© Nicolas Mertens. All Rights Reserved.

I snapped this photo during my first trip to New York City in 1976—the year of the bicentennial. I always wondered whether there was a pile of campaign money in that Louis Vuitton bag :)
Anyway, I can't help noting that the end of Carter's presidency marked the end also of decency in Washington, DC, which snowballed slowly but surely in the rest of the country...

More saddening on black: press Z (or click the picture :)