If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

There are many people in the world who really don't understand-or say they don't-what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin!

Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.

How many of us teach our own children to be dignified, free? How many of us knowingly teach them to be poor? How many dignified, free men does our society, our world need?...

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

[Inaugural Address, January 20 1961]