The President's Book of Secrets Page #10

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brain that says there's a

conspiracy.

There's a conspiracy against us.

There's a conspiracy against

them.

And I remember when I first got

into politics, helping 41,

people were really afraid of

several international groups.

The Council for Foreign Affairs

was some evil force of bad guys

trying to take over, make this

whole world a one-world

government.

Luttwak:
The President

knows he can't trust anybody.

If he wants to trust somebody,

he has to get a dog.

Every possible person who has

access to a candidate or a

President is continuously

trying to influence him.

So, each time somebody

approaches the President with

some information, that

information is usually wrapped,

or is part of, or justifies

something that somebody wants.

Gingrich:
If you centralize

this much power in one city,

and you centralize this much

money in one city, uh, you're

gonna have a huge number of

people who try to shape it.

Alter:
No matter how

much President Obama says that

he doesn't want to be

surrounded by yes men, as he

told me in an interview that I

did with him, he said a lot of

times, they won't say it to me

directly and I'll only find out

later that they object.

So a lot of times the President

doesn't get the information

that he needs because people

feel intimidated or they don't

want to be argumentative with

the President.

Narrator in Washington, the

fact that the President is

often isolated both socially

and informationally is known as

being "Trapped inside the

bubble."

To combat this problem,

presidents often turn to

unofficial advisors outside the

White House.

Luttwak:
The term used is

Kitchen Cabinet, that is to

say, people the President has

not appointed to office, who

have not been confirmed by

Congress, and who are

nevertheless very powerful and

influential with him.

Ronald Reagan, for example, who

became President when he was

not young, had lived a long

life, had many friends, close

friends, a lot of people were

very intensely loyal to him.

Only a handful of them came

into the presidency as

the Secretary of Defense

Weinberger or Secretary of

State Schultz.

The others would come and visit

them, and they were his

kitchen cabinet.

And every President has

such people.

Sometimes it causes a problem

because, whereas his formal

adviser-- the people he names

to important positions-- are

examined by the public and

examined by Congress and have

to be confirmed and backgrounds

checked and their

histories known, these are

the people, are private people,

who have the right to privacy

and are usually very private.

Narrator:
But where do

presidents make these alliances

that become so important when

they are in office?

Very often they stretch back to

their days in college, where

lifelong friendships

could be forged.

Lichtman:
Of course,

Yale is a citadel of the

establishment.

Many American Presidents have

gone there...

including George H.W. Bush

and George W. Bush.

Davis:
George W. Bush

was a good friend when I

was an undergraduate at Yale.

In fact, we were fraternity

brothers and did fraternity

parties together.

And John Kerry, future Senator

and Presidential Candidate, was

a year ahead of me, President

of the Yale political union.

Joe Lieberman, Senator from

Connecticut was three years

ahead of me, Chairman of the

Yale Daily News.

And then I went to law school,

and in my third year, I met

Hillary Rodham.

And then after I graduated Yale

Law School, she introduced me

to somebody that she was quite

interested in, thought had a

great political future.

His name was Bill Clinton.

Narrator:
But do these

connections really mean that

there are hidden requirements

to hold the nation's top office?

And might a President's Book of

Secrets contain information

about a secret organization

that is pulling the strings in

the White House?

Paglen:
Secrecy is a

very, very powerful tool of

wielding power, right?

If you're able to do things and

not tell other people about it,

this represents an enormous,

really kind of monarchical

power.

Narrator:
But there is one

clandestine fraternity in

particular that attracts more

suspicion than others.

Skull and Bones has become

renowned perhaps as the most

elite and powerful of all the

secret societies.

Headquartered in a crypt-like

building in the middle of the

Yale University campus in New

Haven, Connecticut, it claims a

long list of influential alumni.

(Alexandra Robbins) Skull and

Bones has counted among its

members Presidents, Senators

Congressmen, CIA officials,

the list goes on and on.

Members get power.

They can get money.

They can get connections.

All because they share this

one tie.

Rather:
One of the things

that feeds the legend about

Skull and Bones is that,

particularly in recent years,

presidents have tended to

get around themselves a very

large number of people who come

from the northeastern part of

the United States and/or the

financial world, Wall Street

and and/or Ivy league schools.

Robbins:
Skull and Bones

exists only to get bonesmen

into those positions of power,

and then to have those

powerful men then elevate

other bonesmen into positions

of prestige.

But is there a secret world

agenda, or do they want to

dominate everything just for

the sake of world domination?

No, that's just a conspiracy

theory.

Narrator:
But conspiracy

theories notwithstanding, the

fact is presidents-- just like

everyone else-- are made of not

only skulls and bones but also

flesh and blood.

And, for this reason, it is

likely that one of the most

important chapters within the

book of secrets would concern

not only the presidency, but

the physical, emotional and

mental stability of the

President himself.

Narrator:
Perhaps the final

chapter in the President's Book

of Secrets would cover the most

carefully guarded issues related

to the United States' Chief

Executive... including

information related to the

President's physical and

mental health.

Lichtman:
There's a

confidence factor for the whole

country, if people doubt that

their President has the health

and vitality to do the job.

That's gonna cause Wall Street

to plummet, that's gonna have

an effect on the economy, it's

gonna encourage al-Qaeda and

other enemies to do whatever

harm they could do to the

United States.

So one could argue there is a

national security and economic

reason to conceal the

President's health.

No other leader has the power

to project the kind of

force and influence around the

world that an American

President does.

Reagan:
Mr. Gorbachev, tear

down this wall!

(All cheer)

Lichtman:
Health is relevant,

but Presidents have been as

unforthcoming as they possibly

can about their health.

Narrator:
The responsibility

of protecting, and if necessary,

concealing the President's

health falls to a private

physician who travels with the

Chief Executive 24 hours a day.

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