John Lennon and the FBI: When a President Turned the Bureau Against a Rock Star

In 1971, John Lennon was one of the most famous people on earth. The FBI needed a photo to help agents identify him during their surveillance operation. The picture they circulated wasn't John Lennon at all—it was a street busker from the West Village named David Peel who vaguely resembled him. This mix-up captures something essential about the whole affair: a sitting president had directed the FBI to build a case against a rock star, and the bureau's efforts were simultaneously sinister and almost comically incompetent.

The Making of a Target

John Lennon and Yoko Ono had become the first genuine celebrity activist couple, using their fame to champion pacifist causes. Their bed-ins—where they'd invite the press into their hotel room while they lay around—looked ridiculous to critics, but Lennon's point was deliberate: you could oppose war simply by doing nothing, by refusing to participate. As the hosts note, "all you gotta do is stay in bed and not go and start wars."