On this episode, we’re exploring a set of archives that I never even expected to dig into, and honestly, these archives were the most heartbreaking, and draining to sift through. I’m referring to the FBI Archives. And today we’re focused on the FBI archives related to Mississippi Burning — not the film, but the real investigation in 1964.

Surprisingly, the FBI Archives reveal an unexpected story about who the first investigators were to search for James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, and they dispel the savior myths about the FBI swooping in and saving the day, like the creative fiction portrayed in the film would have you believe. Plus, listeners get to hear President Lyndon B. Johnson and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover discussing the investigation via recorded phone calls archived in the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Librar ...