05/30/23 05/30/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: we have reached a bipartisan budget agreement that we are ready to move to the full congress. i think it is an important step forward and prevents the worst possible crisis, a default for the first time in our nations history, an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated.

amy: urging lawmakers to support a deal to suspend the debt ceiling until january 1, 2025 in order to prevent the united states from defaulting for the first time in history. the deal limits nonmilitary spending while increasing the pentagon's budget. it also places new work requirements on some recipients of food stamps and fast tracks the approval of the controversial mountain valley pipeline. we will get the latest. then we look at a major new biography of martin luther king. >> i know what is going to happen now. we have some difficult days ahead. but it really doesn't matter now because i have been to the mountaintop. amy: we will speak with jonathan eig, author of "king: a life." it is based on fbi files on the civil rights leader. we will also hear about what the world misunderstands about how

martin luther king viewed malcolm x. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president joe biden and republican house speaker kevin mccarthy have agreed to a tentative deal that would suspend the limit on the u.s. national debt until 2025. biden said the compromise agreement would prevent the u.s. from defaulting on its loans, something treasury secretary janet yellen says could happen as soon as june 5 unless members of congress quickly to raise the debt ceiling. pres. biden: he takes the threat of catastrophic to fall off the table, protects our economic recovery. it also represents a compromise.

no one got everything they want but that is responsible of governing. amy: the deal calls for nonmilitary discretionary spending to remain mostly flat, while boosting military spending by about 3%. it would cut irs funding and would add new work requirements for some recipients of food assistance and temporary aid for needy families. the deal would also lift a moratorium on student loan payments and would fast-track the approval and construction of the proposed $6.6 billion mountain valley pipeline in virginia and west virginia. we will have more on the debt ceiling after headlines. sudan's army has agreed to extend a ceasefire with a rival paramilitary group for a further five days despite ongoing breaches of a week-long truce. clashes have continued in the capital khartoum, where victims include dozens of babies who died in sudan's largest orphanage after workers fled

heavy gunfire in the area. there's been no letup in fighting in sudan's west darfur region, where aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe after militias burned entire villages to the ground. more than 90,000 people from the region have crossed into neighboring chad. on monday, the u.n. high commissioner for refugees filippo grandi predicted more than a million people may flee sudan by october. he spoke from cairo after a visit to sudan. >> what i heard is stories of loss, of separated families, of hardship, of a dangerous journeys from sudan, people fleeing from fighting to try to find security first in other parts of sudan and then neighboring countries like egypt. amy: russia has unleashed its largest drone attacks on ukraine's capital since the start of its invasion 15 months

ago. amy: ukraine's military says it shot down most of the iranian-made drones launched at kyiv by russia. dozens of explosions and frequent air raid sirens throughout the weekend sent civilians running for cover. thousands of people spent the weekend sheltering inside kyiv's subway stations. at least two people were killed and several others injured by falling debris from downed drones. meanwhile, russian officials say eight ukrainian drones reached moscow earlier today and were intercepted by russian air defenses. at least two of the drones reportedly crashed into residential apartment towers but caused no injuries. russia's defense ministry called it a terrorist attack.

elsewhere, an anti-kremlin paramilitary group said it had carried out another cross-border attack from ukraine. the group includes self-avowed neo-nazis. turkey's supreme election council has declared long-time incumbent reccep tayyip erdogan the victor of sunday's run-off presidential election. erdogan will extend his 20-year rule for a further five years, by far the longest rule of any leader since the founding of the republic of turkey a century ago. erdogan received just over 52% of the vote, beating challenger kemal kilicdaroglu, who rallied supporters after his defeat. >> in this election, the will of the people, the change of the authoritarian regime emerged despite all the pressures. we will continue our struggle on all fronts. amy: israel's military has killed a palestinian security officer during an overnight raid

