Jean Seberg Commits Suicide (1979)

Thu Aug 30, 1979

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On this day in 1979, actress Jean Seberg committed suicide after years of harassment, intimidation, and defamation by the FBI after she gave several donations to the Black Panther Party.

Jean Dorothy Seberg (1938 - 1979) was an American actress, supporter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) “COINTELPRO” program.

In the late 1960s, Seberg provided financial support to various groups supporting civil rights, including the NAACP as well as Native American school groups such as the Meskwaki Bucks at the Tama settlement near her home town.

The FBI became aware of several gifts Seberg had made to the BPP, totaling just over $10k in contributions. The FBI operation against Seberg, directly overseen by J. Edgar Hoover, began to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit her.

The FBI’s stated goal was an unspecified “neutralization” of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to “cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public”, while taking the “usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau”. The FBI spread a false rumor about her pregnancy, claiming she was bearing the child of a BPP member, which was repeated frequently in the press. She was also effectively blacklisted from Hollywood films at this time.

On August 30th, 1979, Seberg committed suicide, writing “Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves”. Romain Gary, Seberg’s husband, called a press conference shortly after Seberg’s death, publicly blaming the FBI’s campaign against her for her deteriorating mental health.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
    392·
    13 days ago

    So who EXACTLY was responsible? We know Hoover ordered it, he is a known shithead, but there were agents in charge, and agents involved. It’s too late to punish them, but every one of their names should be made public in the Internet age, where they will be known traitors to the Constitution forever.

    Internet Shame is the only punishment left for these official criminals, but we should apply it harshly, to discourage future shitheads from trying it. It’s important for them to understand that their bad behavior will have consequences, and they can never be sure that they got away with it. Someday, even their descendants will hate them.

    • Eddbopkins@lemmy.world
      3·
      12 days ago

      The television and news articals that reported her lies about her pregnancy are public names. I bet we can look up those articals and see the writers of them, and the television broadcasts is done by people we can get the names of. If we’re going to get to the bottom of the list with the FBI we gotta start at the top with the news broadcasters who spewed the lies for that administration of the time.

    • Malica@lemmy.zip
      1·
      11 days ago

      Hoover directly oversaw it, Hoover is to blame. As is the case with many, many problems in this country. People still talk about him like he’s an American hero. This woman was the only hero here.

    • Malica@lemmy.zip
      1·
      11 days ago

      Yeah but I’m so glad I learned about her and now I can teach my kids about her. People like this need to be remembered.