Martin Luther King Jr.

===Allegations of communism===
For years, Hoover had been suspicious of potential [[Red Scare|influence of communists]] in social movements such as labor unions and civil rights.<ref>{{cite book|title= To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages= [https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/246 246–247]|last= Downing|first= Frederick L.|publisher= Mercer University Press|year= 1986|isbn= 0-86554-207-4|url= https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/246}}</ref> Hoover directed the FBI to track King in 1957, and the SCLC when it was established.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Due to the relationship between King and Stanley Levison, the FBI feared Levison was working as an "agent of influence" over King, in spite of its own reports in 1963 that Levison had left the Party and was no longer associated in business dealings with them.{{sfn|Kotz|2005|pp=70–74}} Another King lieutenant, [[Jack O'Dell]], was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Woods|first=Jeff|page=[https://archive.org/details/blackstrugglered0000wood/page/126 126]|year=2004|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=0-8071-2926-7|title=Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948–1968|url=https://archive.org/details/blackstrugglered0000wood/page/126}} See also: {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/realjedgarhoover0000wann |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/realjedgarhoover0000wann/page/87 87] |title=The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record |last=Wannall |first=Ray |isbn=1-56311-553-0 |year=2000 |publisher=Turner Publishing }}</ref>

Despite the extensive surveillance, by 1976 the FBI had acknowledged that it had not obtained any evidence that King himself or the SCLC were actually involved with any communist organizations.<ref name=Church>{{citation|last=Church|first= Frank|author-link= Frank Church|title= Church Committee Book III| work =Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Case Study| publisher= [[Church Committee]]| date=April 23, 1976}}</ref>

For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to communism. In a 1965 ''Playboy'' interview, he stated that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida."{{sfn|Washington|1991|p=362}} He argued that Hoover was "following the path of appeasement of political powers in the South" and that his concern for communist infiltration of the civil rights movement was meant to "aid and abet the salacious claims of southern racists and the extreme right-wing elements."<ref name=Church /> Hoover replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country".<ref>{{cite book |title=Martin Luther King Jr.: A Biography |last=Bruns |first=Roger |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun/page/67 67] |isbn=0-313-33686-5 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun/page/67 }}</ref> After his "I Have A Dream" speech, the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country".<ref name=track /> It alleged that he was "knowingly, willingly and regularly cooperating with and taking guidance from communists."{{sfn|Kotz|2005|p=83}}

The attempts to prove that King was a communist was related to the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were content with the status quo but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators".<ref>{{cite book |title= Democratic Individuality: A Theory of Moral Progress |page=435 |last=Gilbert |first=Alan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-521-38709-4}}</ref> King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revolution, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations."{{sfn|Washington|1991|p=363}}