There has also been a change — a slippage — in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drought and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies — and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America — in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will and their sense of historic purpose.

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)

Speech (1960-07-15), “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
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