monday in the occupied west bank city of jenin. 37-year-old ashraf mohammad ibrahim died from gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach during cash and other palestinian men eight were injured by live fire. elsewhere, jewish settlers on monday moved to re-establish the evacuated west bank outpost of homesh. the settlement was dismantled in 2005 by then-prime minister ariel sharon but was recently approved for re-settlement by benjamin netanyahu's far-right government. the u.s. state department said it was deeply troubled by the reopening of homesh. this follows an attack friday by israeli settlers on palestinian farmers in a village near ramallah, which left five palestinians wounded, one of whom was shot in the head. palestinian attaf al-naasan says israeli soldiers assisted the settlers in the assault. >> we came here to help the people who were planting and harvesting after the settlers attacked them. we came to help and protect

them. the settlers and soldiers attacked us. they burned this car. they did not let us put out the fire. they burned it in front of our eyes. amy: a court in libya has sentenced 23 men to death over their roles in the 2015 takeover of the city of sirte by isis fighters. the men were blamed for crimes including the kidnapping and beheading of dozens of coptic orthodox christians. 14 others were sentenced to life in prison. isis rose to power during libya's civil war that followed the 2011 assassination of long-time leader muammar gaddafi by u.s.-supported rebels. in uganda, human rights advocates are condemning president yoweri museveni for signing a sweeping anti-lgbtq measure into law that makes same-sex relationships punishable by life imprisonment, and even the death sentence in some cases. it's one of the most draconian anti-lgbtq laws in the world. this is ugandan lgbtq activist delovie kwagala.

>> where are we supposed to go? you don't want us in your country. you are not giving us an education, medication. you are criminalizing as. where do you want us to go? you are arresting us for literally doing nothing, for simply existing. where are we supposed to go? how do we become refugees in our own country? amy: venezuelan president nicolás maduro arrived in brazil monday, marking his first visit since he was banned by former far-right president jair bolsonaro. maduro was welcomed at the national palace in the capital brasilia by president luiz inacio lula da silva ahead of a meeting of 11 south american presidents today. during a joint news conference, president lula sharply criticized the united states for failing to recognize maduro's legitimacy and for economic

sanctions that have devastated venezuela's economy. >> is it his fault? no, it is the fault of the united states that created an extremely exaggerated blockade. they always say the blockade is worse than war because in a war, it is usually soldiers who die in battle. blockade kills children, women, people who have nothing to do with the i logical dispute -- with the ideological dispute. amy: here in the united states, mass shootings killed at least 16 people over the memorial day weekend and left dozens more injured. in new mexico, three people were killed in a shootout on saturday by rival motorcycle gangs in the resort town of red river. meanwhile, in florida, nine people were hospitalized with bullet wounds monday when two groups began a gunfight on the crowded hollywood broadwalk. among those injured was a one-year-old child.

the gun violence archive reports nearly 17,500 people across the united states have been killed by firearms so far this year, with 70 separate mass shootings in the month of may. a judge in south carolina has suspended the state's ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy until it can be reviewed by the south carolina supreme court. the temporary injunction was granted friday, one day after republican governor henry mcmaster signed the legislation. south carolina's abortion ban provides only limited exceptions for rape and incest survivors or when a patient's life and health are in danger. and in texas, the republican-led statehouse has voted overwhelmingly to impeach the republican attorney general ken paxton, suspending him from office over accusations that include accepting bribes,

obstruction of justice, and abuse of office. the move comes after a house committee launched an investigation into paxton, describing a years-long pattern of misconduct. the fbi has also been probing paxton for years over allegations he used his office to help a donor. the texas senate will now conduct an impeachment trial, where at least two-thirds of senators must support paxton's removal from office. the impeachment proceedings over the weekend came as texas lawmakers are wrapping up a legislation with approval of a bill that gives texas' republican secretary of state authority over elections in harris county -- home to houston and a stronghold for democrats. last week, harris county judge lina hidalgo called the legislation a bold faced power grab. >> they are counting this in the language of reform. but they are not reform.

with a grin on their faces, these legislators are taking power away from the constituents they pledged to represent. because, by the way, harris county is one of the most diverse counties in the state, where -- we are 44% hispanic, 27% black, 25% immigrant. and we are proud of our diversity. that is a texas this governor and those leaders do not recognize. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, president joe biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy are urging lawmakers to support a deal to suspend the debt failing until january 1, 2025 in order to prevent not it states from defaulting for the first time in history.

