Racket News

Share this post

They Were Young Once, Too: Neera Tanden

www.racket.news

They Were Young Once, Too: Neera Tanden

Even in high school, Joe Biden's OMB pick knew the right role models

Matt Taibbi
Dec 23, 2020
30
13
Share this post

They Were Young Once, Too: Neera Tanden

www.racket.news

On February 9, 1968, Secretary of State Dean Rusk blew up at reporters. The Tet Offensive had just kicked off and the press wanted was bent on giving the Johnson administration a hard time, about the whole losing-a-brutal-occupation thing.

One reporter asked if Rusk, who’d begun service under Kennedy years before, was “satisfied” with the intelligence on the ground in Vietnam.

“One is never satisfied,” he quipped. “But the point is, I don’t see why you have to start from the dissatisfaction. There gets to be a point where the question is, whose side are you on?”

“You’re not suggesting…” the reporter began.

“During World War II there was never a time when you couldn’t find a reason to bitch at your allies or at intelligence or the commander of the adjoining unit or the quartermaster who wasn’t giving you your toilet seat at the right time,” Rusk went on. “But what do you talk about? Do you talk about how to win this thing? Or do you throw this thing in and say everything is lost?”

Rusk was…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Racket News to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2023 Matt Taibbi
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing