◆ SpookStack

(The FBI shall:) carry out the Presidential directive of Septerber 6, 1939, as reaffirned by Presidential directives of January 8, 1943, July 24, 1950 and December 15, 1953, designating the Federal Bureau of Investigation to take charge of investigative work in matters relating to espionage, sabotage, subversive activities, and related matters (28 CFR 0.85 (d)). Given this charter and the history of the sometimes overpowering influence of the views of the late Director J. Edgar Hoover on his subordinates and on succesive Attorneys General, it was understandable that a security investigation should be initiated into the possible influence of the Commnist Party, U.S.A., on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘Two of King's close advisors, at the outset of the security matter, were reported to be Comminist Party members by sources relied upon by the The security investigation continued for almst six years until Dr. King's death. It verified, in our view, that one alleged Canmmmist was a very influential advisor to Dr. King (and hence the Southern Christian King's leadership of the black civil rights movement of the early and mid-sixties. Another had no such weight although he seemed to be of use to King. But this very lengthy investigative concentration on King and a -140-