Historic FBI letter calls Martin Luther King an 'evil beast'

US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. waves to supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/)

Washington (AFP) - A vicious, hate-filled letter written by the FBI and sent to American civil rights champion Martin Luther King has been made public in full for the first time.


Heavily redacted copies of the letter have circulated for years but the New York Times on Wednesday published the note almost in its entirety, blanking out a woman's name.



"Listen to yourself you filthy, abnormal animal," the letter reads. "You have been on the record -- all your adulterous acts, your sexual orgies extending far into the past. This one is but a tiny sample."





The document provides a compelling illustration of how deeply paranoid the FBI had become under the stewardship of Hoover, whose name still adorns the federal police agency's Washington headquarters.




King was gunned down by a sniper in 1968.