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Kid Berwyn

(20,338 posts)
18. You are welcome! Truman added...
Wed Nov 24, 2021, 11:07 AM
Nov 2021
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:

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



Don’t agree with their approach to Econ, but I think the guy’s pegged the problem.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

I certainly worry about all the intelligence agencies with the secret budgets captain queeg Nov 2021 #1
It really is complicated. We need secrecy, but we also need oversight. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #2
i can't say it was actually the CIA/Oswald CatWoman Nov 2021 #3
With so many suspects, it's possible there was cooperation. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #4
insofar as there was a plot beyond Oswald, it was probably some combination of both Volaris Nov 2021 #13
The Mafia and the CIA has/had a long history of cooperation dflprincess Nov 2021 #15
Had not seen this before. Thanks. nt Hekate Nov 2021 #5
You are welcome! Truman added... Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #18
Dulles and United Fruit jalan48 Nov 2021 #6
What's good for UFCO is good for America. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #19
Unfortunately, too many Americans want to believe in the mythology that the US (CIA) goals jalan48 Nov 2021 #21
There is no doubt in my mind kellytore Nov 2021 #7
+1 moondust Nov 2021 #11
Seven months before Oswald killed JFK he shot at, and missed, General Edwin Walker. Saboburns Nov 2021 #17
Just the Magic Bullet by itself is evidence for conspiracy. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #20
Oswald was not a "trained sharpshooter" former9thward Nov 2021 #39
Give 'em hell, Harry! calimary Nov 2021 #8
You are welcome! What Truman said... Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #22
Indeed! calimary Nov 2021 #26
Read David Talbot's "The Devil's Chessboard" LymphocyteLover Nov 2021 #9
Dulles being on the Warren Commission dflprincess Nov 2021 #16
Oh, I didn't know that, but I was a... electric_blue68 Nov 2021 #36
I was there when Talbot first spoke in public about that book. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #23
Thanks... and there was seriously a media blackout on that book LymphocyteLover Nov 2021 #25
'Breach of Trust' by Gerald D. McKnight also is an important read. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #35
Thanks! LymphocyteLover Nov 2021 #41
From what I've read of Allen Dulles, he was the impetus for the permanent classified secrecy that ancianita Nov 2021 #10
One secret: the NAZI touch on the Warren Commission. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #30
Thanks! Yes, indeed, we have to keep our fascist Nazi war connection in mind as we deal with ancianita Nov 2021 #40
Here's good book about the shenanigans of the CIA under Allen Dulles. Lonestarblue Nov 2021 #12
That's a GREAT book. Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #31
Really interesting articles - thank you for posting! lagomorph777 Nov 2021 #14
MOST interesting reading. "The Devil's Chessboard." calimary Nov 2021 #27
from 'Leave it to Beaver' to Frontline LessAspin Nov 2021 #28
"Dulles had even less respect for Jack Kennedy's authority than he did for FDR's." Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #32
Kick for later reading Poiuyt Nov 2021 #24
CIA Admitted To Lying About JFK's Assassination, But No One Really Noticed Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #33
Bookmarking. A fascinating thread. The Dulles brothers Boomerproud Nov 2021 #29
Talbot "traces the pathology of Dulles and his appalling cabal..." Kid Berwyn Nov 2021 #34
Seems to me that in order to have a better... electric_blue68 Nov 2021 #37
K & R Bookmarked FakeNoose Nov 2021 #38
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