“If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1961, Address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors
Context: If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist-in economic, political, scientific and all the other kinds of struggles as well as the military-then the peril to freedom will continue to rise.