“The President Versus The Press” (in his own words): JFK Secret Society Speech

A speech that sounds as if it was delivered today. But it wasn’t. It was dug up as a chilling reminder from the past.

One person was killed yesterday in an alleged accidental train crash transporting members of Congress, as the White House vowed to release the controversial House Intelligence Committee memo.

Here are a few things President Kennedy had to say in 1961 when he delivered an address to the mainstream media:

The audio file was obtained from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

www.jfklibrary.org

“You may remember that in 1851 the New York Herald Tribune… employed as its London correspondent an obscure journalist by the name of Karl Marx… if only Marx had remained a foreign correspondent, history might have been different… and I hope all publishers will bear this lesson in mind…”

“I have selected as the title of my remarks tonight The President and The Press. Some may suggest that this would more naturally be worded The President Versus The Press. But those are not my sentiments for tonight..”

“My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors…”

“I refer first to the need for far greater public information, and second, to the need for far greater official secrecy. 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 to 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 by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of censorship and concealment.That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it’s in my control.”

“And no official in my Administration… should interpret my words here tonight as an attempt to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes, or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they need to know. But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country’s peril.”

“In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy… If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security… the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.”

“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily 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 guerillas 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.”

“This is a time of peace and peril which knows no precedent in history.”

“I’m 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.”

“And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment — the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution — not primarily to amuse or 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 an analysis of international news — for it is no longer far away and foreign, but close at hand and local.”

“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 we intend to do it.”