JFK's Waldorf Astoria April 1961 "The President and the Press" speech

[XXL]

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.

 

And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control.

 

And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

 

 

 

 

 

For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

 

Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.

 

 

No President should fear public scrutinity of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers-- I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed-- and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First (emphasized) Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution-- not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

 

This means greater coverage and analysis of international news-- for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security...

And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of mans deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news-- that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.

 

 

 

[Kim]

Wonderful, insightful speech.

And 56 years later, can you imagine that reality TV idiot who's bastardizing the very same office, even attempting to say something as cogent? Instead, he's actually living out those words.

What a world!

[Jazzy Jan]

@XXL  thanks for posting this.  Incredible speech as Kim mentioned. 

You always post interesting and thought provoking topics. 

[Gaudet]

Thank you @XXL do you think that we are ever gonna learn or is it all as hopeless as it looks?

[XXL]

On 3/2/2017 at 1:41 AM, Kim said:

Wonderful, insightful speech.

And 56 years later, can you imagine that reality TV idiot who's bastardizing the very same office, even attempting to say something as cogent? Instead, he's actually living out those words.

What a world!

 

 

 

[XXL]

On 3/2/2017 at 10:31 AM, jazzyjan said:

@XXL  thanks for posting this.  Incredible speech as Kim mentioned. 

You always post interesting and thought provoking topics. 

 

My pleasure

And thank you

[XXL]

On 3/2/2017 at 10:28 PM, pjcowley said:

Thank you @XXL do you think that we are ever gonna learn or is it all as hopeless as it looks?

 

Things are really bad but we should never lose trust that they can change 

I feel like the level of deceit has actually been amped up to point of crititical mass post Kennedy murder and ironically post Berlin Wall Fall. The last time the world truly had a chance for peace, a hijacked process in the name of newly created enemies, or better old friends now expedient to become foes. Kennedy just like Lincoln before him, was killed because they wouldn't play along with the blood-thirsty sharade that controls the Federal Reserve and American Foreign Policy in general

The Jesuit military order controls all aspects of US political life. It is highly symbolic that we've had the first Jesuit Pope in 500 years of the order's existence, right in these days of complete turmoil. The Jesuit Killer doctrine is the scourge of humanity. They burnt at the stake hermetic philosopher Giordano Bruno, threatened Galileo Galilei prompting him to recant, exterminated and raped and robbed entire pre Columbian civilisations in South America 400 years ago, invented the Inquisition

Through the Rotschild dinasty they financed every major revolution in Europe in the 1700s, 1800s (including Napoleon's imperial aspirations) and the previous religious wars against the Protestants, in the 20th century they financed both Hitler and previously the Bolscevic Revolution that overthrew the Romanov dinasty in Russia and put the seed for the realisation of Marxist doctrine, they create both the thesis and its antithesis and then engineer a synthesis through war and murder and robbery that is meant to benefit them and them only.

All of American Foreign policies post 1945 are the fruit of the Jesuits and the Vatican, a Vatican that publicly condemns violence and poverty but that in reality is, behind the facade, the force bent on starving the rest of the world and keeping people in a state of catalepsis and ignorance. if you look into how most major political figures past and present (and not just in the United States) have a Jesuit educational background you'll see what I mean

 

 

 

What struck me the most about this partcular JFK speech was his strong and clear condemnation on behalf of American citizens of Secret Societies and Secret Oaths. If only his heirs had a shred of this integrity, quite the appalling opposite

 

It's so secret we can't talk about it