Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI FilesWhen FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to the Nixon White House in 1972 about the Bureau's surveillance of John Lennon, he began by explaining that Lennon was a "former member of the Beatles singing group." When a copy of this letter arrived in response to Jon Wiener's 1981 Freedom of Information request, the entire text was withheld—along with almost 200 other pages—on the grounds that releasing it would endanger national security. This book tells the story of the author's remarkable fourteen-year court battle to win release of the Lennon files under the Freedom of Information Act in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. With the publication of Gimme Some Truth, 100 key pages of the Lennon FBI file are available—complete and unexpurgated, fully annotated and presented in a "before and after" format. Lennon's file was compiled in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing reelection, and when the "clever Beatle" was living in New York and joining up with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon are the subject of Lennon's file. The documents are reproduced in facsimile so that readers can see all the classification stamps, marginal notes, blacked out passages and—in some cases—the initials of J. Edgar Hoover. The file includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges. Fascinating, engrossing, at points hilarious and absurd, Gimme Some Truth documents an era when rock music seemed to have real political force and when youth culture challenged the status quo in Washington. It also delineates the ways the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations fought to preserve government secrecy, and highlights the legal strategies adopted by those who have challenged it. Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work. |
Contents
| 9 | |
| 11 | |
From District Court to the Supreme Court | 33 |
Deposing the FBI and CIA | 54 |
The Clinton Administration Takes Action | 74 |
After the Settlement | 90 |
The Culture of Secrecy | 98 |
THE FILES | 104 |
The Files | 108 |
Notes | 307 |
Glossary | 315 |
Chronology | 319 |
Bibliography | 323 |
Acknowledgments | 327 |
Index | 329 |
Guide to FBI File Pages | 105 |
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Common terms and phrases
1997 settlement ACLU team activists activities agency airtel Allamuchy Tribe antiwar appeal argued attorney Beatles Bolthouse captioned claim CLASSIFIED Clinton Committee concert confidential informant report convicted decision declared DECLASSIFY demonstrations Director disclosure disruptive documents Edgar Hoover Election Year Strategy EYSIC FBI agents FBI informant FBI office FBI's February February 28 FOIA H. R. Haldeman INFORMATION CONTAINED initial release investigating Lennon investigation of Lennon Jerry Rubin John Lennon John Sinclair John Winston Lennon Judge Takasugi law enforcement purpose legitimate law enforcement Lennon FBI files Lennon files Lennon investigation litigation Mark Rosenbaum memo Miami Miller narcotics national security exemption Ninth Circuit Nixon PCPJ plans political President rally Rennie Davis Republican National Convention Rosenbaum and Marmalefsky Rosenbaum asked San Diego SCHIANO secrecy secret SHOWN OTHERWISE Stewart Albert Strategy Information Center Supreme Court teletype UNCLASSIFIED Vaughn index visa Washington Wiener withheld Yoko Ono York City York FBI Youth International Party
Popular passages
Page 8 - States is at war, shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States...
Page 14 - Columbia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the Agency from withholding Agency records and to order the production of any Agency records improperly withheld from the complainant.
Page 18 - In such a case the court shall determine the matter de novo, and may examine the contents of such agency records in camera to determine whether such records or any part thereof shall be withheld under any of the exemptions set forth in subsection (b) of this section, and the burden is on the agency to sustain its action.
Page 6 - Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.
Page 20 - It is vital that some process be formulated that will (1) assure that a party's right to information is not submerged beneath governmental obfuscation and mischaracterization, and (2) permit the court system effectively and efficiently to evaluate the factual nature of disputed information.