Right, but if you ask J Edgar Hoover supporters, MLK was an adulterer and a Socialist / Communist agitating the American populace (during a time when mass protests and riots were spreading like wildfire). The thing is, there is some truth in those claims.

Also, American society in the 1960s was not nearly as supportive of MLK Jr when he was alive as much as they are now that he was martyred. You and I are looking back and projecting our modern values on people who were still largely racist in a time when racism was both a de facto and de jure truth.

That is to say that lots of America would likely have supported the effect of the blackmail letter, if not the method itself. It was a different time. The frequent threat of the USSR, encroaching Communism, and the specter of nuclear war was suffocating and the "Law and Order" marketing of Nixon and J Edgar Hoover were appealing to many people, even if they suppressed the freedoms of many.

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coryrc a day ago | parent [-]

I think everything you wrote is correct except "It was a different time."

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thephyber a day ago | parent | next [-]

Yes and no.

We did change the laws and provide more de jure rights since the 1960s.

I think there's lots of conflation of the more traditional definition of "racism" with the contemporary definition, which is not a direct correlation to the older one. The older one was a descriptor of the attributes of an individual's beliefs whereas the contemporary is a descriptor of the societal system / incentives.

Companies with deep pockets aren't throwing advertising dollars at Nick Fuentes or Kanye West when they are deep in their racist mania arc. It is no longer socially acceptable to be associated with what used to be common, the societal norm, and legally enforced.

We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.

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thephyber a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I will, however, completely agree that the time of Nixon's presidency is remarkably similar to Trump's terms.

Im enjoying watching HBO's The WhiteHouse Plumbers and CNN's Ticky Dick. There are soooo many references thick rhyme with Trump's rhetoric, actions, and policies.

	▲	ethagnawl a day ago \| parent [-]
		There have also been a number of pols trying to whitewash Nixon recently. (I believe including the VP but I'll need to dig up a source.) Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/politics/jd-vance-richard-nix...