Question: Who initially attempted to gain access to the FBI files on John Lennon?
Answer: In 1981, shortly after John Lennon's shocking murder, Jon Weiner -- a history professor at University of California Irvine, and a major Lennon fan -- sought to make the FBI files on the John Lennon investigation public, assuming that, since its subject was dead, there could be no reason to keep the documents classified. The Bureau confirmed a Lennon file of 281 pages but declared most of them vital to national security and therefore not releasable to the public.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, Weiner (with assistance from the California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union) filed suit against the federal government in 1983. It wasn't until 1997 that the US Government agreed to release most of the files and pay Weiner $204,000 he sought in legal expenses.
