DTRHRadioArchives | The Last President Who Told The Truth @DTRHRadioArchives | Uploaded May 2020 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding it's 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. It's preparations are concealed, not published. It's mistakes are buried, not headlined. It's dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.
No President should fear public scrutiny 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 an administration, but I am asking your help, in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the America 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, I welcome it. This administration intends to be candid about it's errors, for as a wise man once said "an error doesn't 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 amendment, the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution. Not primarily to amuse and entertain. Not to emphasize the trivial and the 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 crisis, 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 it's 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 man's deeds, the keeper of his conscious, 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.
-President John F. Kennedy-
http://rabbithole.radio
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding it's 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. It's preparations are concealed, not published. It's mistakes are buried, not headlined. It's dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.
No President should fear public scrutiny 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 an administration, but I am asking your help, in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the America 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, I welcome it. This administration intends to be candid about it's errors, for as a wise man once said "an error doesn't 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 amendment, the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution. Not primarily to amuse and entertain. Not to emphasize the trivial and the 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 crisis, 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 it's 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 man's deeds, the keeper of his conscious, 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.
-President John F. Kennedy-
http://rabbithole.radio
