Letter, J. Edgar Hoover to Dillon Anderson

This letter describes a campaign by the Communist Party of the United States to take place in protest of the murder of Emmett Till. The Communist Party of the Illinois-Indiana District, and its chairman, Claude Lightfoot, are especially mentioned. Attorney General Herbert Brow...

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111r. coyne OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR " the * UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE of OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION WASHINGTON 25, D. C. September 6, 1955 PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL BY COURIER SERVICE Till, Emmett Honorable Dillon Anderson Special Assistant to the President Executive Office Building Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Anderson: A confidential informant of the Chicago, Illinois, office of this Bureau, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that Communist Party functionaries in Chicago have been conferring with Claude Lightfoot, Chairman of the Illinois-Indiana District, Communist Party, USA, and will launch a huge campaign protesting the killing of the 14-year=old Chicago Negro boy, Emmett Louis Till, whose body was found near Money, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955. This campaign will take the form of statements and leaflets issued by the Communist Party, the Civil Rights Congress, and other Communist front groups. The Communist Party will also use its influence in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has already been aroused over this slaying. The campaign will also involve letters, telegrams and statements to President Eisenhower demanding the firing of Attorney General Herbert Brownell for failure to enforce provisions of the United States Constitution in the State of Mississippi. The campaign will involve a scathing condemnation of police officials in the State of Mississippi and will be designed to show that full equality for all races does not exist in the United States. Keanue D. DECLASSIFIED Authority MR 93-363+11 By BBM NLE Date 12/21/94 UNCLASSIFLED