16th Street Baptist Church bombing

===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.