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In reply to the discussion: After JFK assassination, President Truman put his concerns about CIA in print. [View all]Kid Berwyn
(20,338 posts)18. You are welcome! Truman added...
Merle Miller: Mr. President, I know that you were responsible as President for setting up the CIA. How do you feel about it now?
Truman: I think it was a mistake. And if I'd know what was going to happen, I never would have done it.
The head of the Austrian-Libertarian Think Tank wrote down the story:
Truman Was Right About the CIA
by Jeff Deist
Mises Institute, March 8, 2017
Excerpt
Unfortunately it was only in hindsight that Truman came to see the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" at work, which posits that all organizations-- particularly government bureaucracies-- eventually fall under the control of an elite few. That elite, he came to understand, did not include the president or his cabinet:
This is a remarkable statement by Truman, even if delivered during a relatively unguarded moment with a trusted biographer. It shows a humility and willingness to admit grave error that is lacking in public life today. It also stands on its own as a inadvertent libertarian argument against state power itself.
Continues
https://mises.org/wire/truman-was-right-about-cia
Dont agree with their approach to Econ, but I think the guys pegged the problem.
Truman: I think it was a mistake. And if I'd know what was going to happen, I never would have done it.
The head of the Austrian-Libertarian Think Tank wrote down the story:
Truman Was Right About the CIA
by Jeff Deist
Mises Institute, March 8, 2017
Excerpt
Unfortunately it was only in hindsight that Truman came to see the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" at work, which posits that all organizations-- particularly government bureaucracies-- eventually fall under the control of an elite few. That elite, he came to understand, did not include the president or his cabinet:
Truman: But it got out of hand. The fella ... the one that was in the White House after me never paid any attention to it, and it got out of hand. Why, they've got an organization over there in Virginia now that is practically the equal of the Pentagon in many ways. And I think I've told you, one Pentagon is one too many.
Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows in the CIA don't just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their own, and there's nobody to keep track of what they're up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble so they'll have something to report on. They've become ... it's become a government all of its own and all secret. They don't have to account to anybody.
That's a very dangerous thing in a democratic society, and it's got to be put a stop to. The people have got a right to know what those birds are up to. And if I was back in the White House, people would know. You see, the way a free government works, there's got to be a housecleaning every now and again, and I don't care what branch of the government is involved. Somebody has to keep an eye on things.
And when you can't do any housecleaning because everything that goes on is a damn secret, why, then we're on our way to something the Founding Fathers didn't have in mind. Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix. And if what happened at the Bay of Pigs doesn't prove that, I don't know what does. You have got to keep an eye on the military at all times, and it doesn't matter whether it's the birds in the Pentagon or the birds in the CIA.
This is a remarkable statement by Truman, even if delivered during a relatively unguarded moment with a trusted biographer. It shows a humility and willingness to admit grave error that is lacking in public life today. It also stands on its own as a inadvertent libertarian argument against state power itself.
Continues
https://mises.org/wire/truman-was-right-about-cia
Dont agree with their approach to Econ, but I think the guys pegged the problem.
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After JFK assassination, President Truman put his concerns about CIA in print. [View all]
Kid Berwyn
Nov 2021
OP
I certainly worry about all the intelligence agencies with the secret budgets
captain queeg
Nov 2021
#1
insofar as there was a plot beyond Oswald, it was probably some combination of both
Volaris
Nov 2021
#13
Unfortunately, too many Americans want to believe in the mythology that the US (CIA) goals
jalan48
Nov 2021
#21
Seven months before Oswald killed JFK he shot at, and missed, General Edwin Walker.
Saboburns
Nov 2021
#17
From what I've read of Allen Dulles, he was the impetus for the permanent classified secrecy that
ancianita
Nov 2021
#10
Thanks! Yes, indeed, we have to keep our fascist Nazi war connection in mind as we deal with
ancianita
Nov 2021
#40
"Dulles had even less respect for Jack Kennedy's authority than he did for FDR's."
Kid Berwyn
Nov 2021
#32