At this point, the X-Men miniseries are coming thick and fast. However, unlike the one we just read, Nightcrawler has an obvious reason to exist: it's about a core character and it's by Dave Cockrum, who writes and draws it all. As you might imagine, it kicks ass.
It's also a good miniseries in that it's happily self-contained and doesn't really have any ramifications for the wider story. Is it a bit odd that it doesn't ever touch on Kurt's origins, and doesn't feature, say, his girlfriend Amanda?
I mean, kinda, I guess? But honestly I like it this way. This series uses some mumbo-jumbo and an intervention by the Vanisher (the Vanisher! The second most important X-Men villain! You love to see it!) to send Kurt to the swashbuckling dimension that Cockrum famously debuted in Uncanny 153, and the rest of the series uses that ludicrously enjoyable setting as a sandbox.
It's just fun. So much fun.
It's really hard to tell who's enjoying himself more - Kurt or Cockrum.
Charles Xavier had quite a bit of political capital in the early days, stemming from his FBI collaboration and army service. His public prestige as a multidisciplinary scientist played a factor, as did the X-Men's heroics with certain parties. When mutant hysteria first kicked off (retconned to be a very old thing but nvm) Chuck felt he had to get involved directly.
At the time, Chuck was a recluse (with super long arms apparently - I'm skeptical he could reach that paper from his wheelchair. Then again, his house is not very accessible at all.) Upon reading a newspaper feature on the 'mutant menace' (it's Scott) he lives the ultimate liberal power fantasy and heads to Washington DC. It'd be nice if we could just go to the government and say 'hey fix this shit' or 'stop persecuting me' - it's very much not-how-shit-works.
I'd even say that the very idea of seeking out the FBI - or any government agency - kills any civil rights analogy. The FBI especially harassed and probably even killed prominent civil rights leaders. They bad jacketed folks, went to war with the Black Panthers, and generally opposed minorities in any way they could. J. Edgar Hoover was a bastard. Here's a decent article if you're interested in that.
Where the Silver Age mutant metaphor has legs is in Cold War paranoia - mutants hiding among us as communists and fifth columnists, or potential assets for the government to weaponise - signposted by Xavier stating they've 'discovered mutants in their midst.' The McCarthyist paranoia and hysteria among the public, with a select in-group proving themselves by snitching and acting as government lackeys. To be clear, mutants aren't portrayed as communists (except Magneto kinda, in a very pop romantic 60s way, and the Brotherhood in the Factor Three arc) - they're beset by fear of the other in a very Cold War fashion and surrounded by Red Scare rhetoric and environment on every level - the personal, the public and the political.
Chuck had been grieving Cain's 'death' and probably dealing with PTSD by isolating himself totally. As he flies his personal helicopter to DC, he thinks on how he'd resolved to leave humans to their own devices. He's also thinking in very personal terms right now - 'my fate' etc - giving the impression that he was happy to live out his life in comfort alone. Later retcons have wavered on this aspect, from hardcore mutant liberator to selfish asshole denying their existence entirely. Both can be true at different times - Charles Xavier longs for normalcy and acceptance yet has a pretty hefty Messiah complex.
Interestingly, Xavier's habit of 'playing the recluse' is not one he broke for a long time. His insistence on absolute secrecy, especially with his own mutant status, is difficult to analyse in terms of efficacy. He's training teenage paramilitary mutants in his basement and they certainly make enemies, which requires a level of protection. The irony is that the fervour about 'mutants hiding in our midst' is exactly what the X-Men did. They operated as superheroes but intentionally kept a low profile, forgoing the social benefits of doing it in the first place. I don't want to get off track any further here, but Scott/Emma hiring a publicist during the Utopia era shouldn't have been as groundbreaking as it was IMO. It's not like it's going to fix racism, but it's a vital tool in affecting public perception. 'The time has come to act!' he says, but the scope of operations is narrow for someone of his means.
Even a rich white man who just arrived by helicopter isn't getting into black sites without permission, but fortunately Chuck can easily manufacture that at will. He makes his way to Fred Duncan, the head of the mutant investigation, while thinking about how it's good that he doesn't 'have to read all these people's minds.' We know that he reads everyone's mind all the time but I wonder if he's convinced himself he doesn't do it. I'm inclined to think it's a part of his self image and he's become very good at convincing himself and others that he has respect for privacy. As an aside, I love the campness of Xavier's powers when they're heavily influenced by stage hypnotism.
Agent Fred Duncan and his partner don't know much tbh. They've got a video of Scott saving a huge crowd of people's lives then getting mobbed, but they haven't taken any action yet. They want to 'confront' him and Duncan is pondering reactionary bigotry as if it's some mystery - so we can tell that he's the 'good FBI agent.' Marvel generally and Stan Lee specifically portrayed the US government, military and police as a positive force. Heroes were opposed by the government or cops often, but it was usually the work of a single bad apple and/or HYDRA etc - almost always reaching and understanding and always portraying authority as absolute and benevolent. Fred Duncan is a senior enough FBI agent that it strains credulity for him not to recognise Red Scare behaviour - the FBI's power struggle with the CIA was right in the thick of it - he'd have seen first hand purges, witch-hunts, trials, scapegoating etc. The closer he was to arch-fuckhead J Edgar Hoover the more he'd know, if he wasn't personally conducting such things.
