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President Harry S. Truman. Source: Truman Library. |
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The Public Papers of Harry S. Truman contain most of President Truman's public messages, statements, speeches, and
news conference remarks. Documents such as Proclamations, Executive Orders, and similar documents that are published in the Federal Register
and the Code of Federal Regulations, as required by law, are usually not included. The documents within the Public Papers
are arranged in chronological order. President Truman delivered the remarks or addresses from Washington, D. C., unless
otherwise indicated. The White House in Washington issued statements, messages, and letters unless noted otherwise.
(Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1966)
The Public Papers contain items such as the Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima
(August 6, 1945), the Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947),
the White House Statement Announcing Recognition of the Government of Israel (January 31, 1949), the Statement and
Order by the President on Relieving General MacArthur of His Commands (April 11, 1951), and The President's Farewell
Address to the American People (January 15, 1953).
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335.
Remarks at a Meeting of an Orientation Course Conducted by the CIA |
November 21, 1952
I AM appreciative of the privilege that General Smith has offered me, to come over here and make a few remarks to this organization. I am, naturally, very much interested in it.
When I became President--if you don't mind me reminiscing a little bit--there was no concentration of information for the benefit of the President. Each department and each organization had its own information service, and that information service was walled off from every other service in such a manner that whenever it was necessary for the President to have information, he had to send to two or three departments to get it, and then he would have to have somebody do a little digging to get it.
The affairs of the Presidential Office, so far as information was concerned, were in such shape that it was necessary for me, when I took over the Office, to read a stack of documents that high, and it took me 3 months to get caught up.
Only two people around the White House really knew what was going on in the military affairs department, and they were Admiral Leahy and Admiral Brown. I would talk to them every morning and try to get all the information I could. And finally one morning I had a conversation with Admiral Leahy, and suggested to him that there should be a Central Intelligence Agency, for the benefit of the whole Government as well as for the benefit of the President, so he could be informed.
And the Admiral and I proceeded to try to work out a program. It has worked very successfully. We have an intelligence information service now that I think is not inferior to any in the world.
We have the Central Intelligence Agency, and all the intelligence information agencies in all the rest of the departments of the Government, coordinated by that Central Intelligence Agency. This agency puts the information of vital importance to the President in his hands. He has to know what is going on everywhere at home and abroad, so that he can intelligently make the decisions that are necessary to keep the Government running.
I don't think anyone realizes the immensity of the problems that face a President of the United States.
It was my privilege a few days ago to brief the General who is going to take over the Office on the 20th day of January, and he was rather appalled at all that the President needs to know in order to reach decisions-even domestic decisions.
He must know exactly what is implied by what he does. The President makes a decision every day that can affect anywhere from 100 million to a billion and a half people. It is a tremendous responsibility.
And I don't think many of you realize the position in which this great country is, in this day and age.
We are at the top, and the leader of the free world--something that we did not anticipate, something that we did not want, but something that has been forced on us. It is a responsibility which we should have assumed in 1920. We did not assume it then. We have to assume i ...
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