President Kennedy also expressed grave concern over the vast power of the national-security establishment. He induced friends in Hollywood to turn the novel Seven Days in May into a movie, to serve as a warning to the American people of the dangers posed by this type of governmental structure. The novel and the movie posit the possibility of a military takeover of the federal government when the national-security branch deems the president to be a grave threat to national security. 

But Kennedy did more than issue a warning. Unlike Eisenhower, he actually went to war against the national-security branch of the government over the future direction of the country. 

The national-security branch wanted to continue America’s Cold War trajectory against the Reds, which naturally would entail ever-increasing power and taxpayer-funded largess for the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA, which are the three principal components of the U.S. national-security branch of the federal government. It wanted a permanent hostility toward Russia, China, and Cuba. It wanted to invade Cuba to install a pro-U.S. regime into power. It also wanted to embroil the United States in a war in Southeast Asia to help prevent a communist takeover here in the United States.

Kennedy wanted to move America in an opposite direction. He declared that the United States would befriend Russia and Cuba, live in peaceful coexistence with the communist world, and not become embroiled in a war in Southeast Asia. 

Kennedy was deemed to be a grave threat to national security. The two branches — the executive branch and the national-security branch — went to war with each other. Kennedy lost the war when the national-security establishment orchestrated and carried out his assassination in broad daylight. His assassination highlighted the dangers that Madison and Eisenhower had pointed out.