Authors: Clayborne Carson
Malcolm X (10 page)
November 13, 1964 | Leaves Conakry, French West Africa [FBI 1 |
November 24, 1964 | Returns to New York at 6:41 |
November 28, 1964 | Panel discussion on WMCA in New York about crisis in the Congo. |
November 29, 1964 | Remarks at OAAU reception that he will travel to London and Oxford [FBI |
November 30, 1964 | Leaves for London [FBI 1 |
December 1964 | Fourth daughter, Amiliah, is born. |
December 3, 1964 | Debates at Oxford University; defends use of extremism and “any means necessary to bring about freedom” [FBI |
December 7, 1964 | In Chicago, Captain Raymond Sharrieff of NOI issues threat to MX [FBI |
December 12, 1964 | Speaks at HARYOU (Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited)-ACT Forum in Harlem. |
December 13, 1964 | Five hundred people attend OAAU public meeting, at which MX speaks about Congo situation [FBI 1/20/65]. |
December 16, 1964 | Speaks at Harvard Law School forum. |
December 20, 1964 | At OAAU rally at Audubon, MX speaks on African natural resources [FBI 1/20/65]. At Harlem rally, supports Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. |
December 28, 1964 | On the “Les Crane Television Show” in New York, MX advocates armed self-defense [FBI 1/20/65]. |
January 1, 1965 | Urges young people to “think for yourself” in speech at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to a SNCC-sponsored group of high school students from McComb, Mississippi. |
January 7, 1965 | Delivers speech at a Militant Labor Forum in New York. |
January 12, 1965 | Registers at Hilton Hotel in New York under alias M. Khalil [FBI 1/20/65]. |
January 18, 1965 | Interview with Jack Barnes and Barry Sheppard, leaders of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA); MX will approve final text before it appears in the March/April issue of |
January 19, 1965 | Pierre Berton interviews MX on his television show in Toronto. |
January 24, 1965 | Speaks about Afro-American history at OAAU rally. |
January 28, 1965 | Flies to Los Angeles and meets with attorney Gladys Towles Root and two former NOI secretaries who are filing paternity suits against EM. Radio interview with Harry Ring on WBAI in New York. |
January 29, 1965 | Testifies before Illinois Attorney General, who is investigating NOI activities. |
January 30, 1965 | In Chicago, records “Kup's Show,” which airs early the next morning [FBI airtel 2/4/65]. |
February 4, 1965 | Travels to Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) is involved in a campaign for blacks' voting rights; speaks at Brown's Chapel AME Church. |
February 5, 1965 | Leaves for London at 8:11 |
February 8, 1965 | Addresses the First Congress of the Council of African Organizations in London. |
February 9, 1965 | French authorities bar MX from entering the country to speak; he is forced to return to London. |
February 11, 1965 | Delivers speech entitled “The oppressed masses of the world cry out for action against the common oppressor” at the London School of Economics. |
February 13, 1965 | Flies back to New York. |
February 14, 1965 | MX's house in East Elmhurst, Queens, firebombed at 2:46 Registers at Statler Hilton Hotel in Detroit at 11:30 Speaks at Detroit rally. |
February 15, 1965 | Six hundred people attend OAAU rally from 8:15 -10:15 |
February 18, 1965 | Evicted from home at 9:00 Last formal talk given at Columbia University. Last on-air appearance on WINS in New York. |
February 20, 1965 | In telephone conversation with Alex Haley, MX says, “The more I keep thinking about this thing, the things that have been happening lately, I'm not at all sure it's the Muslims. After OAAU business meeting, friend and associate Earl Grant invites MX to spend the night in the Grant household; MX replies, “You have a family. ... I don't want anyone hurt on my account-I always knew it would end like this.” |
February 21, 1965 | MX shot several times at 3:10 Martin Luther King, Jr. sends telegram to Betty Shabazz, expressing his sadness over “the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband. While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and the root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems we face as a race. . . .” At 10:15 |
February 22, 1965 | EM denies that he or the NOI had anything to do with a slaying. In an interview on Chicago radio station WVON, he states his “shock and surprise” at the murder. |
February 23, 1965 | James Farmer, CORE Director states that MX murder was “a political act, with international implications” [FBI teletype 2/24/65]. |
February 24, 1965 | Muhammad AH asserts that he will not go into hiding because of fears of reprisal in the aftermath of MX's assassination. |
February 25, 1965 | FBI removes MX from its Security Index. |
February 26, 1965 | Norman 3X Butler arrested at 3:00 |
February 27, 1965 | 9:20 9:50 11:10 11:35 12:45 Witness identifies Hayer and Butler as two of the assassins [FBI 3/12/65]. |
March 1, 1965 | Betty Shabazz meets with New York police detectives investigating the assassination. |
