An historian has finally received the remaining FBI documents on John Lennon, that were kept secret for decades. Jon Wiener obtained 10 pages detailing the intense scrutiny Lennon received from the FBI.Â
One report describes how two prominent British leftists tried to persuade Lennon to finance “a left-wing bookshop and reading room in London”, but Lennon gave them no money.
Another page states that there was “no certain proof” that Lennon had provided money “for subversive purposes.”
Wiener told the L.A. Times, “Today, we can see that the national security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning.”
Wiener had originally asked for the documents in 1981, a year after Lennon was killed. The FBI originally provided some files showing how closely monitored he was from 1971-1972. The rest were not given, for reasons of national security. In addition, the Freedom of Information Act was declared to not apply.
Wiener sued the U.S. government and received some of the documents in 1997. In 2004, a judge ordered the FBI to hand over the remaining 10 pages.