Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
… a distasteful but vital necessity
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th President of the United States (Republican, KS), Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Description of spying and espionage, Quoted in Tim Weiner, Author’s Notes, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, 2007
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
At the time, the key British Ambassadors were diplomats and espionage agents at the same time. The Dutch Monarch William V, Prince of Orange, was in a very precarious position and might be deposed. Officially Harris and the British were supporting him and Harris was giving him money to firm up his regime, but their great fear was that the French would support and control the Patriot Revolutionary movement, then quite active. So, secretly, Harris was providing money to the patriots through a few leaders, to have a strong and influential relationship with the Republic if William were deposed. At the same time he was officially supporting William. The British wanted William to maintain his rule and were helping him to do so, but if he couldn’t, they wanted to keep the French out. It was this double dealing that prompted this quotation when Harris was asking the Prime Minister for more secret money for his covert operations.
Ironically, Cromwell himself had eloquently observed that “necessity” is the avowed justification of post politicians to justify their breaking the law or doing something that is immoral and wrong. See {632372}. Also see {57408}, {599566}. But the most eloquent statement was given by Prime Minister William Pitt: {585477}
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower GCB OM GCS CCLH KC NPk was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he became a five-star general in the Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of Normandy in 1944–45 from the Western Front.