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amy: "nothing is as good as they say it is" by sparks. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president joe biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy are urging lawmakers to support a deal to suspend the debt ceiling until january 1, 2025 in order to prevent the united states from defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. a tentative deal has been reached, but it must still be approved by members of congress where progressive lawmakers and members of the far-right house freedom caucus have expressed opposition to parts of the deal. president biden announced the agreement on saturday. pres. biden: this is good news for the american people. the agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default for the first time in our nations history. an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, jobs lost. it protects parties and accomplishments -- priorities

and accomplishments that we have fought long and hard for. amy: house speaker kevin mccarthy praised the deal which places new caps on government spending. >> we were able to do this the president said he wasn't even going to talk to us. this is a step in the right directions and put us on a trajectory that is different. only spending 1% for the next six years. we let government grow but at a slower rate. amy: the deal calls for non-defense discretionary spending to remain mostly flat while boosting military spending by about 3%. new work requirements would be established for some recipients of food stamps and the temporary aid for needy families program. and it cuts funding to the irs. in addition, the deal would also lift a moratorium on student loan payments which has been place since the pandemic. the deal also speeds up the approval and construction of the proposed $6.6 billion mountain valley pipeline in virginia and west virginia.

which has been strongly backed by democratic senator joe manchin. the group food & water watch condemned this provision saying it will irreversibly scar biden's legacy on the environment and clean energy. virginia's democratic senator tim kaine says he will introduce an amendment to strip the mountain valley pipeline from the debt limit bill. the debt legislation now heads today to the house rules committee where two members of the house freedom caucus, representatives chip roy of texas and ralph norman of south carolina, have already said they oppose the deal. meanwhile, south carolina republican senator lindsey graham has blasted the deal for not increasing the military budget enough. progressive critics of the deal include bishop william barber of the poor people's campaign. he said -- "the great contradiction of this debt ceiling deal is that, while

poverty is the fourth-leading cause of death, this deal will make it harder to get food stamps but easier to spend money on war." we are joined now by lindsay owens, executive director of the groundwork collaborative. and think tank. -- a progressive think tank. she is a former policy advisor to senator elizabeth warren. welcome. can you basically summarize this deal further and talk about your concerns with it? >> the deal does two big things. first, it suspends the debt ceiling until january 2025. assuming congress gets this past before the june for date, we hopefully won't be in position to default on our debt again until early 2025 and we will get to do this all over again. the second thing the proposal does is sets two years of budget caps.

this is effectively the maximum amount of money that congress allocates for the federal government to spend over the next two years. for the first year, they set flat funding. for the second year, 1% increase. it is important to know that given the high inflation americans are experiencing right now, flat funding is not so flat. it is an inflation-adjusted cut which means we will not be able to offer the same amount of services we did last year after inflation takes its share -- eats its share. in addition to the suspension of the debt ceiling, congress talked in a variety of other pretty harmful proposals, including the mountain valley pipeline and lead, including basically bringing student loan payments back online in september, which is critically important given the supreme

court is hearing -- has heard this case and will be deciding soon. if the supreme court knocked on the biden administration's effort for loan forgiveness as early as september 1, and will have to start paying those student loans again. so there are a number of problematic provisions congress tucked into this proposal they will be voting on later this week. amy: i want to go to new york congressmember alexandria ocasio cortez speaking on the house floor friday. >> republicans have run up a bill that they now do not want to pay. they have run of this bill with extremely effective military spending. they have run up this bill with extraordinary tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country. and now when it comes down to time to pay for this goal, they do not want to pay it.

not only that, but they are accusing democrats of saying we spend too much. for anyone that wants to entertain that thought, i ask you to think about the last time a person said -- has had in this country, "the government does too much for them, that their social security check was too high, that teachers are paid too much. when was the last time anyone has heard or seen that? amy: progressive caucus chairwoman representative pramila jayapal spoke to cnn's jake tapper about the new work requirements in the debt deal. >> we are one of the only countries in the world that is an industrialized country that puts in requirements on people who just want food. very bad policy does not save money. by the way, does not work. we have seen reams of data that show when you put these work requirements in, there just

administrative redtape that prevent the people who need help from getting help. amy: speaking to fox news monday, the florida republican governor and presidential hopeful ron desantis blasted the deal. >> prior to this deal, our country was careening toward bankruptcy. after this deal, our country will still be turning toward bankruptcy. to say you can do for choi in dollars of increases in the next year and a half, that is a massive amount of spending. i think we have gotten ourselves on a trajectory here since march 2020 with some of the covid spending that totally reset the budget and they are sticking with that. i think that is totally inadequate to get as in a better spot. in florida, we run big budget surpluses. we have a 1.2 train dollar economy but our debt is only $17 million. we make tough choices and we make sure we look forward to the long haul.

