It is an act of insanity and national humiliation to have a law prohibiting the President from ordering assassination.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Kissinger argues that banning presidential assassination orders is irrational and embarrasses the nation.
- In plain terms
- It is crazy and shameful to forbid the President from ordering assassinations.
- What can you take from it?
- Some national security tools are too vital to be legally restricted.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should leaders have unlimited power in wartime?
- What defines national humiliation?
Another view
The quote ignores the legal and ethical risks of unchecked executive power.
More from Henry Kissinger
It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.
Permalink to quote #32 It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.
Permalink to quote #34 Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.
Permalink to quote #31
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