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“Which would only bring s we can’t prove”
“So like that”
I wanted to know, “Were you listening in at the house by the lake?”
He shook his head “For what? No need”
“Because the guy who ca?”
“He once worked for me, if that’s what you mean”
Foster did not want the files inside that case seen by Coleen So he’d used the situation to reverse what she’d ht to the files But why not just destroy them himself? Why involve Jansen at all? Only one answer uy wanted to see them first
“What’s Bishop’s Pawn?”
“How much of the files did you read?”
“Enough,” I lied, trying to alter the situation
“That operation is classified But it was soreat concern to this country”
“That’s what this is about? We’re concerned for the country? You’re retired That’s not your problem anymore”
“This country will always be my concern I started with the bureau in 1959, back when the Soviet Union and coreatest threats”
“And how many comh to get excited over” I paused “If any at all”
“You have no idea e faced”
“Actually, I do I can read The threat of a couys like you to keep a job and further your own paranoia The CIA, which actually dealt with co was no threat to national security whatsoever Yet the FBI decided otherwise Did you really think that the Soviet Union was behind the civil rightsto destroy us from within?”
“Stanley Levison was a member of the Communist Party of the United States”
I knew that na Jr, he was a white lawyer fro’s anize events He also raised money for the SCLC True, history noted that Levison had once been a member of the Co before he and King ever became linked
“Levison was called to testify before the Senate Committee on Internal Security,” Oliver said “Parts of that testimony are classified to this day”
“What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?’
That’s what my mother used to ask me when I tried to bullshit her
“There was a genuine concern that Levisonwidespread political unrest,” Oliver said “That was standard operating procedure for co this country down King himself was on the FBI Reserve Index People to be detained in the event of a national eency”
“King was no communist”
“We don’t know that”
“Yes We do You used that nonsense to justify illegally wiretapping not only Levison and King, but too many other people to even count The sad part is even both Kennedys and Lyndon Johnson allowed that to happen They all three loved getting the inside scoop on people, including King Not a one of them ever told Hoover to stop All of you were crazy as hell”
“Easy for you to say, sitting here now, reaping the rewards of our caution”
I’d had enough “Stanley Levison was a progressive liberal who believed that the blacks of this country were getting screwed And by the way, they were He stood up for what he believed and helped the ar Hoover hated King and everyone associated with hiet It’s just that siree, it was a different time with different values But that doesn’t ht”
This guy was getting on my last nerve
“I’ve heard your criticisms many times before They don’t affect ies”
I recalled so else I once read “There was an internal FBI report, frohts movement was not communist-controlled I’ve read parts of it Hoover would not accept that report, so its author changed the conclusion and instead proposed targeting the SCLC by COINTELPRO”
“I wrote that report”
The revelation took me aback
“Hoover was brash, brilliant, full of self-esteeree, he institutionalized totalitarianism within the FBI He was in total control I witnessed that control for ood”
I could not iine how
“Presidents, congressht the FBI was their own personal police force to be used on their ene but that Partisanship was strictly forbidden Hoover worked hard to keep us out of politics We were then, and still are, an investigatory agency, not a police force Big difference”
“That didn’t prevent Hoover hients like the police”
“There is soht froislative branches That wasn’t intentional It sievity and the reputation he forged as someone who didn’t require supervision”
“A big mistake”