M. Wesley Swearingen

Mont Wesley Swearingen (May 20, 1927 Steubenville, Ohio - November 13, 2019 Hemet, California)[1] was an FBI Special Agent from 1951 to 1977. He wrote two books drawn from his experience: FBI Secrets (1995),[2] and To Kill a President(2008), an examination of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Biography

Born in Steubenville, Ohio, Swearingen served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946.[1] After the war, he used the GI Bill to study at Ohio State University, where he graduated.

He joined the FBI. He began his career conducting black bag jobs on Communists in Chicago.[3]

In Kentucky and New York City, he spent years doing serious criminal investigations, which had been his goal in joining the FBI. But Director J. Edgar Hoover had become fixated on the threat in the 1950s and 1960s that he believed was posed by civil rights groups: first because of links to American communists. posed by such groups as the Black Panther Party.[3][4] and the Weathermen.[5]

Assigned to the Los Angeles FBI field office, Swearingen burglarized the Tucson Five and their lawyers during the FBI's efforts to prosecute them, but no incriminating evidence was found. The Tucson Five were exonerated.[6]

After 25 years with the FBI, Swearingen retired in 1977.[7]

Swearingen was interviewed in the documentary films All Power to the People!(1997), which explored issues related to the Black Panthers,[8] and The U.S. vs. John Lennon.[9]

He died in Hemet, California on November 13, 2019. [10]

Publications
  • FBI Secrets: An Agent’s Exposé. Boston: South End Press, 1995. ISBN 0896085015 / ISBN 978-0896085015.
  • To Kill a President: Finally—an Ex-FBI Agent Rips Aside the Veil of Secrecy that Killed JFK. BookSurge Publishing, 2008. ISBN 1419693824 / ISBN 978-1419693823.(self-published)

References
  1. Newton, Michael (2003). The FBI Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 329. ISBN 9780786417186.
  2. M. Wesley Swearingen (1995). FBI Secrets. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-501-5.
  3. Kick, Russ (2004). Disinformation Book of Lists. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9781609258894.
    -Olsen, Jack (2001). Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt. Anchor Books. p. 275. ISBN 9780385493680.
  4. Schultz, Ruth (2001). The Price of Dissent: Testimonies to Political Repression in America. University of California Press. p. 443. ISBN 9780520224018. M. Wesley Swearingen.
  5. Jensen, Carl; Project Censored (1996). Censored 1996: The News That Didn't Make the News. Seven Stories Press. p. 132. ISBN 9781888363012.
  6. Burrough, Bryan (2015-04-07). Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence. Penguin. ISBN 9780698170070.
    - Wesley Swearingen, M. (1995). FBI Secrets. South End Press. ISBN 9780896085015. tucson five.
  7. Crewdson, John M. (January 21, 1979). "Former Agent Cites Illegal FBI Affairs". Ocala Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida. p. 8B. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  8. Stewart, Bhob (2015). "All Power to the People! The Black Panther Party and Beyond (1997)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  9. White, Bill (September 28, 2006). "'U.S. vs. John Lennon' shows the breadth of government paranoia". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  10. "Mont Wesley Swearingen, 1927-2019". Legacy.com. November 13, 2019.


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