The year was 1960, he was an advisor to the presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, who was running for election on the promise of five-percent growth, so Rostow's job was to keep that plane flying, not to ask if, how, or when it could ever be allowed to land.
Era 1960, ele era conselheiro do candidato à presidência John F. Kennedy, que disputava a eleição com a promessa  de um crescimento de 5%, então o trabalho de Rostow era manter o avião voando, e não perguntar como ou quando o avião poderia ter permissão de pousar.