives whose neighbors by the fbi andut were told not to have them play with their children. The employers who were told not to employ them on the grounds that these people were a threat to the United States. These people were not a threat to come out of a paper bag. Phil hart recognize that it was the powerless who are most at risk. I remember that most profoundly. If the government acts against the powerless, we should be not only because it is the powerless, but who will be next . It was in those hearings that for me that crystallized the kind of concern you need to have for the exercise of power. Ms. Swain as we look at the work of the Church Committee. Here is frank church, opening up the hearing on the fbi and its abuse of power. Church there has never been a full Public Accounting of fbi intelligence. To mpeg or is not the fbi at legitimate Law Enforcement function, but rather to evaluate Domestic Intelligence according to the standards of the constitution and the statutes of our land. To be found, it does not rest in the bureau alone. It is to be found also in the long line of attorney generals, president s, and congresses who have failed you have given power rather and responsibility to the fbi, but have failed to give it adequate guidance, direction, and control. Information is a possible resource. The fbis most significant features is its system for efficient processing, filing, and retrieving of the data it gathers. S in thential danger system are obvious. Today we are here to review the major findings of our full investigation of the i domesc fbi Domestic Intelligence. Including programs aimed at domestic targets. Fbi surveillance of lawabiding citizens, political abuses of fbi intelligence and several specific cases that are unjustified intelligence operations. These hearings have one overriding objective, congressstandards by to legislate for the fbi. They began their presentation of the fbi irregularities. They gave some notable examples. Mr. Church in the area of what they characterize as the new the, an example of overbreadth of requirement for information laid on the field can be found in the document 13 1 of your books. In this document, the director of the fbi issued an instruction to all special agents of the bureau as to the kind of information that he wanted them to collect and report on. Now the number of items in the arrt are in letters from and numbers under each one of those entries. I would just refer to a couple of the specific examples of what the fbi agents are required to report in the field. In the area of finance, who were the socalled angels for the group . In the area of publication describe all the publications. , in the area of religion, what the policy of the organization relating to its approach to and any vehement statements made against religious bodies by leaders. Conversely, any statement of support for the movement by religious groups or individuals. In the area of political activity, any and all Political Activities in which socalled new left leaders are involved. Relating to the positions taken on political matters, including the attempts to influence Public Opinion and government bodies. Come on of education information concerning the course is given given given together with any educational outline and what is the assigned or suggested reading. In the area of social reform, all information on activities with connections to demonstration aimed at social reform, whatever that may be. In the area of labor, all information, including all activity in the labor field. With respect to the public appearance of leaders, the identity of any leader who makes an appearance on radio or television and appears before groups, for example labor, church, and minority groups, and in connection with such appearances, the identity of the group and a sissy summary of the subject matter discussed. In the area of mass media, influence of the new left on mass media. An indication of support of support by the new left of mass media. A comprehensive listing of everything that they thought or did on any subject imaginable. Taking the next example of how seekstelligence, desire that is scarcely relevant to subject we thought the bureau was concerned with. In the area of womens liberation, report of the report about meetings of women who got together to talk about their problems. Now how the bureau got this information is not entirely clear, but it is apparently by informants. We have informants running all checking up ony what housewives are talking about in their effort to decide whether women should have a different role in the society. Reports of particular women who the meeting came to and how she felt repressed, sexually or otherwise. Reports on such other important matters as that Womens Liberation Movement interested in zapping the miss America Pageant atlantic city, by protesting the standards and whatever they protest in atlantic city. [laughter] my favorite example is in the baltimore womens Liberations Movement in a document that was sent not only to the fbi, tab 5. 