During the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War was a major source of division in American society. The U.S. government’s escalating involvement in Vietnam was widely debated, and many political movements including the Black Power and civil rights movements began to protest the war. The FBI’s COINTELPRO was intended to monitor and disrupt movements that were protesting against the U.S. government. Black civil rights leaders and activists, especially Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, were outspoken against the war and were targeted under COINTELPRO to control any form of activism against the Vietnam War.