Commentary on JFK’s “The President and the Press” Speech (April 27, 1961)

On April 27, 1961, in the grand setting of the 47 story Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that would come to stand as one of the most urgent and prophetic calls to truth in American history. Speaking to the American Newspaper Publishers Association, Kennedy was not merely addressing journalists—he was challenging the entire institution of the free press to live up to its highest calling.

This was not a speech about limiting information. It was a call for responsibility, vigilance, and courage in reporting the truth. Kennedy acknowledged the necessity of secrecy in matters of national security, especially amid the Cold War. But he made a sharp distinction between necessary confidentiality and the dangerous practice of censorship or manipulation by media gatekeepers. His words now echo louder than ever in a world where information is filtered, curated, and often distorted before it reaches the public.

Kennedy’s warning was direct: freedom of the press must never be used as a shield for secrecy, nor should it become a tool for propaganda. He knew the power of the media to shape public thought, and he feared what could happen if that power was corrupted. In what has become one of the most controversial and oft-quoted sections of the speech, he spoke of “secret societies,” “secret oaths,” and “secret proceedings.” This was no mere rhetorical flourish—it was a bold recognition of hidden influences and agendas that operate behind the curtain of public life.

Rather than retreat into conspiracy or fear, Kennedy called for light. He challenged journalists to investigate fearlessly, to resist pressure, and to remember their ultimate loyalty was to the people—not the powerful.

“Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive.”

Today, in an era defined by information warfare, deep political polarization, and corporate media consolidation, Kennedy’s words are not just historically important—they are a mirror held up to our time. His message reminds us that freedom of the press is not just a constitutional right—it is a moral duty.

Journalists must not become tools of the state or pawns of profit. The public deserves truth unfiltered, even when it is uncomfortable. Especially when it is uncomfortable.

Below are some of the most striking and thought-provoking excerpts from that speech:

• 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.
• But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country’s peril.
• Today no war has been declared–and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.
• If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of “clear and present danger,” then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
• It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper.
• For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of 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. Its 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.

Click Here to read/listen to John F Kennedy’s speech “The President and the Press”