A new book titled “In the President’s Secret Service” raises a number of questions that should be of concern to all Americans. The author is Ronald Kessler, who has written extensively on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, behind-the-scenes happenings in Congress, the White House and foreign intelligence efforts against the United States.
An individual with close ties to numerous U.S. presidents and vice presidents and who is close to the Washington intelligence community told this writer that Kessler is “very well connected,” that he “respects confidences and therefore is able to gain information others are denied” and that he is “accurate.”
As noted above, Kessler’s book raises many troubling issues.
One deals with the character and values of many elected in recent years to the highest office in this country and the men who head the world’s most powerful nation.
It would seem anyone in this position should be an individual who, by his personal behavior, private life and values, sets a standard for others to value, emulate and admire.
Unfortunately, according to Kessler, this has not been the case with recent presidents such as John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Spiro Agnew in their sexual activities; Jimmy Carter in his deceptive efforts to project a public image far different from his private life; and many unflattering profiles of Richard Nixon and spouses of numerous presidents.
Kessler quotes Dr. Bertram S. Brown, a psychiatrist who once headed the National Institute of Mental Health and was aide to President Kennedy. He said, “The White House is a character crucible. It either creates or distorts character. Few decent people want to subject themselves to the kind of grueling abuse candidates take when they run in the first place. Many of those who run crave superficial celebrity. They are hollow people who have no principles and simply want to be elected. Even if an individual is balanced, once someone becomes president, how does one solve the conundrum of staying real and somewhat humble when one is surrounded by the most powerful office in the land, and from becoming overwhelmed by an at times pathological environment that treats you every day as an emperor? Here is where the true strength of the character of the person, not his past accomplishments, will determine whether his presidency ends in accomplishment or failure.”
Dr. Brown, who has seen in his practice many top Washington politicians and White House aides, adds, “Thus, unless a president comes to the office with good character, the crushing force of the office and the adulation the chief executive receives will inevitably lead to disaster. For those reasons, the electorate has a right to know about the true character of its leaders.”
This raises the second concern exposed in the Kessler book.
Why doesn’t the media do a better job of reporting what goes on inside and outside the White House, as well as the actions and behavior of many in Congress? Why the cover-ups? Why didn’t the media report the sexual activities of JFK and Lyndon Johnson? Does being president allow them to behave any way they wish, knowing the media will look the other way? The same question applies to Senate and House members. Shouldn’t elected officials, our nation’s highest and most senior elected officials, be expected to behave in a proper manner?
Again, why doesn’t the media do a thorough, honest and accurate job of reporting the true character of these high officials, as well as other Washington leaders? Isn’t the manner in which these men operate in their private lives equally important as how they and their press agents make them appear in the public spotlight? Kessler comments on all presidents from JFK to Obama.
The other main concern exposed in the book is the question of whether the Secret Service is as able as the public assumes it to be, whether the Secret Services has adequate, not just minimal, support to carry out its mission and whether morale within the Secret Services is as marginal as Kessler reports.
Challenges facing the Secret Service today are far greater than in any recent time. According to Kessler, the threats against Obama are 400 percent greater than those against George W. Bush and yet, equipment and manpower to meet these challenges are not sufficient. In fact, Kessler claims the Secret Service is cutting corners in its protective efforts.
Aside from the question of whether the Secret Service is sufficiently funded to meet current demands and the question of character and how some of our presidents have carried on while in the White House, the main question is how Americans describe “character” and whether they think character and personal lifestyle are important for those in the White House and in Congress.
Unfortunately, character, good manners and personal conduct have been replaced by doing whatever it takes to win and, once in office, doing whatever one wishes to do.
• • •
It was good to see Gov. Mark Parkinson speak out forcefully on the importance of Kansas University, Kansas State and Wichita State raising their academic rankings and national recognition.
The only disappointment, but not a surprise, was to read the reaction of some members of the Kansas Board of Regents to Parkinson’s challenge. They said the governor was right on target, that they supported his goal and that they, too, thought it was more important to be ranked nationally in the top 90 in academics than to be ranked nationally in the top 90 in football and basketball.
Why haven’t they expressed this desire and goal before, rather than waiting for the governor to speak out in this matter? If they were aware of what had been going on at KU in recent years, and perhaps at KSU and Wichita, they should have known KU was slipping behind its peer institutions.
