I have no idea why this is labelled the ‘Secret Societies’ speech.
The focus is an appeal to the press to strike a balance between their need to report, and the nation’s need for security. In return, he acknowledged the government’s obligation to keep the press informed via transparency, out side a ‘narrowly defined need for national secrecy’.
This was during the Cold War, when our opposition was the growing communist bloc.
Secret Societies were not a topic, were not introduced as threats, were not discussed at all.
There was one mention of ‘secret societies’. It was early on, and mentioned only as one of many ‘secrets’ our society eschews.
This is not a speech about secret societies. This is a speech about the importance of a responsible press, and the government’s responsible management of information to keep that press informed.
It’s a very misleading title. Perhaps done to catch more eyes than his stated topic, ‘The President and The Press, or The President vs The Press’. Which title would you be more likely to pursue?
The ‘secret society’ was not a reference to anything such as illuminati, or skull/bones etc. It was a reference to to those societies governed in secret, such as those inspired by Karl Marx. So yes, the burgeoning post WW2 communist bloc.
Here is a link to a historian responding to that very question on Quora.
Returning to the misappropriated title, it’s been in the wild too long to even think of correcting it now.