The John Lennon FBI files

J. Edgar Hoover's letter (HQ-12) to H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's chief of staff, dated April 25, 1972, provides crucial evidence that the Lennon investigation was a political one, of significance at the highest levels of the Nixon White House. One sentence in the "Haldeman Memo" that had previously been withheld has been released: "Lennon has taken an interest in 'extreme left-wing activities in Britain' and is known to be a sympathizer of Trotskyist communists in England." This is a reference to Lennon's ties to London New Left activists and writers Tariq Ali and Robin Blackburn, who published a well-known interview with Lennon in the "Red Mole" in 1970. The FBI has claimed since 1981 that release of this sentence could endanger the National Security of the US.