March 5, 1965 | Jack Barnes of the Young Socialist Alliance gives speech in tribute to MX as “an authentic voice of the forces of the American revolution” at a memorial meeting organized by the Militant Labor Forum in New York. |
March 8, 1965 | Witness tells New York police that he saw Hayer shoot MX while Butler and Johnson were present; he also saw Thomas 15X Johnson run out the side exit after the shooting [FBI 3/12/65]. |
March 10, 1965 | New York County Grand Jury indicts Hayer, 22, Butler, 26, and Johnson, 29, for murder [FBI 3/12/65]. Because MMI members all have the same “clear-cut” story, investigators shift their search toward “officials of the MMI” [FBI 3/12/65]. |
March 25, 1965 | FBI report indicates that Robert 35X and Charles 26X, on guard at the Audubon, left their posts, an act in violation of both NOI and MMI rules. |
May 20, 1965 | Reuben X Francis fails to appear in court in connection with felonious assault charge [FBI letter from Baumgartner to Sullivan 8/25/65]. |
August 20, 1965 | FBI reports that Reuben X Francis has fled to Mexico. |
November 5, 1965 | New York Times |
1965 | Betty Shabazz gives birth to twin daughters, Malaak and Malikah. |
January 12, 1966 | Trial for MX shooting begins [FBI 2/8/66]. |
February 3-4, 1966 | Courtroom cleared so confidential witness can testify that he turned gun in to FBI [FBI 2/9/66]. |
February 8, 1966 | SAC Donald E. Roney of New York office says that an SA would testify on February 9 and, if necessary, produce the FD 302 indicating receipt of the gun [FBI 2/8/66]. |
February 9, 1966 | SA testifies and produces the FD 302 [FBI 2/9/66]. |
February 16, 1966 | SA gives Assistant District Attorney Dermody three photos, including Hayer in karate uniform, to prove that Hayer was in NOI [FBI 2/25/66]. |
February 21, 1966 | Ballistics expert links cartridges in Hayer's possession with the .45 used to kill MX [FBI 2/25/66]. |
February 24, 1966 | Dermody describes photographer Durant's testimony as “frosting on the cake.” Durant indicated that Hayer belonged to Newark chapter of NOI [FBI 2/25/66]. |
March 2, 1966 | Hayer testifies that he and three others were hired to kill MX, and that Butler and Johnson are innocent [FBI teletype 3/3/66]. |
March 3â4, 1966 | Johnson and his wife testify that Johnson was not at the Audubon [FBI 3/7/66]. |
March 11, 1966 | Hayer, Butler, and Johnson convicted of murder in the first degree [FBI teletype 3/11/66]. |
April 14, 1966 | Judge Charles Marks sentences Hayer, Butler, and Johnson to life imprisonment [FBI airtel 4/14/66]. |
May 29, 1980 | Congressman W. Hughes of New Jersey writes FBI Director Webster and asks that he look into the assassination of MX. |
June 20, 1980 | Assistant Director Revell writes to Hughes to explain that the FBI has no new information. |
The FBI File
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Although the FBI under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover was consistently hostile toward African-American militancy, the federal government's policies toward the Nation of Islam were inconsistent. The FBI's surveillance of Elijah Muhammad and his followers prior to the 1960s did not result from a widely shared perception among government officials that the Nation of Islam was subversive. Instead, it resulted from the determination of Hoover and other FBI officials to continue surveillance even without explicit authority. The Nation's potential as a stimulus for revolutionary and seditious activities became evident to the FBI mainly as a result of the increasing prominence of Malcolm X and the increasing militancy and scale of black protests.
While Hoover and other Bureau officials saw the group as one of many types of subversive black militancy, other officials of the Justice Department were not convinced that the Muslims represented a serious threat. The 1975 Church Committee hearings on intelligence activities included a summary of the discussions between the FBI and Justice Department officials regarding the Nation of Islam. In 1952, the Bureau suggested adding the Muslims to the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations, and the following year the Department of Justice concluded that the Nation of Islam would not be prosecuted under the anti-communist Smith Act but decided that “the group would under certain circumstances represent a serious threat to our national security.” In 1954, the Justice Department decided against prosecuting the Nation for conspiracy to violate the Selective Service Act. In 1955, the Justice officials responded inconclusively to the FBI's request for advice on whether Muslim activists should remain on the Security Index. In 1959, the Department indicated to Hoover that it did not support prosecution of the Nation or designation on the Attorney General's list. In 1960, according to testimony before the Church Committee, the Department advised that the group was
not subversive as defined by the employee security program. However, the FBI was requested to continue its investigation of the group.
Hoover noted on the bottom of that memorandum, after he received it, that Justice was “just stalling.”
