JFK, CUBAN FIASCO, AND PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100790068-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 29, 2013
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: May 8, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

k
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/29: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100790068-8
pogo
PEORIA, IL
JOURNAL ST
u.
33,29
( E.
65,367
S.
92,714
/ MAY 8'1%3
.1e/J F K Cuban Fiasco; And Press\ -
As the smoke clears in the aftermath tion around is the Congressional Rec-
ord, and the enemy gets it from that
source the same as the newspapers
, do. Keeping it out of the press would
not 'withhold it from the enemy, but
only withhold it from the American
people.
Secondly:, most .such information ac- ?
tually comes out in regards to weapons
as a result,of the zeal of the administra-
tion's Own army- of publicity men. The
real. problem of competition between
the services?hi 'rocketry for example
is not in that direct competition, itself.
The trouble has come out of their
competition FOR PUBLICITY which
has led them to 'claim and describe new
Weapons that aren't even off the draw- '
ing -board in order to "get ahead" of
,.,i'another.service and to publicize every
fipit, and every attterript they make!
:This 'is the same procedure which
?_takes One in, their presentations to
? Congressional Committees, and the rec- "
?ord is full of data that .sbouldn't be
there:
of the Cuban fiasawe find that it; was
more OFTTETCO-Dia'n anyone realized,
in fact, and that it has had a consider-
able affect on the Kennedy administra-
tion.
Apparently this pitifully small.,
group tossed up on the Cuban beacb
was, in fact, practically ALL THERE
WAS. Also, in spite of the smoke'
screen of .commentspy party lea,dets,
every newsman in Washington knows
the true facts of .the decision-making
?Ttt
ov
basis'Of ent Kennedy, on the
I aogzstind
01)iniOns of
h* and _4..40
.1* e and=inder-
sec1eA4 o ?state in giving.a personal"
go-ahead to' the operation. ?
This w-a, an unhappy example of a
quality lo heralded ih'President Ken-
nedy, hWindependence and "personal
leadership."
? It. explains why, after the. debacle,
Senatorial leaders of the Democratic
party, itself, have virtually7attacked
their own President, and publicly and
bitterly complained that they. were
totally
totaily uninformed and not.!en'nsilited.
Some of them claim to have WIti even,
more ignorant of the' facts than4hey
were, (unless they are genuinely-,stupi
and few :senators are stupid.)
It also explains, in part, Kennedy's
sudden burst of consulting everybody in
sight AFTER the debacle?from former
President Eisenhower' and Richard
Nixon .to General tilacArthur and Her-
bert Hoover!
And it also ha S a bearing on the
President's fuzzy complaint that the
press must by some,kind of self-analysis
give the people "More infogmatioh"
while at the same time "suppressing
information" harmful to the national
security!
The ess'had yiothing to sic? with
the Cuban mess .except, ,tq quote the
onlne-OPTe- willing to be quoted, and
that chiefly the head -of .:the Cuban
n Nazi,104?,.,MMX:=11Mrt.,,Ao
advice, no inforrn.ation, and -pretended
to know nothing about-, it ?during. Most
of ntlittelni
THE TWO BIGGEST PROBLEMS in
regard to information dangerous. to the
national security involve the press but
do not originate there. They originate
in the administration and in the Con-
THERE IS,'of course, the related
instinct cif Many people and politician.'
when they 'have ,ynade. a? 'boo-boo,
hide' frotrt the facts ad attack
nei7Spapers because ,they are the
am ? ?hat have made the facts
n.el'aie ;knowledge hurts them
uc?i' more directly than the
:Ait:s.plf, alio they turn on the
'Comiininicdtioff".ineslia as the "middle,
man" rather than face, up to the basic
mistake. '
AIrthese circumstances have weak-
- ?
ened.tne, support of this administration
in .the press and in the Congress and
'probably, with the\ public. as well.
That is a dangerous situation, espe-
cially DM vyheit the Presidentoieeds
all the_suPPort he can get.
There are solid signs that Khrush-
chev thinks the time has come for HIM
to practice "brinkmanship" and the
U. S.'s turn to back doWn under such
firessures.
This creates a great danger, 'and
President Kennedy is the only quarter-
back we have in this ball game. In his
future decisions, let's forget the post-
mortens on Cuba and the rest, and sup-
port him to the hilt.
It's the only way we can make ANY
policy succeed.
Kennedy NEEDS support now more
gress. than ever.
en.rnIfni Slleh informa- C. 2..,..2ANSEY
______ Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/29: CIA-RDP67-00318Rnnn1nn7annao