On This Day in 2000, the FBI Released Documents Detailing Their Surveillance of John Lennon

On this day (February 19) in 2000, the United States Supreme Court ordered the FBI to release documents detailing its surveillance of John Lennon. The investigation of the Beatle was connected to his support for the Irish Republican cause and the Workers Revolutionary Party. The release came after historian and author Jon Wiener fought a long legal battle with the FBI.

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Wiener fought a 14-year legal batter with the FBI after he filed a Freedom of Information request and was denied. According to NPR, the agency claimed they were withholding the information in the interest of national security. Finally, after Wiener took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, the agency agreed to settle.

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Songs like “Give Peace a Chance” made Lennon a target of the Nixon administration. As a result, the FBI put him under surveillance soon after he came to the United States in 1971. A year later, the Immigration and Naturalization Service tried and failed to deport him. However, federal law enforcement continued to gather information on the former Beatle.

John Wiener Discusses the FBI’s Documents on John Lennon

John Wiener literally wrote the book on the topic of John Lennon and the FBI. His book Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files goes deep into the topic. He spoke with NPR about the hard-won information in the book in 2000.

“A little historical background here. The ’72 election was going to be the first one in which 18-year-olds had the right to vote. Before that, you had to be 21,” Wiender explained. “Everybody knew that young people were the strongest anti-war constituency. So, the question was, for Lennon, how could he use his power as a celebrity to get young people into the political process? Also, this was a time when young kids were alienated from mainstream politics,” he added. In short, the Nixon administration worried that Lennon would encourage young people who didn’t support the war in Vietnam to vote. As a result, those in power wanted the former Beatle out of the country.

One major concern the government had was that Lennon would stage a demonstration outside the Republican National Convention. “There’s a memo from J. Edgar Hoover to the head of the Miami FBI office that suggests that if Lennon could be arrested on possession of narcotics charges he would become more immediately deportable,” Wiener said. “This seems to me an effort to set Lennon up for a drug bust. The FBI doesn’t enforce possession of narcotics charges. That’s a state offense. This is not part of what the FBI is supposed to be doing,” he added.

That never happened, though. As Wiener pointed out in the interview, Lennon’s lawyers convinced him to back out of anti-war activities or anything else that would draw the ire of the Nixon administration. Laying low was the only way Lennon would have a chance to win his immigration dispute and stay in the United States. So, in the end, the United States government succeeded in “neutralizing” the former Beatle.

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