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These Leaders Were Accused of Abusing Their Power

Larry Holzwarth May 18, 2019 29 min

1860 United States presidential election - Lincoln–Douglas debates

20. Lyndon Johnson and the use of the FBI and CIA to spy on political opponents

Lyndon Johnson ordered the FBI and the CIA to spy on his opponent during the 1964 election campaign and report their findings directly to the White House. White House

During the Presidential election of 1964 the campaign of Republican candidate, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, was infiltrated by the CIA, an agency which was not authorized to engage in such activities unless the target was perceived to be a “domestic enemy”, a description which did not apply. The orders for the infiltration came from the President, Lyndon Johnson, who had entered office upon the death of President John F. Kennedy. CIA officials were directed to supply the information they obtained from within the Goldwater campaign to Chester L. Cooper, an aide working for Johnson in the White House. Johnson used the information throughout the campaign to undercut announcements and activities of his opponent.

Johnson also used the FBI to bug campaign offices around the country and even had wiretaps installed on Goldwater’s campaign airplane. J. Edgar Hoover discussed the bugging of the airplane in an interview in 1971. Hoover justified his authorizing the illegal wiretaps in 1964 by saying, “You do what the President of the United States orders you to do”. Johnson’s motives for the illegal surveillance during the election were based on his desire to achieve a massive landslide victory, eliminating the conservatives and giving him a mandate for his projected agenda which he later named the Great Society, an expansion of federal social programs in the mid-to-late 1960s. In the election, Johnson won over 60% of the popular vote.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

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