JFK: these words have reinforced his killers
"The word secrecy is repugnant in itself a free and open society and we as a people we historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, secret procedures . We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive secrecy and the occult facts far outweigh the risks of what we would be willing instead to justify. There is no reason to oppose the threat of a closed society by imitating the same restrictions. And there is no reason to ensure the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.
We're running a very serious danger, that promises to massively increase the pressure for safety and placed in the hands of those who are eager to expand it up to the limits of official censorship and concealment. Will not allow it, as far as I can. And no member of my Administration, whether its high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words as an excuse to gag the news, stifle dissent, hide our mistakes or deny the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.
However, I ask every publisher, every director and every journalist in the nation to review its own parameters and to recognize the nature of the risks they run our country. Usually, during wartime, the government and the press have joined in the attempt, based primarily on self-discipline to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In times of clear and present danger, the courts have confirmed that even the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment must submit to the public necessity of national security.
Today no war has been declared and, as can be violent confrontation, it may never be declared in the traditional way. Our quality of life is in danger. Our enemies declared proliferate around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. However, there has been no war, no army has crossed a boundary, no missile was launched. If the press is waiting for a declaration of war before self-discipline to impose the conditions of war, I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you're expecting a real and present danger, I can only say that the danger has never been more real and his presence has never been more threatened.
need a change of point of view of tactics, of purpose by the government, the people, by every businessman or labor leader and every newspaper. Since
we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence through the infiltration rather than invasion, subversion, rather than elections, intimidation rather than the free choice, the guerrilla armies of the night rather than during the day. It is a system that has invested significant resources and many materials in the formation of a highly efficient and well-oiled machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political.
His preparations are not made public, but concealed. Its errors are not dedicated the headlines, but are hidden. Dissidents are not praised, but silenced. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor published, no secrets revealed. In short, the Cold War is being pursued with a discipline of war that no democracy has ever wish or would like to match. Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security and it remains to determine whether such restrictions should be observed more strictly in the case of an attack of this kind, as well as a real invasion, and perhaps no advice to give.
Perhaps there is no answer to the dilemma that a free and open society must address in a Cold War secret. In times of peace, any discussion about it and any consequence, are painful and unprecedented. But this is an era of peace and danger that has no precedent in history. It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that comes your second obligation, an obligation which I share. It is our obligation to inform and warn the American people to make sure they know and understand all the facts you need to know: the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices to be made ...
the newspapers do not ask for your support of the Administration, instead ask your help in the fundamental task of informing and warning the American people.
fact I have an absolute confidence in the response and the loyalty of our citizens provided they are fully informed. Not only could not stifle the voices of dissent among your readers, I hope. This Administration wants to be transparent in their mistakes, because, as a wise man said: "An error does not become waste until they fix glaring." We want to take full responsibility for our mistakes and hope that you will indicate when we fail to do so. Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed like no republic can survive.
This is why the Athenian lawgiver Solon called it a crime for any citizen shy away from debate. And this is why our press was protected by the First Amendment is the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution, which does not serve to amuse and entertain, to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, or simply to give the public what it wants, but to inform, to arouse, to reflect recognize our dangers and our opportunities, report our difficulties and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even infuriating the public.
This means more attention and more analysis of international news, because there is nothing in the distance and strange, but everything is close and we are concerned.
means to pay more attention to understand the news and further disclosure. It means that the government at every level must fulfill its duty to provide as much information as possible outside of the narrow limits of national security, and we intend to do so. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Francis Bacon said the three recent inventions that were changing the world: the compass, gunpowder and printing. Now that the ties between the nations tracks at the beginning of the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of the individual have become the hopes and threats of us all.
attempts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to the end of humanity has warned about the dire consequences of a failure. And then the press is, biographer business man, the keeper of his conscience, a harbinger of its news, which we turn for strength and support, confident that with your help, man will become what it is born: free independent. "