For far too long, the regents have relied on university leaders and the regents staff to tell them “everything is fine” on the various campuses rather than investigating and finding out for themselves the true conditions and morale on the campuses.
Hopefully, Parkinson’s message will get results. In past years, a number of regents were far more concerned and demanding about academic performance than current and recent regents.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
cato_the_elder (anonymous) says…
When you take the red-eye from L.A. to New York and happen to be seated next to the CEO of a major international company and strike up a friendly conversation, no matter how congenial the person is you still can't help wondering how many people this person has had to step on or how many skeletons are in his or her closet to have reached the high position that he or she now occupies. (Alan Mulally may be one of the exceptions.) The same question is always present, and quite understandably more so, with the office of President of the United States. While we can always say that "everyone is human," to my way of thinking we've had far too many elected presidents whose moral character has been subject to serious question in varying degrees, whether contemporaneously or after the fact, which says a great deal about how we elect people to our highest public office.
Keith (anonymous) says…
Well, why not start locally, I'm sure there are sexual activities of the local politicians you can report on, if that is what floats your boat. I'm always amazed at the editor's finding of corruption in high places, as long as those places are elsewhere than Lawrence KS. None of our local politicians are even the slightest bit suspect.
RogueThrill (anonymous) says…
Unless they are doing something illegal I don't really give a crap. I don't want to be judged for what I legally do behind closed doors and I would rather not know about what other people do.
Made_in_China (Paul R. Getto) says…
Mr. Simons: Check out Senator Brownback's cult and report back to us.
RalphReed (Ralph Reed) says…
Mr. Simons. Good review, but a bit over the top and very one-sided. I find it hard to believe Ronald Kessler wrote so little about the Republican presidents.
I agree with your assessment of Gov Parkinson's comments on the KU, KSU and WSU poor academic standings. Very dismal, especially since KU self-identifies as a major research university.
thinkagain (anonymous) says…
I would much prefer that our elected officials make errors and use poor judgment in their private lives rather than in national or foreign policy. I too believe that only those with the highest moral standards should be chosen to lead. However, they are just elected leaders, not gods, and they are bound to have foibles.
Mixolydian (anonymous) says…
The real question is "what kind of national character flaw do we have as a nation that we only allow poor choices at election time?"
300 freaking million people in our country and we have to choose between McCain or Obama? We were hosed coming out of the gate.
LloydDobbler (anonymous) says…
Before you start bagging on Obama (and McCain for that matter), what character flaws among either men are so offensive? Both men have struggled through adversity to contribute to the public good. The only mistakes McCain made was caving to Bush policies during the previous eight years, which in his heart had to pain him, and picking Palin as a running mate.
One thing we have to get over is automatically assuming that our candidates, on both sides, are no good. While one may not agree politically with either Obama or McCain, questioning their character is over the line. Neither men has exhibited anything that should cause us to question him as a person...only as a politician.
laughingatallofu (anonymous) says…
Again, why doesn’t the media do a thorough, honest and accurate job of reporting the true character of these high officials, as well as other Washington leaders?
Dolph. Good reporting starts at home. Don't see much of it in the LJW.
camper (anonymous) says…
Again, why doesn’t the media do a thorough, honest and accurate job of reporting the true character of these high officials, as well as other Washington leaders?
How can one report on the "true character" of someone? That would be a hard term to define, possibly a matter of opinion, and maybe irresponsible journalism. Unless a high official does something illegal or otherwise contemptible, the media should use good judgement on what is worthy of reporting. We already have too much frivolous reporting, and all it is doing is distracting us from focusing on things that deserve more attention.
Made_in_China (Paul R. Getto) says…
"Dolph. Good reporting starts at home. Don't see much of it in the LJW." === Investigative reporting costs lots of money, makes supporters and advertisers mad and can cost the empire money. It is no surprise to me that the LJW doesn't do this. They are mainly a rip and read from the wires, local bulletin board and a cheerleader for KU. Mr. Simons knows on which side the bread is buttered. As for leaders' personal lives, I could care less. Public policy is what matters, and we have suffered greatly in recent years from neglect of many important issues.