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NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
In television studio, program Moderator Paul Duke begins discussing the Church Committee’s report on political assassinations and related Senate hearings.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke begins to report on lessons learned by the Senate Committee in their investigation of CIA operations. The committee disapproved of assassinations being used as a foreign policy tool. The secrecy involved in CIA operations meant a loss of control over the intelligence bureaucracy.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke introduces a sample from the Church Committee's report Scrolling text describes that high powered figures inexcusably did not know about CIA operations, that assassination should not be a permissible tool of foreign affairs, and that "plausible denial" was a technique for evading responsibility.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke summarizes the Senate committee's findings. The CIA did initiate and take part in plots to kill two foreign leaders, namely Patrice Lumumba of the Congo and Fidel Castro of Cuba. CIA offered support to groups that sought to overthrow leaders in Chile, the Dominican Republic, and South Vietnam, who all were eventually assassinated. The committee concludes that assassination is not compatible with American principles. The committee made further recommendations to avoid future CIA involvement in assassination plots.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke introduces interview segment with Jim Lehrer and committee chairman U.S. Senator Frank Church.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke quotes Senate committee, that the United States only injures itself when it uses the tactics of its enemies.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Title screen reappears with image of rifle scope and title -- "The Senate Report on CIA." End credits roll over image of Senate hearing room press conference, committee members including U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-ID) milling about.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-ID), head of Church Committee, introduces report on the CIA's involvement in assassinations as a historic document. "This is a report that should have significant contribution and historic importance because it s the first detailed look at how that secret world worked and all of the serious weakness within it."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Washington Impact logo appears - image of Capitol Building. Title screen rifle scope appears with the titles "Assassination" and "The Senate Report on the CIA." Narration introduces hosts Paul Duke and Jim Lehrer
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Simmons Fentress of Time Magazine discusses why the Mafia may have become involved with the CIA in the attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. The Mafia had a way to get their hooks into the U.S. government by working with the CIA.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Simmons Fentress of Time Magazine continues discussing possible motives for the Mafia help the CIA in plots to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover blew the whistle on government involvement with the Mafia.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke discusses U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover finding evidence of a CIA tie to the Mafia, but did not inquire any further as to what they had found. Duke reads brief quote from RFK regarding the investigation into the CIA and Mafia.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Simmons Fentress of Time Magazine discusses what John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, may have known about Mafia involvement with the CIA.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Program moderator Paul Duke, in television studio, introduces Church Committee hearings footage of Senate meeting press and introducing their report in which they express why this information should be made public.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
U.S. Senator Walter Mondale (D-MN) says, "We need a CIA-- matter of fact, we need the best we can possibly have. And the CIA must operate in secret. But what this record discloses, in my opinion, is that it's not only operating secretly but also unaccountably. And it is that second concession that a democratic constitutional society cannot permit. When you read this report, you will find that the record is contradictory, elusive, and as I said a few weeks ago, to try to establish real responsibility and accountability is like trying to nail Jell-o to the wall. And I believe the system was intended to work that way. Namely, that things would be ordered to be done but should it be made public no one could be held accountable. It's the theory of plausible deniability. But in fact it has become the practice of implausible deniability, because these matters do become known and then public officials are put into the position of denying it, or even worse lying about it. Secondly, when Congress exercises its responsibilities, wishes to determine what actually happened, it is almost impossible to do so. And finally, this unaccountability, I think results in actions being taken that probably wouldn't have occurred if the principals involved felt that they would be fundamentally responsible. Now they can take acts which are indefensible with the hope that no one will ever be able to blame them, and I think that contributes to harsh and irrational acts that cannot be permitted in American society. Secondly, it seems to me the record shows over many, many years, and under administrations of both political parties, an incredible naivete about the capacity of American society to control and dictate the course of another society through such things as an assassination, a few guns, a few dollars, or a few lives. None of it worked and all of it assumed that other societies were capable of being moved around and dictated and directed by our society in a way that we would never accept in terms of outside direction of our own society."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
U.S. Senator Walter Huddleston (D-KY) expresses his belief on the benefits of making the report public. "I think what we're dealing with today certainly is the sensational, the spectacular, even the bizarre examples of what has happened within our intelligence gathering operations without proper control and direction. And it's fitting and proper in my judgment that we come before the country today and detail some of the difficulties that have occurred. Now, we have agonized, I think each of us separately and the committee as a whole, as to what extent this type of activity ought to be exposed to the American people and indeed to the world. There have been reservations. But we have concluded that whatever temporary problem it might create for our intelligence gathering organizations, whatever embarrassment it may cause to this country will be far outweighed by the fact that we have, before the world, stated what our shortcomings have been and expressed a determination and an effort to bring about the necessary actions to improve and to eliminate those occurrences from happening again."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
U.S. Senator Robert Morgan (D-NC) believes the CIA acts revealed in the report were at the time thought to be principled and it is now the job of Congress to set up guidelines to direct future operations. "Throughout the entire investigation there has been one thought, one question, paramount in my mind. And that question has been whether or not these alleged acts of assassination were conducted by the intelligence agencies on their own recklessly and without authority, or on the other hand were they the acts of a well-disciplined, intelligence organization. The question is important. For if the answer to the first part is true, that they were reckless and irresponsible acts of the intelligence agency, then in my opinion we would probably have to dismantle the agency and start anew. On the other hand if they were acting, or if they had justifiably believed, that they were acting in response to orders from higher authority, then I think it would be incumbent upon the Congress to create new lines of authority and to maintain much closer over site and supervision. After listening to the evidence, for weeks and weeks and weeks and weighing the testimony, as I saw it and as I observed it, I am convinced that the principals in these acts felt and believed that they were carrying out orders from a higher authority. I am also convinced by the testimony and its greater weight that they were justified in that belief. Therefore I think it is more incumbent now upon the Senate to make sure that we fulfill our responsibility by establishing clear lines of authority, establishing once and for all what we expect our intelligence agencies to do and what we expect them not to do. And then maintain over site over these agencies to the end that what we expect of them will be that which they do."
