Emma Levine

As one of my favorite psychologists, I'd agree that this is a must-lie situation.

Bad truths are truths that cause unnecessary harm.

They might cause emotional pain and suffering and not lead to learning and growth and understanding.

And so this seems like a bad truth, right?

Knowing your baby is offensively ugly, is hurtful, and there's really not much you can do about it.

You're not going to get a facelift on an infant, right?

So this is unnecessary harm.

What do I need to know?

What you think about my baby that I think is beautiful that I'm not going to change, right?

They certainly didn't tell the public everything.

For about a week after this discovery, the White House kept the information secret.

And Kennedy, meanwhile, assembled a group of top advisers to deliberate about this and what to do in private.

And so then they secretly also back-channeled with the Soviet Union through trusted intermediaries and then eventually announced to the nation that there would be this U.S.

response of a quarantine.

Right.

And that was part of the tradeoff.

Right.

Do we inform the public fully and risk a panic and a premature military response and escalation?

Or do we engage in some form of deception for at least some time?

Absolutely.