Chuck rolls up mid conversation to add his two cents but they tell him to fuck off (instead of killing, arresting, or torturing him.) Mutant outreach was not on the menu until Chuck made it happen. A reclusive academic with honest to God telepathy realistically would probably never see daylight again, though it's not portrayed as Chuck taking a serious risk. He's a wealthy white man with army service under his belt and a family history of government work. He feels at home here.
The other fed tries to push Chuck's wheelchair out but is telepathically stopped. Agent Duncan twigs that he's a mutant and tries to shoot the wall to alert security, failing similarly. As if he wasn't trying to kill Chuck, lol. Come on! It's interesting that Xavier comes at them with force, unafraid of displaying his power to immobile anyone he wants.
Not that they have a choice in the matter, but they listen to Chuck's pitch. Astonishingly he doesn't have to force them to allow him into their investigation, but they were stuck on how to approach mutant children whose identities were known. Realistically, Scott Summers would already be in a black site next to Logan being weaponised, but 60s Marvel was nothing if not romantic pop style. They give him a crazy amount of latitude, basically full autonomy with the understanding that he'll report in to them occasionally. He unofficially works for the US government in a deputized fashion as the X-Men's handler, though they're a fickle friend long term and an outright enemy once the Comics Code lost its power. It's a surprisingly effective example of Xavier's rhetoric and alliance building.
Years later, during the 'Vanisher crisis' their working relationship was at the point where Duncan had a psionic headband to pick up long distance psychic communication. The stakes are incredibly high - defence plans at risk of sale to the USSR in 1964 - but because it's an 'evil mutant' Chuck is basically running the operation.
The Department of Special Affairs even sends a convertiplane (real concept, never used by the USA) to bring the X-Men in to handle The Vanisher. Such is their regard for him, and by extent his X-Men, that they roll the proverbial red carpet out. Here it's The Vanisher who's very blatantly a filth columnist, traitor and threat to national security. Interestingly, he's working with mobster-coded lackeys. Organised Crime figures generally had a complicated relationship with the FBI but frequently collaborated where communism and national security was concerned. The mafia knew not to fuck with the feds.
Over the phone, Chuck fills Duncan in on the engagement plan. He's grateful, even deferential, and passes it on to the president. Chuck's not asking permission, he's telling the FBI how it goes. Hilariously, The Vanisher is flanked by his lackeys for a showdown on the White House lawn. He's dressed like an idiot, but he's the fucking Vanisher yo. The king of crime. He dresses how he likes - because he can *vanish.* One of the mobsters even lampshades that there's no troops or guards around. No need when Xavier and his X-Men are government agents who get the job done. STAR SPANGLED BANNER DOT EM PEE FOUR 🇺🇸🦅🔫🍔
The Vanisher was a terrible threat to national security - someone who could single handedly bring about MAD. This is 1963, the year after the Cuban Missile Crisis and probably before the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty. Nuclear Annihilation was very much a Really Big Thing. His camp garishness needs to be put in context as a contrast to being a world ending threat. All Chuck needed to do was get close enough to mind zap him - now he doesn't even know his name (which is horrifying shit IMO.) The X-Men save the day and possibly the world, depending on how far he was willing to go. I wonder what Chuck's plan looked like to the president. 'I will delete his brain then my kids will beat the fuck out of his minions. It's what we do.'
So, even before this massive victory for the X-Men and the US, the X-Men had the favour of the executive branch as mutant specialists, more or less. They handle other shit, but that's the unofficial mandate as understood by all parties. You'd think they'd be lauded heroes, right? Or at least have enough political capital to push for legislative protections. I think they absolutely did, but Chuck didn't pursue it and had missed his chance by the time of turnover in the Executive branch.
The government openly hates the X-Men now but that didn't happen overnight. The personal is the political and Chuck had an understanding with individuals, not the institution. As soon as they leave office or face political pressure of their own, he's left holding his Charles Dickens vs a government that knows everything about the X-Men. The secrecy was never going to last forever, especially into the digital age and with the mutant birthrates we're shown, but I think it hurt the X-Men in the long run. Ostensibly, it's counter to Xavier's integrationist ideology entirely.
The McCarthyist persecution by Bolivar Trask was done as a private citizen, but it did a number on public sentiment. Chuck fumbled the public debate hard (a publicist would have advised against it and run a counter narrative) and didn't use his political capital, so while the sentinels themselves were neutralised the damage was done. Project Wide-awake was backed by Shaw and Senator Kelly (how early that was happening depends on the book tbh - and he is NOT a good man no matter what Kitty thinks) but I'd argue that Kelly's Mutant Registration Act did a LOT more damage. The nature of the bill made it likely to pass, but Chuck was around at the time and still in good standing. He did very little to challenge or preempt anti-mutant policy in the political arena, which I think is his biggest failure - especially considering his political ideology and connections. The door was always open for anti-mutant single issue populists to come to power, but there were a lot more ways to present a counter narrative than secret paramilitary heroics. I'll end on the obvious - Xavier could have achieved a lot for mutant rights through political influence or brute force telepathy - but that wasn't his goal.
In conclusion, Charles Xavier collaborated with the FBI and executive branch in response to fifth columnist fears but didn't capitalise on his leverage or goodwill. He pulled back from the political arena in the 70s and the X-Men's work with the government became fraught - eventually becoming straight up outlaws. It's a big shift from establishment lackeys to total political outsiders and criminals. I could blame Reagan-era conservatism and terrible leadership but it's more complicated than that - he is an ineffective politician, but I'll save it for part 3 of The X-Men and Activism. ✌️
