16th Street Baptist Church bombing

==Initial investigation==
Initially, investigators theorized that a bomb thrown from a passing car had caused the explosion at the 16th Street Baptist church. But by September 20, the FBI was able to confirm that the explosion had been caused by a device that was purposely planted beneath the steps to the church, close to the women's lounge.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Garrow|first=David|url=https://www.newsweek.com/back-birmingham-174224 |title=Back To Birmingham |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |date=July 20, 1997 |access-date=May 11, 2023}}</ref> A section of wire and remnants of red plastic were discovered there, which could have been part of a timing device. (The plastic remnants were later lost by investigators.)<ref name=terror/>{{rp|63}}

Within days of the bombing, investigators began to focus their attention upon a KKK [[Schism|splinter group]] known as the "Cahaba Boys". The Cahaba Boys had formed earlier in 1963, as they felt that the KKK was becoming restrained and impotent in response to concessions granted to black people to end racial segregation. This group had previously been linked to several bomb attacks at black-owned businesses and the homes of black community leaders throughout the spring and summer of 1963.<ref name=terror>{{cite book |title=1963 Birmingham Church Bombing: The Ku Klux Klan's History of Terror |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRSljuExVuIC&pg=PT31 |isbn=9780756540920 |first=Lisa |last=Klobuchar |year = 2009| publisher=Capstone }}</ref>{{rp|57}} Although the Cahaba Boys had fewer than 30 active members,<ref name=ghosts>{{cite news |title=The ghosts of Alabama: After 37 years, two men are indicted for a bombing that transfigured the civil rights movement |url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/2000/05/22/ghosts.html |work=[[CNN]] |date=May 22, 2000 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |first=Christopher John |last=Farley }}</ref> among them were Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Cherry.

Investigators also gathered numerous witness statements attesting to a group of white men in a turquoise [[1957 Chevrolet]] who had been seen near the church in the early hours of the morning of September 15.<ref name=painful>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-14-mn-50901-story.html |title=Birmingham's Painful Past Reopened |first=Mike |last=Clary |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=April 14, 2001 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> These witness statements specifically indicated that a white man had exited the car and walked toward the steps of the church. (The physical description by witnesses of this person varied, and could have matched either Bobby Cherry or Robert Chambliss.<ref name="crimes and trials"/>)

Chambliss was questioned by the FBI on September 26.<ref name=informant/>{{rp|386}} On September 29, he was [[indictment|indicted]] upon charges of illegally purchasing and transporting [[dynamite]] on September 4, 1963. He and two acquaintances, John Hall and Charles Cagle, were each convicted in state court upon a charge of illegally possessing and transporting dynamite on October 8. Each received a $100 fine ({{Inflation|US|100|1963|r=-1|fmt=eq}}){{Inflation/fn|US}} and a suspended 180-day jail sentence.<ref>{{cite book |title=It Happened in Alabama |isbn=978-0762761135 |page=102 |publisher=[[Globe Pequot Press]] |date=2011 |first=Jackie |last=Sheckler Finch |access-date=May 28, 2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRwPIgSBlygC&pg=PA102 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=John |last=Herbers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/10/09/archives/birmingham-klansman-guilty-in-dynamite-case-two-other-defendants.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 9, 1963 |access-date=September 16, 2013 |title=Birmingham Klansman Guilty in Dynamite Case; Two Other Defendants Face Trial Today--Dr. King Gives City an Ultimatum on Jobs }}</ref> At the time, no federal charges were filed against Chambliss or any of his fellow conspirators in relation to the bombing.<ref name="fbi">{{cite web |url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb_092609 |url-status=live |title=FBI: A Byte Out of History: The '63 Baptist Church Bombing |website=fbi.gov |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] |access-date=November 21, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101013071422/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb_092609| archive-date=13 October 2010 }}</ref>

===FBI closure of case===
The FBI encountered difficulties in their initial investigation into the bombing. A later report stated: "By 1965, we had [four] serious suspects—namely Thomas Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, all Klan members—but witnesses were reluctant to talk and [[Real evidence|physical evidence]] was lacking. Also, at that time, information from our surveillance was not admissible in court. As a result, no federal charges were filed in the '60s."<ref name="FBI">{{cite web |url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb_092609 |url-status=live |title=FBI: A Byte Out of History: The '63 Baptist Church Bombing |website=fbi.gov |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] |access-date=November 21, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101013071422/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/september/bapbomb_092609| archive-date=13 October 2010}}</ref>

On May 13, 1965, local investigators and the FBI formally named Blanton, Cash, Chambliss, and Cherry as the perpetrators of the bombing, with Robert Chambliss the likely ringleader of the four.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://blackhistorycollection.org/2014/09/30/murderer-of-4-birmingham-girls-found-guilty-38-yrs-later/ |access-date=May 28, 2019 |work=blackhistorycollection.org |first=Chris |last=Preitauer |title=Murderer Of 4 Birmingham Girls Found Guilty (38 yrs later) |date=September 30, 2014 }}</ref> This information was relayed to the Director of the FBI, [[J. Edgar Hoover]];<ref name="wsws.org May 5, 2001">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/05/birm-m05.html |work=[[World Socialist Web Site]] |date=May 5, 2001 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |title=Former Klansman convicted in deadly 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church |first=Kate |last=Randall }}</ref> however, no prosecutions of the four suspects ensued. There had been a history of mistrust between local and [[Federal government of the United States|federal]] investigators.<ref name="Al.com May 23, 2002">{{Cite web |work=[[Al.com]] |first=Chanda |last=Temple |url=http://www.al.com/specialreport/index.ssf?bombing%2Fbhm_cherry.html |title=Cherry convicted: Jury verdict in bombing hailed as 'justice finally' |access-date=February 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921001131/http://www.al.com/specialreport/index.ssf?bombing%2Fbhm_cherry.html |archive-date=September 21, 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Later the same year, J. Edgar Hoover formally blocked any impending federal prosecutions against the suspects,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/05/05/no-thanks-to-hoover/4fdbbadb-c7d7-4ed5-aa65-cd3a45c1ed20/ |title=No Thanks to Hoover |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 5, 2001 |first=Colbert I. |last=King |access-date=September 25, 2021 }}</ref> and refused to disclose any evidence his agents had obtained with state or federal prosecutors.<ref name=waddell>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/that-which-might-have-bee_b_3927505 |title="That Which Might Have Been, Birmingham, 1963": 50 Year Anniversary |work=[[Huffington Post]] |date=September 15, 2013 |first=Amy |last=Waddell |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref>

In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. The files were [[Record sealing|sealed]] by order of J. Edgar Hoover.