in washington, d.c., they do cycles to get them through to the next election and that is ultimately one of the reasons why they continue to fail. amy: congress number chip roy of texas called the deal a turd sandwich. on boebert said -- lindsay owens, if you can respond to it all? >> it is interesting how congress always finds money for military spending, finds the money to cut taxes for the wealthiest americans. i think the irs cuts in this bill are a great example of that. last year when congress passed the inflation reduction act, the allocated $80 billion in new spending for the irs. that was to do a couple of

things. first, it is to enable the irs to go after the wealthiest tax cheats. about 70% of the tax gap, the difference between the taxes owed and the taxes collected by the irs, are coming from the top 1% of filers who are invading their taxes. the irs has not had the resources -- the humans, staff, and the financial resources -- to crack down on that, to go after those tax evaders. over the last 10 years, audits of the wealthiest filers have dropped precipitously. with republicans going after this iris funding, they are explicitly effectively green lighting paving the way for the wealthiest americans to continue cheating on their taxes. the other thing that money was slated to do is modernize the agency, to be able to bring down wait times so americans have questions about filing their taxes can get on the phone with any agent and get those

questions answered. it is already working. it is wonderful for so many americans and improving that customer service. i think the irs cuts are unfortunate here. i think they show the hypocrisy of the republican party who likes to talk a lot about deficit reduction but actually ushered in a series of cuts that increases the deficit. because when you spend money on the irs, you not only recruit that money back, you more in the additional revenues that the agency is able to bring in my cracking down on the wealthiest tax cheats. amy: lindsay owens, what is the groundwork collaborative's alternatives at this point? and how does this work right now through the house, which has been called back coming out today and the house rules committee, will get even get out of that? and tomorrow, a vote expected.

>> you are hearing a lot from the biden administration officials right now as they try to sell this deal, which obviously, we don't want to default on our debt. it would be a catastrophe. economists predict to 8 million americans unemployed if we did. we want to avoid the worst case scenario. but you're hearing a lot from the administration this deal could have been worse and so democrats need to line up behind it. our position at the groundwork collaborative is the deal could also have been better. it is possible to take care of the debt ceiling without kicking older americans who need food assistance in the teeth, which is what this bill does. increasing no snap work requirements. we have worked arm it's already on the books for individuals 18-40 nine. this bill extends those to folks 50, 55. if you are a poor american in your early 50's not working, you

face a lot of obstacles into getting back in the labor market. age discrimination, your skills may have been atrophied if you have been out of the labor market for a while. a lot of older americans are not going to be able to clear that hurdle. as a result, go without food. there was an easier, softer way that many of us advocated. as soon as we realized we would not have the house of representatives in this next congress right after the election in november, congress should have taken on the debt ceiling during the lame-duck and avoided the debacle of hostagetaking by kevin mccarthy altogether. but also i think there are alternatives the biden administration could pursue to negotiations even still, including invoking the 14th amendment that effectively says we have to pay our debts so we will do that. going forward, we're going to be in this position again in 2025. it is our hope as we approach

that 2025 debt ceiling limit again, we explore alternatives, including we want to bring down the deficit, let's do it through revenue. let's tax the wealthiest americans and corporations i make sure they pay their fair share instead of this death by a thousand cuts scenario where we go after programs that so many americans depend on that frankly are already underfunded after decades of not really needing the needs -- meeting the needs of an arrogance on a never of counts. amy: does the groundwork collaborative recommended progressive caucus vote down this deal? >> i think we have to clear the debt ceiling, so if we are getting to the point where the republican caucus in the house is unable to supply the votes to get this over the finish line and therefore they need the progressive caucus vote to pass

