A particular JFK speech

[Michael Bailey]

I mean, if you look at the context:
he's in front of the newspaper guys, who are not all that friendly to
him, which he mentions.

he contrasts open society with the secrecy and the stealth of
Communist insurgency

he tries to unite everyone at the gathering against that threat, and
enlist their loyalty, and remind them of their duty as newspapermen.
I really don't see this as a forum for any kind of venting of
suspicions other than against totalitarian Communism, and the need to
distinguish free society from it...

and there's no development beyond the mere mention of "secret
societies" - it's a real stretch, although I personally believe in the
existence and abhor the effects of numerous secret societies such as
ALEC and Skull and Bones, I don't see them in this speech.

However, we do know that at this same time, Kennedy was putting out
secret feelers to Khruschchev and to Castro and in fact via
journalists (this is detailed in James Douglass's excellent _JFK and
the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters_ .)