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Assassinations
Quick shot of adult Caucasian male reporter taking notes. U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-ID), Chairman of the Church Committee, says, "We seem to believe that it was necessary for us to emulate the methods of the enemy. And that anything that happened anywhere in the world represented and ultimate contest between us and the Communists. And thus, covert actions were justified for reasons that today seem hard to understand. Yet, this was a period when the Cold War was still very virulent. And attitudes, perspectives, have to be measured, as the committee points out in the prologue of this report, in the context of the times."
President Kennedy's Speech At Rice University
This video tape presents unedited film footage of President John F. Kennedy's speech at Rice University, Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962. The speech expresses the commitment of the United States to landing an astronaut on the moon. (playing time 34 minutes)
Sen Kennedy and Rep Engle on Second Taiwan Crisis
Master 1493 - Tape 2 Panning LS crowd gathered on tarmac beside parked propeller plane. LS crowd walking along tarmac, headed toward camera, "Operations" sign on building in BG. Panning MS U.S. Senator JOHN F. KENNEDY (D-MA) alighting plane with wife JACQUELINE KENNEDY (Jackie Kennedy, Jackie Onassis, Jackie O), being greeted by U.S. Representative CLAIR ENGLE (D-CA) and his wife. MS young white male press photographer wielding bulk flashbulb camera, taking picture. Panning low angle MS Senator John F. Kennedy smiling, walking from plane, talking with Rep. Clair Engle. Panning TLS crowd attending dinner banquet. 3/4 view DOF white men and women seated at banquet, listening to speech. MS middle-aged white man offering standing ovation, crowd following suit. CU Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy standing at podium, delivering speech: "We have a commitment to defend these islands, which we must honor or lose face. The American people would like to know when such a commitment was made, why it was made and by whom, and whether the Congress and the Allies were consulted. They are not so much interested in ambiguous treaties and legal niceties and congressional resolutions. They are more concerned about the possible disaster of an atomic war." TLS crowd seated, applauding at banquet. MSs Rep. Clair Engle standing at podium, delivering speech: "This administration has a program to meet the needs we face today. It is the best kept secret in Washington. This administration has failed not because it lacks patience but b/c it lacks the will, vigor and intelligence to cope with a constantly changing set of conditions both at home and abroad." MS Senator John Kennedy speaking from behind podium: "The current crisis in the Formosa Straits is the most serious since the end of WWII. I think all of us will agree that appeasement will never be a by-word of American policy. The Communist domination of the Far East must not be permitted, and our commitment to protect Formosa, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia must be met. Nevertheless, these off-shore islands-- about as far from the mainland as Oakland from San Francisco-- are extremely difficult to defend. The question is are they defensible w/o launching a full-scale attack upon the Chinese mainland & threatening the peace of the entire world. This is what the American people have been asking and the President has not given us the answer to this question." Historical footnote to topic being discussed above: On October 1, 1958 a PBY-5 amphibious aircraft, the Blue Goose/Blue Swan was declared missing in flight over the Formosa Straits. In route from Matsu to Taipei, it carried four US servicemen, three ROC Army officers, and a crew of four Nationalist civilians; the plane flew into a no radar zone and never returned.
President Kennedy's Speech At Rice University
MS bowed heads of Kennedy and those around him, "Let us pray....conquer space, evil, within ourself....and our world..amen." MCU reverend at the podium, walks to his seat. MCU President of Rice Unversity Dr. K. S. PITZER approaches the podium, "As President of Rice University it is my honor to welcome you to this auspicious occasion, this is our semicentennial of our year I declare this to be the opening of our year...you cannot imagine a more illustrious opening than this one, the President of the United States speaking on the subject of science and space. Rice university has emphasized science in its programs for 50 years, many important scientific discoveries have been made here."
President Kennedy's Speech At Rice University
MCU President of Rice University Dr. K.S. PITZER continues about recognizing honored guests, mayor of houston, judge Bill Elliot, national space developer, Price Elliot, William B. Housemen, other & Harold Brown.
President Kennedy's Speech At Rice University
MCU President of Rice University Dr. K.S. PITZER continues introducing DAVID BELL, JEROME B. WEASNER, JAMES E. WEBB, ROBERT SEAMONS, LEE HOLMES, TUCKERMAN.
President Kennedy's Speech At Rice University
MCU President of Rice University Dr. K.S. PITZER continues introducing GEORGE P. MILLER, ALEXANDER WILEY, ALBERT THOMAS. MS Albert Thomas approaches podium.