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.
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]
To Kill a President: Finally—an Ex-FBI Agent Rips Aside the Veil of Secrecy that Killed JFK. BookSurge Publishing, 2008.
ISBN1419693824 /
ISBN978-1419693823.(self-published)
References
^
abNewton, Michael (2003). The FBI Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 329.
ISBN9780786417186.