US Presidency
1961

I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed. I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers, I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for, as a wise man once said: An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them. Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed, and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian law-maker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy.