There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a New Frontier for American art.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Letter to Miss Theodate Johnson (13 Sep 1960)
    (Source)

Published in Musical America (Oct 1960). Response to a letter from Johnson, publisher of the magazine, to Kennedy and Nixon asking their views on music in relation to the federal government and domestic world affairs. Inscribed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.