DOCUMENT: Crime

Targeting John Lennon

FBI monitored ex-Beatle's activism, drug use, radical pals

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Targeting John Lennon

DECEMBER 8--On the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, we'll let others recall the savagery of Mark David Chapman, the ex-Beatle's killer.  Instead, TSG offers excerpts from the musician's FBI file, which shows how much Lennon's message of peace and hope vexed J. Edgar Hoover and other U.S. government officials. The bureau memos show that agents began monitoring Lennon because they believed (mistakenly, as it turned out) that he might try to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention, which coronated President Richard Nixon for a second term. What follows is a selection of Lennon documents released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Here's a brief description of what you'll find on the succeeding pages: