Check Out This FBI Memo Citing John Lennon’s “Revolutionary Activities”

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John Lennon speaks outside of a Manhattan immigration office prior to a deportation hearing.Ron Frehm/AP

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Today would have been John Lennon’s 74th(!) birthday had he not been gunned down on the sidewalk outside of The Dakota in December 1980. Before his death, his political activism and pacifism endeared him to millions, but certainly not to the United States government. Check out this May 1972 FBI memo re: “Security matter dash revolutionary activities” with notes from the deportation hearings the Nixon administration was throwing at him: