Fifty Years Ago, Activists Burgled the FBI and Exposed Its Undemocratic Abuses
On March 8, 1971, a group of New Left activists executed a daring burglary of an FBI field office in Pennsylvania, exposing the bureauâs COINTELPRO operations against the civil rights movement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Photo: iPhoneDigital, CC BY 2.0/Flickr
History13/Mar/2021
On March 8, 1971, much of the nation was transfixed by the âFight of Centuryâ between Joe Fraiser and Muhammed Ali, both undefeated. Or at least thatâs what eight anti-war activists were counting on. The activists, some of whom traced their roots to the civil rights movement, recognised the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a political police that posed an existential threat to the movement.