this bill, that i think a short version is the progressives should get something for it. let's get some policies in place that work for americans. let's maybe remove this harmful student loan provision so if the supreme court does strike down broad-based student loan forgiveness, americans can get another extension while the administration works on a plan b. i think the progressives are going to have to vote for this, they should get something for their vote. lindsay owens, thank you for being with us, executive director of the groundwork collaborative. coming up, we look at a major new biography of martin luther king based on newly released fbi files on the human rights leader. we will speak with author jonathan eig and also asked him about what he revealed about how the world misunderstands what martin luther king thought of malcolm x.

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amy: harry belafonte at a concert in germany in 1988. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we spend the rest of the hour with the author of the first major biography of dr. martin luther king, jr. in decades. it draws on unredacted yet files as well as the files of the personal aide to president lyndon johnson that shows how he and others partnered with the fbi's surveillance of king in efforts to destroy him led by j edgar hoover. he wrote in an opinion essay that the documents reveal how open johnson was more of an

antagonist to king and conspirator with hoover that he has been portrayed for personalizing the fis assault on king, americans cling to a view of history that isolates a few bad actors who oppose the civil rights movement, including hoover, george wallace, and the birmingham linacre bull connor, dave does fail to notice the institutional will organize resistance to change in our society." that is jonathan eig, author of "king: a life." he interviewed more than 200 people, including many who knew king closely like the singer, actor, and activist come the late great harry belafonte. the book has drawn attention for its revelation that king was less critical of malcolm x and previously thought. he found the original transcript of an interview king did with alex haley, the other who collaborated with malcolm x on his autobiography, the transcript shows how he

misquoted and even made a part of king's response was king never said malcolm has done himself or our people a great disservice. king's comment about oratory was not related to malcolm x. to talk about all of this, we're joined in chicago by jonathan eig. this is an epic work. congratulations on years of research and writing. why don't we begin where i left off on this exposé around what martin luther king early thought of malcolm x. talk about the significance of how alex haley shaped the narrative for so many decades and who haley was. >> he was one of the best-known african-american journalists of his era. he wrote for a lot of mainstream white publications like reader's

digest and playboy. the one for playboy what the longest published interview that king ever gave. it had significant impact in reached a lot of white readers who are not otherwise going to be exposed to such a long interview with king. because of the comments that king made were supposedly made about malcolm x, it has been handed down for decades, for generations that this is what king thought about malcolm x and as you pointed out in the introduction, largely fabricated. amy: talk about how you found this out and what you understand king really thought about malcolm x? the actually only met in person once, right, in washington, d.c.? although malcolm x did go to selma and talk about what he said to mark luther king's wife coretta scott king. >> yes, the men only met once

and malcolm was speaking in tuskegee and students said king was in selma and he could drive there be there within hours so malcolm x drove to selma. he did not meet king because he was in jeopardy did sit next to coretta scott king at a church rally and said to her, let your husband know i am here, that i support him and that maybe it is helper to him in a way -- helpful to him in a way that maybe people will be more willing to listen to dr. king. the truth of the relationship as james baldwin road is by the time of their deaths, they were pretty much indistinguishable in their philosophies. that may be a bit of an exaggeration but they were moving toward each other. this quote in playboy really did a disservice, it misrepresented the relationship. one of the things i do in any time i find a really good interview with a subject of a book i'm working on is i will go

to the archives and try to find the original tapes or transcript of that interview to see what was left out. that is always doing when i went looking for the alex haley transcript of his interview with martin luther king. i wanted to see what got left out. you can never publish the full interview. i was shocked to discover parts of it were moved around so that answers to questions were changed in their meaning and some sections were completely fabricated. king never said that he thought malcolm's oratory was doing a disservice to the black community. he said that about the nation of islam but not specifically about malcolm. king actually expressed great open-mindedness about malcolm. he said, i don't agree when malcolm x calls for violence but i'm not so arrogant to think i have all the answers. he is suggesting in this

