IN PRAISE OF 1984
Pachter, Henry
I envy the Russians. They destroy their discarded leaders. If a Khrushchev has to be deposed, he is utterly done in, made into an unperson, prevented from speaking in his own behalf, rendered...
...A dismissed director of the FBI is dangerous, as apparently a dismissed Premier of the Soviet Union is not...
...If a Khrushchev has to be deposed, he is utterly done in, made into an unperson, prevented from speaking in his own behalf, rendered incapable of hurling accusations against former associates and present successors, changed into a hasbeen from whom no dog will take a bone, and so discredited that no citizen will believe him should he try to spill any beans...
...after the deed it also failed to interview important witnesses and to collect useful information...
...We would like to get rid of J. Edgar Hoover—but can we...
...Not as long as he has the goods on every politician...
...He has reached the age limit, and his hand has lost both its touch and its grip...
...Not him...
...Therefore I praise the Russians who need not fear their obsolete men...
...Hoover enjoy this privilege of untouchability...
...In the United States it is hard to make a person into an unperson...
...But no one dares tell him that he has reached the age disqualifying the civil servant...
...Why does Mr...
...He is assured that he may stay on as long as he wishes...
...Mark that: not as long as we need him, but as long as he likes it...
...By contrast, look at us...
...A President is murdered, and his organization not only had neglected to take the most obvious precautions...
...Not because there is no constitutional proviso for his disposal, but solely because whoever dismisses him must fear him more afterwards than if he remains in office...
...Having received a slight rap on the wrists from the Warren Commission, Hoover showed his irritation and broke precedent to make public statements, some of them with the effect of a shotgun...
...His retirement is overdue...
...he not only is indispensable, he also seems endowed with eternal youth...
Vol. 12 • January 1965 • No. 1
