Presidential Commissions Quotes
NASA was trying to avoid embarrassment and obfuscated a great deal of the information around the Challenger disaster. The NASA Administration established a technical scientific staff to do the technical investigation and report to the commissioners. However Feynman, a great scientist and mathematician, did his own analyses and calculations and even data collection and discovered that his results did bot comport with that of NASA or the commission staff which generally accepted the NASA data and analysis. It turned out that Feynman was right and he was able to expose the truth that NASA management had been responsible for the disaster for not paying attention to the data and recommendations to postpone the launch that existed.
He and Bowles were the two leaders of the Presidential National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The commission recommendations to put the nation on a sound financial footing involved sacrifice by almost every sector of American society—everyone would have to give up something that they valued. So the initial reaction of almost every interest group was to oppose the plan. Over time however, there was a realization that unless the burden would be borne by some and not by others, the plan was reasonably fair. It illustrates the initial reaction of Americans to reform proposals is to retain all the benefits that they have and have others give up their benefits.
Note the powers and level of cooperation the President gave to his commission. In the next hundred years, Presidents would reach the point where no commission—not even a Congressional Investigation—can have access to all documents of any major department.
Simpson was the Vice Chairman of the bipartisan Debt and Deficit Commission. Many issues such as Medicare and Social Security were so large that Congress would not even consider economic reform in those areas. The commission took on all these major large areas. Hence the metaphor of the whales.
In 2017 President Donald Trump, in resposnse to a Nazi, KKK, & White Supremicists "March" in Charlottesville, Virginia and a citizen counter protest, in whcih one of the White Supremicists ran down in a car a number of citizen protesters killing one, equated the two groups be saying that there was violence on both sides. Most of the country was outraged, and Frazier was the first member of the President's Business Advisory Council resigned in protest, making this statement. Many did so also, and Trump in a desparate effort to avoid the embarassing news each time there was anotehr resignation be a leading CEO, disbanded his 3 citizen advisorty councils.
See {642341} for the CIA role in obstructing the Warren Commission investigation. The FBI also withheld evidence about their contacts with Oswald. The investigators for the Commission only came from the two agencies that had much to hide and who lied to the commission.