interview, the part not published, he is open-minded to learning more and talking more to malcolm. that is one of the great things about king. he was interested in listening to the people that disagreed with him. amy: so if you can talk about that kind of research that you did, jonathan, and why you chose to do a profile of king -- not just a profile, and it epic work. talk about the other biographies that you wrote and how that brought you to king at this critical moment when, what, harry belafonte just died he was 96. dr. king would have been in his 90's was not and what that means about those around him who knew him best. >> about 10 years ago when i was working on my muhammad ali biography, i was interviewing people who knew ali and martin luther king and i was asking

about a couple of occasions when king and ali met. i was speaking to people like harry belafonte reverend jesse jackson. i found myself asking a lot of questions about king and was curious what he was like. that is what it occurred to me in the last 40, 50 years or so, we have turned king into a two-dimensional figure. i think especially with the national holiday, has become a hallmark card. we have water down his vision. these men were telling me they considered king a radical, as radical as malcolm x in many ways. his public image has been changed so much i felt this was a great opportunity to write a book that would correct that image and also any opportunity to write the book while so many people who knew king were still alive. i travel the country over the last six years interviewing folks not just like the ones i mentioned but also what he to abernathy, reverend lafayette, and asking them, what was it

like to be around king? what was his message? how have we lost sight of the real man? i wanted to write a more intimate portrait. it had been a good 35 years since the last king biography had been published or felt this was urgent. amy: i went to get to his early years, but i also want to talk about what you discovered in the last years from declassified fbi documents and also this personal secretary of lyndon johnson capped her own archive and how that was not released until recently? i want to talk about fbi surveillance, from the kennedys to johnson, and how it was not just surveillance but proactive attempting to drive dr. martin luther king to suicide. >> it began with the

authorization by robert f kennedy to begin to surveilled king. they began by putting wiretaps on some of his associates phones and eventually started wiretapping king's home and office phones and began to put listing devices in his hotel rooms. originally, the rationale for that was they were concerned he was consorting, associating with communist and former communists. it became clear king was not interested at all in communists and there were not influencing the civil rights movement in any way that move them toward communist beliefs, they acknowledge that but by then i had become obsessed with his personal life and trying to catch him in affairs with other women other than his wife. it became a personal vendetta, fueled in part by the racism in the fbi, by the insecurities of j edgar hoover who resisted and

really raged when king criticized the fbi for being racist. and then it became their personal obsession of people like hoover and lbj who i think just had an interest in keeping tabs on king's personal life. amy: talk about how they weaponized that. i mean, you talk extensively about martin luther king dealing with depression. i think this also goes to demystifying and he icon. it does not take away any of his power but for people who wonder if they themselves could make a difference in the world who suffer from depression, from his early sort of halfhearted attempt at suicide as a child to being institutionalized and yet accomplishing so much. take us on that trajectory. >> i think it is important for

us to acknowledge our heroes have flaws and if we expect our heroes to be perfect, nobody will ever rise to the occasion. nobody will even try. king was deeply flawed. as you mentioned, he attended suicide twice as a teenager post jumping from a second-story home. when he won the nobel peace prize, he was hospitalized at the time for what he called anxiety but what his wife described as depression. he was hospitalized numerous times in his life because the pressure had gotten to him so badly. the fbi knew about this. they attempted to weaponize it, as you say. they took his personal life, reported on it, distributed the information not only to the president of the united states but members of congress and the media hoping somebody would go public with it and destroy his marriage, destroy his reputation, and essentially

destroy the civil rights movement. at one point they planned for replacement of king to become the next leader of the civil rights movement once they managed to get king out of the way. this was a deliberate, extended, and really mean-spirited campaign driven not just by their fear of king, not just by their fear of a black rising to prominence, but driven by a fear of losing the power as was enjoyed by white people primarily at that time. they wanted to maintain the existing power structure. amy: and when you talk about disturbing the surveillance transcripts -- distributing the surveillance transcript when they were listening to him and hotel rooms, on the telephone, talk about the role of the media . and once it's being called her

