The Real Story Behind That JFK Quote About Destroying the CIA
By Matt Novak
PublishedMarch 10, 2017Thanks to Wikileaks, you may have seen a quote from President Kennedy recently about his desire to “splinter the C.I.A. in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.” Wikileaks used the quote as the password to decrypt its latest release about CIA spy tools. And the quote can be found in news stories around the world, including in some from The Intercept. The only problem? The origin of the quote is a bit dubious.
Famous quotes can be a funny thing in the 20th and 21st centuries. Sometimes we have a solid, first-hand account of something written down in a speech or recorded on film. Other times we rely on journalists and authors to accurately quote someone in a newspaper or a book. And still other times, we have to rely on those same journalists to relay what someone said from a third party. In the case of the JFK quote, it’s that last one.
The phrase “splinter into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds” actually dates back to at least the early 19th century and has decidedly religious origins. You can find versions of the phrase in Methodist sermons from 1819, in letters from clergy of the 1840s, and in fiction of the early 20th century.
In fact, British author John Buchan uses the phrase in his 1916 book
Greenmantle, set during the First World War:
Make no mistake, Madam; that folly is over. I will tear this sacred garment into a thousand pieces and scatter them on the wind. The people wait today for the revelation, but none will come. You may kill us if you can, but we have at least crushed a lie and done service to our country.’
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https://gizmodo.com/the-story-behind-that-jfk-quote-about-destroying-the-ci-1793151211
