James Baldwin by William J. Maxwell

Author:William J. Maxwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2017-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

28.

“AN ATTEMPT TO INTERVIEW HIM COULD PROVE HIGHLY EMBARRASSING”

MARCH 1964

This report from the spring of 1964 rehearses the reasons behind Baldwin’s extended stay on the FBI Security Index. The “subject’s outspoken stand on the civil rights issue, his current prominence as an author, and the inflammatory nature of his writings” all continued to prove him a likely danger in “time of emergency”—an exceptional time that in the sixties always seemed a breath away. What’s new in the report is the explanation of why Baldwin had escaped an interview with FBI agents. “[H]is position as a prominent Negro author and his personal involvement in the current civil rights struggle,” explained the New York office, “indicates that an attempt to interview him could prove highly embarrassing to the Bureau.” Baldwin’s habit of straight talk against the FBI occasionally saved him from FBI intimidation.

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