Richard Nixon's secret battle to deport John Lennon: President feared the Beatle's anti-Vietnam campaigning would swing the 1972 election

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John Lennon was nearly deported by the U.S. government as it attempted to make the legendary Beatles front-man's life a living hell, a new book has revealed.

Lawyer Leon Wildes, whose book 'John Lennon vs. The U.S.A.' was released last month, said he had never seen 'the government so determined to remove anyone from the United States'.  

The book written by Wildes, who represented Lennon during an immigration case, explains the Nixon administration's battle to deport Lennon purportedly for an old conviction in the UK for possessing hashish.

But behind the facade of wanting to deport Lennon on the 1968 drug conviction, was the reality that the government feared the musicians influence on young voters in the 1972 election.

In lawyer Leon Wildes new book he discusses how the U.S. government attempted to deport John Lennon (right) and Yoko Ono (left)

Lennon had tremendous sway with 18- to 20-year-old voters, just after the election age had been lowered. 

Federal agents with the FBI feared Lennon was heading the to Republican National Convention in Miami that year and warned the he and wife Yoko Ono would be arrested for 'interstate travel in the furtherance of conspiracy to incite a riot' if they tried to attend. 

It is still unclear to this day if Lennon and Ono ever had plans to attend the RNC but they were politically active. 

The couple moved from London to the Greenwich Village on a temporary visa after Lennon's drug arrest.

After seeing Lennon's influence among thousands of young voters after he helped to free John Sinclair, the government became anxious and revoked Lennon's visa

They attended a rally for MC5 band manager John Sinclair, who was serving ten years in prison for selling two marijuana joints.

Lennon performed the song 'John Sinclair' for a crowd of 15,000 people and urged them to stay involved. 

Sinclair, who had served two years, was released by the end of that week.  

And it was this kind of influence that frightened the government.  

Sinclair was involved in the White Panther Party and 'obtain(ed) guns and dynamite, (to) blow up the CIA office in Ann Arbor and la(id) plans for guerrilla actions in northern Michigan', according to Wildes. 

In light of this, anxious South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond warned US Attorney General John Mitchell, who oversaw the Immigration and Naturalization Service that Lennon's new ally could be dangerous. 

Days later Lennon's visa was revoked citing Lennon's previous drug conviction.  

Wildes then became Lennon's immigration attorney.  

Lennon told Wildes: 'Everything in our world — we’re artists, you know — now comes up in the USA. 

'It’s like the time of the Impressionist artists, when everything took place in Paris, or in early Rome. It’s all here now. 

'This is where it’s at, and we’d love to be here. We just understand that it can’t be arranged.' 

Wildes then became Lennon's immigration attorney, who helped him fight deportation in the late 1960s

Wildes said as they fought to keep Lennon in the country 'the Nixon administration made life intolerable for John Lennon and Yoko Ono'

After researching the statute regarding immigration and marijuana Wildes concluded two thing: That the U.S. could exclude people who have been convicted of narcotic drug or marijuana possession and that hashish was not either.

Wildes then requested a six-month extension for the couple's visa but was given only one month. 

Sol Marks, the INS district director for New York, told Wildes: 'These people will never get another extension . . . Leon, tell them to get out!' 

Wildes said after that point 'the Nixon administration made life intolerable for John Lennon and Yoko Ono'.  

'Alleged phone repairmen came to "check" the Lennons’ telephone but left promptly when ID was requested

'Alleged phone repairmen came to "check" the Lennons’ telephone but left promptly when ID was requested,' Wildes writes in the new book 

Finally, Lennon was given permission to be a permanent resident and Ono by that time had already won the same status, too

'Two men, stationed just across Bank Street, seemed to be fixing a bike interminably. When John and Yoko got into an automobile, the same two men appeared in a car behind them, making certain the Lennons knew they were being followed,' Wildes wrote. 

Lennon began mimicking a woman's voice when he called Wildes in fear the phones were tapped.  

The four-year investigation began to tear away at Ono and Lennon's marriage. 

Lennon spent 18 drunken months in Los Angeles during this period.  

Finally, Lennon was given permission to be a permanent resident and Ono by that time had already won the same status, too. 

Nixon had left office and Lennon was free to live in his beloved New York City.  

'Throughout his fight to stay in the United States, he felt most welcomed by New Yorkers. 

'Lennon’s four-year battle to remain in our country is testimony to his faith in this American dream,' Wildes writes.