The Story of John Lennon, John Sinclair, and Richard Nixon: Immigration Laws Were Enforced Because Lennon Was "Dangerous"

Once highly confidential federal documents released a few years ago tell an amazing story of why John Lennon was nearly permanently removed from the United States. Of course the lengths they went to deport John Lennon, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to watch him, wire tap him, and protect Richard Nixon. It’s an interesting story, but on that further proves our federal government goes to great lengths to silence those people they are scared of, and it’s not just John Lennon. Martin Luther King historians tell a similar story. Of course look how both of these men died, both with dreams both with bullets.

The story really begins with John Sinclair. While I don’t advocate the use of marijuana, I am not afraid to say Sinclair got a bad rap. For giving a female undercover police officer two joints in 1969, Sinclair got ten years in a maximized security prison. Of course, the charges against Sinclair were because the government found Sinclair to be a threat since he was a high profile protester against Vietnam.

His arrest didn’t sit well with many young Americans, and a concert was organized to raise awareness to Sinclair’s case in Michigan. As word of the concert reached Washington, Senator Strom Thurmond heard of the concert, he sent a letter to Richard Nixon worried there was going to be a concert that combined rock n’ roll with Vietnam protests and worst of all, voter registration. The 26 Amendment just passed and Nixon was already worried about his reelection chances due to his broken election promise to end the fighting in Vietnam. (By the way, doesn’t that sound familiar in 2010?)

Eventually John Lennon’s name appeared on the concert billing, and the Nixon administration knew the influence of the Beatles and John Lennon. They began to worry the new voting group of 18-21 year olds would rise up against Nixon, so true to the Nixon legacy, Lennon entered Nixon’s enemies list. J. Edagar Hoover’s FBI soon began collecting an extensive file of research of John Lennon—281 pages to be exact. For what? Well, for this…



The Michigan Supreme Court released Sinclair shortly after the concert, which increased the Nixon administration’s concerns that John Lennon was dangerous to Nixon’s reelection chances. Lennon said after the concert, he noticed the repairs to the cellar of his New York apartment began to increase and was a daily effort by the repairmen. That was the time when his phone service was no longer clear as well. When John and Yoko left their apartment, they also noted being followed everywhere by people waiting for them outside their apartments and they didn’t look like fans.

So Nixon needed a plan to remove John Lennon from the United States. Lennon entered legally in 1970, and in the past, presidents like Woodrow Wilson removed people they labeled as radicals. Wilson had the convenience of the Sedition Act of 1918, which “forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt.” Isn’t that sad considering the founding fathers fight against King George and our First Amendment. This was repealed in December, 1920. Nixon couldn’t follow Wilson and remove Lennon because of his protest against Vietnam. Had it not been repealed, Nixon could declare Lennon an undesirable alien and deport him.

Of course that didn’t stop Franklin D. Roosevelt who herded up all the Japanese Americans in World War II and put them in camps throughout locations around the country after Pearl Harbor. Oh yes, the tale of the American federal government that isn’t taught in school is one Americans should note as more rights are taken away.

So as the Vietnam War continued, Lennon became more outspoken with the Vietnam War. Had the United State not denied John Lennon’s visa in 1969, Nixon could have moved more quickly to deport Lennon. Lennon tried to enter the US during his honeymoon after leaving the Amsterdam Hilton for a bed in in New York, and US authorities acted to keep the protest from gaining any traction. Of course, Lennon just flew to Montreal where it hit US airwaves anyway.

Thanks to the repeal of the Sedition Act of 1918, Nixon had to wait to find a solution to remove Lennon. The solution was the expiration of his visa, and the Lennons were quickly served their deportation letter. They went to court to fight it and managed to fight hard enough to buy them some time, enough time to get through the election. Once Nixon was reelected, the case almost immediately dropped and Lennon lived out his life in New York City. Of course, Nixon himself had some explaining to do as Lennongate soon grew into Watergate exposing the criminal doings of the Nixon White House.

In 1976, in what was to be Nixon’s final full year as president, John Lennon received his green card, while our Republic worked to rebuild after the crushing blow of Watergate. Nixon’s abused the office of the presidency, and while he wasn’t the first, he was the first to take it as far as he did.

There are two things to consider in 2010 as we look back on the Nixon administration’s fight against John Lennon. First, as I sit here on September 11, typing this, knowing we are in two unpopular wars and the Patriot Act gave great unconstitutional powers to the federal government, this could happen again. In fact, Lennon probably would not have received a Visa at all under this 9/11 mentality we live is that has TSA agents disrobing our families with intrusive technology before they get on an airplane.

While Americans lose their rights, our government worries about the rights of those who unlike Lennon, are entering our country illegally. As we are continued to be sold this threat of terrorism with orange, red, or whatever color alerts, as the federal government creates the illusion of safety while taking more away, there seems little concern in the fact that far more dangerous people than John Lennon are crossing our borders bringing over drugs (which was a major concern of the US government in their case against Lennon), weapons, and one day possibly something that will parallel the terrorist attack nine years ago.

The great thing about John Lennon is he used his art to be heard. Since 9/11, the protest zones in the United States keep a safe distance from our leaders and the words of the people, which should be heard. We need to make sure our First Amendment right isn’t placed aside in a protest zone far from the ears of our leaders. I am not a radical; although I don’t believe I would have supported the Vietnam War, after all our government lied to us. We weren’t fighting to restore democracy in Vietnam because democracy never existed. We were fighting to restore a cruel monarchy.

The First Amendment should never be considered a weapon or threat if we are talking just words that are easily examined and disputed. The battles our federal government chooses to fight baffles me, from Charlie Chaplin, to Picasso, to John and Yoko. Often high profile people are investigated for speaking up, and the real enemy finds a way to get on airplanes and change the American way of life forever.