Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson retired from baseball at the beginning of 1957, when he was aged just 37. After the intense pressure that had come from being the first African American to play in Major League Baseball, he might have chosen to enjoy an easy life. However, Robison had other ideas. He became actively involved in politics, and more specifically in the civil rights movement. Because of this, the FBI became suspicious. Which is why they compiled a sizable dossier on him, detailing everything from his suspected political beliefs to his known associates and even his personal relationships.
The Agency opened its file on Robinson in 1966, even if some agents had been suspicious of his motives for some years before this. This was around the time where the baseball legend became an active supporter of the Civil Rights movement. And, when he helped open a new center of the International Workers Order in Harlem, the FBI really started taking notice. According to some informants, the International Workers Order was a Communist organization, intent on undermining the American government and American values.
Despite all their efforts, the FBI never found any evidence that Robinson was a threat to American society. In fact, as the file makes clear, the sporting superstar was actually opposed to some extreme Civil Rights groups and was socially conservative on a number of issues. Moreover, Robinson even refused to speak out against the Vietnam War, leading some African American groups to criticize him for selling out his own people.
In his later years, Robinson became a vocal anti-drugs campaigner. His own son was an addict and had died in an automobile accident at the age of just 24. By this stage, the FBI had closed its file on him. The Agency had concluded that, though he was undoubtedly a pioneer and changed the face of professional sports forever, Robinson was no radical and certainly no threat to the American way of life. He died in 1972 at the age of just 53 and his FBI file can be viewed on the Agency’s own website.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Touring J. Edgar Hoover’s monument to Jackie Robinson.” Martin Schram, Knoxville News Sentinel, April 2016.
“FBI files reveal attempt to prove Dietrich was spy.” Kate Connolly, The Guardian, May 2002.
“Bettie Page, FBI Consultant.” The Smoking Gun.
“FBI wanted Tesla’s ‘death ray’ invention for War Dept, documents show.” Russia Today, September 2016.
“New Details Emerge From the Einstein Files: How the F.B.I. Tracked His Phone Calls and His Trash.” Dennis Overbye, May 2002.
“Disney Link to the FBI and Hoover is Disclosed.” The New York Times, 1993.
“Uncovering The ‘Truth’ Behind Lennon’s FBI Files.” NPR.org.
“What’s Inside the FBI’s Secret File on Marilyn Monroe?” Esther Zuckerman, The Atlantic, December 2012.
“MI5 spied on Charlie Chaplin after FBI asked for help to banish him from US.” Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, February 2012.