|
 The Federal Bureau of Investigation released the documents in
response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the
conservative group Judicial Watch.
Ali, one of the world's most famous celebrities and a revered
role model for African-Americans, died in June at age 74. His
death triggered an outpouring of affection for the former
heavyweight champion, known as much for his social activism and
humanitarianism as for his legendary boxing career.
The FBI's disclosures reveal another example of the agency's
surveillance activities during the 1960s and 1970s under the
direction of J. Edgar Hoover. Among the public figures the FBI
monitored in those turbulent years were civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr and singer-songwriter John Lennon.
The latest batch of about 140 pages of FBI documents includes
previously classified material on Ali from 1966.
In the FBI's view, Ali may have posed a threat because he was a
potential source of money and charismatic leadership for the
civil rights movement, which Hoover as FBI director opposed,
said Michael Ezra, a professor at Sonoma State University and
author of a book on Ali.
"Ali was an important symbol to the civil rights movement, a
galvanizing force, and him running around free was a problem for
the FBI," Ezra said in a telephone interview on Friday.
Representatives of the FBI could not be reached for comment.
James Comey, FBI director since 2013, has said he regrets the
bureau's abuses under Hoover.
The papers, which used Ali's birth name Cassius Clay, include a
request for agents to monitor his divorce that year from his
first wife as a "lead."
"The Miami (FBI) office is requested to follow the divorce
action between Cassius and Sonja Clay with particular emphasis
being placed on any NOI (Nation of Islam) implication being
brought into this matter," one memo stated.
A separate FBI memo on a speech Ali gave in 1966 at a mosque
said he discussed efforts to strip him of his heavyweight title
and blamed the "white man."
[to top of second column] |
The controversy centered on Ali's refusal to be drafted into the
U.S. military during the Vietnam War and his claim of conscientious
objector status, which would lead to his being stripped of the
boxing title in 1967. After a successful legal battle, Ali regained
the title in a 1974 bout.
In the documents, FBI officials stressed Ali was not personally
under investigation.
One memo said Ali's connection to the African-American political and
religious group the Nation of Islam, which was under FBI
investigation at the time, made the bureau interested in his
activities "from an intelligence standpoint."
Some of the documents mention Main Bout Inc, a boxing promotion
company that Ali established with the leaders of the Nation of
Islam. The company was a source of money for them until Ali's 1967
conviction for draft evasion.
A spokeswoman for the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky,
said no one there had a comment on the FBI file.
The information in the file is not necessarily derogatory to Ali,
said Chris Farrell, research director at Judicial Watch, which
routinely asks the FBI to release its files of famous people who
have died.
"Historically, it's interesting because it ... gives a snapshot of
what the FBI was doing, what it was spending its time and energy on,
at that time with this very notable public figure," Farrell said.
Judicial Watch has received even more FBI documents about Ali than
the 140 pages posted on the bureau's website and will release them
after a review, Farrell said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Additional reporting
by David Ingram in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Mary
Milliken)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
