The Oval Office was similarly disturbed by the rise of student activism. By 1967, Lyndon Johnson believed that the country was on the verge of a political revolution that could topple him from power. Having mired the nation even further in the Vietnam War, he faced constant jeers at rallies: “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” As antiwar demonstrations spilled from campuses into the streets, Johnson ordered the FBI and the CIA to take action. That August, with the president’s approval, CIA director Richard Helms authorized an illegal domestic surveillance program, code-named
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