1964: White House revisited

The book by President Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster (Dereliction of Duty) contains a quote relevant for today. The quote is attributed to Michael Forrestral, who was an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson and describes the White House in 1964.

“There was a bad thing in this period. The government was extremely scared of itself. There was tremendous nervousness that if you expressed an opinion it might somehow leak out…and the president would be furious and everyone’s head would be cut off… It inhibited the exchange of information and prevented the president himself from getting a lot of the facts that he should have.”

Does this description fit today’s White House? Same swamp; different alligators.

BILL APPLETON

Coeur d’Alene