wrote, for example, "the new york times" for returning those documents without reporting on them, but not exposing the fact he was being surveilled and wiretapped. >> this is one of the great mysteries of the civil rights era. why didn't anyone report on the fact our government, the fbi, was in fact surveilling private citizens? not just king but many of his closest associates and as we later discovered in 1971 that the fbi was conducting a massive campaign trying to disrupt protest leaders, disrupt activists who were engaged in peacefully, for the most part, trying to bring change and expand the system of democracy. the real interesting part of the story to me is dozens of reporters were being leaked these documents, they were being besieged by the fbi to publish

the news of king's personal life come to write about his sexual affairs and they petted themselves on the back for not reporting that story, protecting king's privacy but none of them picked up what should have been the bigger story which was the surveillance in the first place. why was our government engaged in this kind of conduct against a private citizen? one of our great moral leaders? amy: talk about how that went back to the kennedys. but president john f. kennedy and attorney general robert kennedy. what was the relationship with king? on the one hand, calling coretta scott king and being deeply concerned about him being jailed and on the other hand, authorizing the wiretaps? >> martin luther king did not endorse jfk but a lot of people felt his passive endorsement, his words of approval for the kennedys helped kennedy swing

the election. after that, king was disappointed that kennedy did not move more quickly to enact civil rights legislation. he felt like kennedy was playing politics, trying to conserve -- preserve white votes in the south, not wanting to take any chances. so the relationship was a complicated one. at the same time, it was the kennedys who authorized the fbi to begin his wiretaps. the kennedys at first were truly concerned that king's connections to communists might have damaging political effects. if the news got out that king had these former communist party members and perhaps some current commonest party members in his circle -- communist party members in a circle, it would damage passing any legislation. the kennedys asked king to get rid of these people. king ended up getting rid of one but keeping his relationship with the other because he truly believed this was a good man and

his former ties to common as it were irrelevant. king was not playing politics. he was doing what he believed was the right thing morally, standing by a friend an important ally. the kennedys did not understand why he was network and some of the political optics. amy: and then going on to johnson. the fact he understood he had to keep these memos of fbi director j edgar hoover secret who was sending as many as one a week detailing dr. king's private life. filled with facts, filled with lies. putting this through a whole different channel with a private secretary of lyndon johnson. and when those documents came out, jonathan? >> just last year, within the last year or year and a half i petition the lbj library to open up the files of his personal secretary mildred spiegel.

we have known for a long time johnson kept his most important papers in her safe. he capped his private business papers there. he kept recordings he made unbeknownst to others he was recording all the phone calls from the oval office, kept the tapes and her safe. i asked them to check to see if there any fbi files and mildred spiegel's safe and there were hundreds of pages of documents directly from j edgar hoover to the white house with the most personal details, really shockingly odd in how personal they were, gossipy things that could not have borne any importance when it comes to national secretive. it appears lbj and hoover enjoyed gossiping about the personal details of king's life and also about any kind of criticism king might have had for lbj. it was raised to the level of high national importance at least in hoover's mind. if king said something critical

of albi j. -- lbj. the vietnam war was giving lbj nightmares. when king spoke outcome lbj took this personally. lbj seem to join in the vendetta with hoover and this attack on king and i think is important to recognize the consequences. would lbj took office, he viewed king as one of its most important allies. they work together to pass some of them greatest legislation in this country's history. i think our partnership was an amazing one. maybe the greatest partnership between the president and activist. hoover helped to spread cancer into that relationship. you can hear it in their phone calls, how he goes from calling him martin in the early calls to referring to him as dr. king and losing the warmth of that relationship to the point where they are antagonists.

amy: i'm going to go through a chronology after fbi director hoover called dr. king "the most notorious liar in the country," a reporter asked dr. king for his response. >> dr. king, what is your reaction to the charges made by j edgar hoover? >> well, i was quite shocked and surprised to learn of this statement from mr. hoover questioning my integrity. frankly, i don't understand what motivated the statement. amy: not long after j edgar hoover called dr. king those territories -- most notorious liar in the country november 1819 64, dr. king was awarded the nobel peace prize. this is an excerpt from his acceptance speech on december 10, 1964. >> i must ask why this prize is

awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle. to a movement which has not yet won peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the nobel prize. after contemplation, i conclude that this award which i have received on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time. the need for a man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. amy: that is dr. king in his nobel acceptance speech. there's so much to talk about

here, jonathan eig. as you said, when he learned he was going to win the nobel peace prize, that announcement comes in october, he was hospitalized for depression. talk about his response at the time. and then that quote of j edgar hoover who knew all of this was going on was right after the announcement -- and knowing dr. king had been hospitalized. and the response of dr. king to hearing hoover called him this. >> i think j edgar hoover was furious that dr. king had won the nobel prize. he took it personally. here is this black man, this man attacking american values as hoover sees them -- he is deeply committed to his version of what christian nationalism. for king to win the nobel prize was a personal affront to him. he redoubled his effort at that point to try to damage king, try to destroy his reputation.