4, but to three military agencies for some reason, a document on the origins and purposes of the group, and in concluding comes up with such important findings that they wanted to free women from the humdrum existence of being only a wife and mother. They wanted equal opportunities with men in working society. Nothing to do with violence. Nothing to do with these labels of subversion and extremism. What is the conclusion of the document . We will continue to report the activities of the womens liberations we will continue to report on the findings of the Womens Liberation Movement. Much of it was turned over to white house aides and much of it was used for political purposes. Violence may corrupt. The bureau was called upon to supply information regarding the potential of violence to assist local Law Enforcement officials. In addition to that, after infiltration of various groups, the challenge planned for the mississippi convention, challenging the official delegation were developed by the , fbi and submitted to the white house through a white house staffer. The plans of dr. King and others were also communicated both as they related to efforts to disrupt as well as general political strategy at the convention. This was accomplished really through a complete infiltration , and when itps became apparent as in the case of the mississippi challenge that it might be politically expedient to have some information to discredit the group, the fbi provided that also by providing some bookkeeping data on the organization and its funding sources. We see the same kind of unofficial dissemination occur after the critics of the Warren Commission begin to surface. The white house is a bit concerned about these persons who are criticizing the war in Warren Commission. Fbi was directed together information on those persons, information which was extended to their personal lives. Down to and including sex activities. The name check process was often of getting ais clear fix on people who had began to criticize administration. In several cases we have identified news correspondents of Major Networks who at one ire ofr other earned the the white house. Many of the names there pop up immediately after revelations or accusations. About misconduct or other activities of the white house. We even got to the point where the name check process was used as a basis to gather the views or information on private citizens who objected to vietnam policy, and this information was subsequently distributed to persons who may be in a position to point out adverse information in the persons background. This took the form of going to political figures and saying to you have ans, if occasion to comment upon so and so, you might want to have this information. Bit morealk a little about that when we come to other activities. The use though in a political arena virtually covers a spectrum, in one case they use information to influence the speaker of house using been gainedthat had through various investigative techniques and a publishing this unofficial kind of dissemination. A footnote on the 1964 Democratic Convention. The technique was used there by the fbi was furnishing false credentials which the fbi used to assert itself as a bogus news man into legitimate discussions of political persons and protest groups and acquire information concerning their plans, pretending to be a reporter, and in fact acquiring it for the purposes of the bureau and transmission two higher authority. To higher authority. Program,telligence telpro is the name by the effort of the bureau to destroy people and in organizations, or words they use, disrupt and neutralize. In pursuing this goal, the fbi used a large range of weapons. One of the other techniques utilized was to destroy the job or family life. Family life was a particularly opportune target in the bureaus some fairlyyed on tender sensitivities. The nameentioning reflected their income if you 94, you willine 94, you will see the bureaus report on an effort against a white female who was involved as an officer in a local black activist group. The way to discredit or neutralize this leader was to take attention away from activities of the group by creating another kind of distraction, the distraction is blank,ows, dear mrs. Look, man, i guess your old lady does not get enough at home mr. Blank, im sorry, a letter to her husband, or she would not be shocking and jiving with black men, you dig . Eight going tos angling to take women aint going to take it is signed, a soul sister. An effective technique as reflected by the memorandum. It succeeded in distracting. They were told to attack the new left. I will give you six quick examples that were pursuant to that program. At the time of the Democratic National convention in 1968, that body attempted to obtain housing in chicago for demonstrators who would come to the convention. The fbi local office in chicago obtained 217 of those forms and fill them out with hi fictitious names and addresses. The tactic had its design defect because according to fbi documents the persons who went out to look for these houses made long and useless journeys to locate the addresses. What contribution that made, we suppose we will never know. Precisely the same tactic and program was carried out by the bureau with respect to the 1969 inauguration, where they again filled out false housing forms to confuse and disrupt efforts by persons coming to washington to find a place to stay. Same 96 and nine inauguration ceremonies the , Washington Field office of the fbi discovered that persons who were attempting to coordinate and control the demonstration, they were marshals. This committee has examine an executive session mr. Eagle crow , who was responsible for knitting Law Enforcement at that demonstration, and he said the marshals of the demonstration where a helpful and useful group of persons to help keep the demonstration orderly. Now what did the fbi do . Citizen bandt what was being used for walkietalkies, and they use that citizen band to supply the marshals with misinformation and pretending to be a unit of the National Mobilization to in the war in vietnam countermanded those orders issued by the movement. 1967 there was a rally in , washington protesting the vietnam war. A newspaper in new york city indicated that its contribution to this rally was to be the symbolic act of dropping flowers on the pentagon. Ad in theper put an newspaper asking for pilot who can help them do that. The fbi answered the ad and kept up the pretense that it was a genuine parts pilot of to the point when the