Pop cultural genius and peace activist, John Winston Lennon, would have turned 80 today if he hadn’t been shot dead in 1980, 40 years ago, at the age of 40.

Murdered young by a madman in New York, we’ll never know what more Lennon could have offered the world.

For those who joined Lennon to imagine a world of peace, it’s getting harder to achieve that dream with the menace of reckless governments worldwide.

Little has changed for the better in the world since the influential genius, messed up like the rest of us, walked among us.

Peace may remain out of reach but we will play Lennon songs today and watch the video of him blithely chewing gum as he sang “All You Need Is Love” live to 400 million people worldwide by satellite in June 1967.

It’s hard to envision Lennon as he might be now — an elder statesman of British rock, 16 years older than the grand old man his bandmate Paul McCartney imagined in ‘When I’m 64.’

Maybe it’s easier to celebrate Lennon’s 80th birthday with the memory of The Beatles co-founder in his prime – a clean-cut suburban boy who bought a mansion but wrote ‘Working Class Hero’ and imagined having nothing.

FMT looks at the rebellious and provocative side of the legendary singer-songwriter-guitarist who challenged the establishment and gained notoriety for his promotion of peace.

Lennon’s songs remain a tuneful force for political and social change until today, largely because politics and music have always been natural partners.

At his height as a vocal peace protester and anti-war activist, his power to influence human emotion and behaviour was fascinating.

While his unadulterated and empathetic songs might have felt like personal letters, his ability to rouse an uneasy, weary or frustrated society into action was extraordinary.

The man who preached ‘Give Peace a Chance’ once said: “Peace is not something you wish for. It’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.”

The true scale of Lennon’s greatness was that in the 1970s he spooked the most powerful man in the world.

Former US president Richard Nixon tried to get Lennon deported because he saw him as a ‘counter-culture enemy’ whose anti-war views and support of free speech threatened his re-election.

Nixon was also paranoid that Lennon could instigate the youth vote against him.

America had lowered the voting age to 18 and the 1972 presidential election would be the first opportunity for the country’s under-21s to vote.

Nixon launched a series of illegal acts of persecution against Lennon, the “dangerous political leader,” who he feared would steer 18-year-olds to the polls.

In 1971, Lennon recorded his follow-up to the cutting-edge ‘Plastic Ono Band’ album, the imaginative ‘Imagine’ album.

The album and the ‘Imagine’ single instantly topped the charts and cemented Lennon’s position as the world’s most influential rock star, particularly in America.

Lennon was at the peak of his political involvement at this time – railing against the war in Vietnam and many other injustices.

Upon his arrival in New York in 1971, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a file on Lennon, suspecting him of trying to influence the nation’s youth with radical politics.

Lennon was active in fundraisers, voter-registration, anti-war rallies and concerts, all of which took place in many of the 1972 primary states.

His actions were legal as the First Amendment protects citizens and non-citizens alike.

But Congressional Republicans, worried that Lennon’s anti-war movement could scupper Nixon’s re-election, moved to stop the juggernaut.

The worry was real. Lennon’s anthem ‘Give Peace A Chance’ had been sung by over half a million demonstrators at the famous November 1969 anti-war rally in Washington.

A secret memo from a close aide to Nixon in February 1972 suggested that Lennon’s visa be terminated but warned of possible backlash from the new voters.

However, Nixon followed the thoughts of his advisors to “use the available political machinery to screw our political enemies.”

Thus, began a vicious four-year campaign of FBI surveillance and Immigration and Naturalisation Service harassment, the extent of their surveillance not discovered until the 1990s.

Lennon’s phone calls were monitored, his activities scrutinised, lyrics studied and all television appearances analysed to find a legal reason to deport him.

Threatened with imminent deportation, Lennon was forced to tone down his political endeavours.

Nixon was re-elected, and FBI supremo J Edgar Hoover, who personally supervised the campaign against Lennon, was allowed to pursue him aggressively.

No other creative artiste has ever induced that level of fear in a US president.

Lennon is a high-profile example of the lengths to which the Deep State will go to persecute those who dare to challenge its authority.

In his 1971 single, ‘Power to the People’, he advocated a need for people to take control from governments and institutions.

The lyrics inspire: “Say you want a revolution / We better get on right away / Well you get on your feet / And out on the street / Singing power to the people.”

Lennon explained the meaning of the song: “The people are the government, and the people have the power. All we have to do is awaken the power in the people.”

If you never had the chance to experience the impact of Lennon, now you know why the world reacts trustingly to the power of one of defining personalities of the 20th century music and culture.