Internal Threat Quotes
Although often cited, Lincoln did not say this although it is somewhat in the spirit of his actual statement. See the related quote for what Lincoln actually said.
On the BBC during World War II:
See Lyndon Johnson's remark about J. Edgar Hoover for a modern extrapolation.
The speech was in the midst of a very bitter strike where goons and strikebreakers assaulted miners and a few miners resorted to violence.
Kennan was one of the few people who saw the possibility of Soviet rule of Eastern Europe crumbling as it did almost 50 years later. Most Americans thought that the Soviet Union was so militarily entrenched that they would never be ousted short of war.
This was a private speech he made to his corruption inspectors. At this point in time, there was extensive corruption of the millions of local officials of the ruling Communist Party then a generation of two from the idealism of the original communists who fought in the Chinese Revolution. The common people were beginning to complain and demonstrate against local officials who were making things worse by what even the heavy handed Chinese party leaders considered heavy handed. The inspectors were coming under great pressure as the anti-corruption campaign was producing a blowback from local officials and the corrupt officials were so numerous that they could represent a destabilization threat in a political culture where stability was the highest priority. The anti-corruption campaign was an attempt to regain “party discipline”. See Quotation 643893.