at the same time, the nobel peace prize becomes a calling to dr. king and to coretta scott king, both of whom say we have a greater responsibility than ever now. that responsibility includes not limiting our work to the fight in the south, limiting to integration, but to look at races of throughout the country, to look at poverty, to look at militarism, to look at materialism. he really begins to expand not just his vision, but his activism, his work. he begins speaking out more against the vietnam war. he broadens his role and becomes a much greater mor leader. this in turn further infuriates j edgar hoover. we see the campaign to destroy king growing and growing. what we have here, sadly, the nobel prize of strict crystal light, we recognize j edgar hoover is one of the few people

who understands that martin luther king is presenting a massive threat, he is calling for a new kind of american democracy. he is calling for a vision of america that gets us passed some of our materialistic, militaristic habits and brings in a new dawn of a new day. and that is a huge affront and a threat to j edgar hoover in the way he sees the world. amy: i want to go to dr. martin luther king in 1967 a year to the day before he was assassinated in memphis, the speech he gave at riverside church explaining why he opposed the war in vietnam. >> as have wald among e despere rejecd cap anangry young m, i haveoldhem that moloto cocktls and rifle wod not soe their pblems. i have tried to offerhem my deepest compassn while maintaing my cviction that social chae ces most

meaningfly throu nonviolt acon. wh they asand righy so, at aboutietnam? they ask ithe nati wasn't usg massivdoses of vience solvets probls, to bring out the chang it wanted. their questions hit home. i know i could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government. amy: jonathan eig, the significance of what he said going beyond civil rights in the united states, the attack on him -- not only by those who opposed him but by his closest allies saying he was risking the entire civil rights project?

and in the corporate media. you had life magazine calling the speech slander, sounding like a script from radio hanoi. "the washington post" sing "king diminished his usefulness and causes country, his people. talk about how king both was deeply affected by this but doubled down because he said it was his moral obligation. >> to me this is my favorite king speech because it summarizes his entire life and everything he has believed in from childhood. this is a man -- remember, he came to fame at the age of 26. he was assassinated at 39. a very short career of activism. but it all began with the lessons he learned before he knew how to read, lessons he learned from the bible that said all men are created equal, that said war is wrong, war is a sin

against god and all men are brothers. he sums it up in the speech april 4, 1967. he sums it up beautifully coming crystallizing everything has been saying all his life. doubles down at a time when he could have backed off, when he could've stepped aside, when he was under attack from the left and right. he was not conservative enough for the conservative -- she was liberal enough for the liberals. he was getting it from all sides. he keeps marching, keeps going forward and plans for this campaign in washington where he is going to basically occupy washington, d.c. come to the government agrees to fundamental come economic reforms and fundamental changes in how we feed and care for the poor, fundamental changes in how we view our militarism. he is battered for this. we have transcripts of his

phone calls. we can even hear him on the phone with one of his best friends and closest advisors who says to him, that speech was a mistake stuck it will cost us funding in the north. you're going to have no relationship with lbj. it is painful to read these transcripts. your heart goes out to king because he has to explain to one of his closest friends, don't you know what i've been saying all these years? it is not out of pragmatism. i may have been wrong politically but i was not wrong morally. that is what makes king a hero for our day because he never backed down. he never gave up on his beliefs. he continues to insist even when it would have been easier for him to step back. amy: jonathan eig, thank you for this interview. we will do a post-show interview and post it on democracynow.org to talk about king's early years and the allies he was

forced to sever ties with. we are talking to jonathan eig. this new biography is out, "king: a life." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them