JFK Saw It Coming, America

Something worth your 5 minutes for sure. I highlighted some transcript below that stands out to me as being especially important. Read this and weep, America. How far we have fallen in the last half-century. It's no wonder they had to silence this American hero.

--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.

--Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.

--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 official censorship and concealment.

--No official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

--We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence

--[The Conspiracy relies] 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.

--[The Conspiracy's] 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.

--No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. Because from that scrutiny comes understanding, from understanding comes support or opposition, and both are necessary.