An important piece of history, uncovered
Martin Luther King Jr. was probably the most powerful and prominent Civil Rights leader of the mid-20th century, and he drew negative attention from several powerful people in the government, including and especially J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI during the year in question: 1964. It would be another 4 years until Dr. King would be assassinated, but that isn’t for lack of effort from the U.S. government. The following is a letter that J. Edgar Hoover wrote to Dr. King trying to convince him that suicide was King’ “only way out” of King’s at-odds relationship with the FBI and other powerful leaders. Thought Hoover never said the word suicide, it’s clear it’s what he was referring to after he lamented King about his “low grade, abnormal behavior” towards the end of the letter.
The New York Magazine recently published the uncensored letter, which the Senate would confirm was the work of Hoover, the former FBI director.
