Neutralizing Lennon
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20091206/ARTICLES/912059954/-1/OPINION?Title=Neutralizing-Lennon
John Whitehead
December 6, 2009
By the mid-1960s, Beatlemania had taken the world by storm and a
revolution was in the making. Unlike their predecessors, the Beatles
soon revealed themselves to be more than just entertainers. They were
willing to critique and even debunk tradition something that
virtually no one did at that time. The defining moment came in 1966
with John Lennon's famous remark: "We're more popular than Jesus
Christ right now."
The critical fallout was massive. The Beatles were lambasted as evil,
their records were burned in bonfires, and they received death
threats. However, within a year, with the critical acclaim of their
album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles were back on top.
By 1968, cracks began to appear in the group's solidarity. Lennon
grew disgruntled, longing for a more radical artistic freedom. He
divorced his wife and struck out on his own with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono.
By 1969, a radicalized Lennon had philosophically moved a long way
from the early Beatles' song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." As he
proclaimed: "You gotta remember, establishment, it's just a name for
evil. The monster doesn't care...It's not thinking logically, it's
out of control, it's suffering, it's a careless killer."
Thus, Lennon became a peace activist, staging bed-ins with Ono and
creating media events to end war. His influence was amazing. For
instance, on November 15, 1969, during a peace rally in Washington,
DC, Pete Seeger led nearly half a million demonstrators in singing
Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" at the Washington Monument. "The
people started swaying their bodies and banners and flags in time,"
Seeger later recalled. "Several hundred thousand people, parents with
their small children on their shoulders. It was a tremendously moving thing."
The Beatles eventually broke up in 1970. By this time, Lennon had one
of the most recognizable faces in the world. And in March of 1971,
when his song "Power to the People" was released, John and Yoko were
posing for publicity photos, decked out in Japanese riot gear.
With his move to New York City that same year, Lennon was ready to
participate in political activism against the American government,
the "monster" financing the genocide in Vietnam. By now, Lennon had
learned that rock 'n' roll could serve a political end by proclaiming
a radical message and mobilizing the public.
Lennon's 1972 album Sometime in New York City set the stage for
conflicts with the U.S. government. The album cover depicted Richard
Nixon and Chairman Mao dancing together, nude.
Left-wing radicals also began congregating at Lennon's West Village
apartment, including Abbie Hoffman, "Yippie" Jerry Rubin and Black
Panther Bobby Seale. All of them, by the way, had fallen under the
intruding eye of government surveillance agencies such as the FBI
because of their shared interest in bringing down the Nixon administration.
Lennon's FBI file, which is now public, reveals how paranoid
government agents can be. For example, the subject of the file is the
Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon, a term that
carries ominous overtones, although never really defined. The file
includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing
Lennon's daily life, memos to the White House, transcripts of
television shows on which "Mr. Lennon" appeared, and a proposal that
Lennon be arrested on drug charges.
In 1976, Lennon won his battle to stay in America. Afterwards, he
said, "I have a love for this country. This is where the action is."
In 1980, after about five years of silence, Lennon released Double
Fantasy, his final album.
"You have to give thanks to God, or whatever it is up there, the fact
that we all survived," Lennon mused in his final interview on
December 8, 1980. "We all survived ... but we're still all here, and
while there's life there's hope."
When Lennon returned later that night, Mark David Chapman, an
obsessed Beatles fan, was waiting for him in the shadows at the
entrance to the Dakota apartment building. Instead of driving through
the passageway, Lennon decided to stop by the sidewalk, sign
autographs and greet the fans congregating outside.
As Lennon stepped outside the car, Chapman's voice called out, "Mr.
Lennon!" Lennon turned and was met by a barrage of gunfire as Chapman
squatting in a military combat stance emptied his .38-caliber
pistol and pumped four bullets into Lennon's back and left arm.
Lennon stumbled and staggered forward, still clutching the tapes from
that evening's studio session. With blood pouring from his mouth and
chest, Lennon collapsed to the ground. John Lennon was pronounced
dead upon arrival at the hospital. He had finally been "neutralized."
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John Whitehead is founder and president of Charlottesville, Va.-based
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit group set up to safeguard
constitutional freedoms.
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