Commencement Address at
American University, June 10,
1963.
The American University speech, titled
A Strategy of Peace, was a commencement address delivered by
President John F. Kennedy at the American University in
Washington, D.C., on Monday , June 10, 1963
. In the speech,
Kennedy announced his agreement to negotiations "toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty" (which resulted in the
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty) and also announced, for the purpose of showing "good faith and solemn convictions", his decision to unilaterally suspend all US atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons as long as all other nations would do the same. The speech was unusual in its peaceful outreach to the
Soviet Union at the height of the
Cold War, and is remembered as one of Kennedy’s finest and most important speeches.
After the
Cuban Missile Crisis in
October 1962, Kennedy was determined to construct a better relationship with the Soviet Union to discourage another threat of nuclear war. He believed that
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was also interested in renewing
U.S.-Soviet relations.
"What kind of
peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a
Pax Americana enforced on the world by
American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, and the kind that enables men and nations to grow, and to hope, and build a better life for their children—not merely peace for
Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace in all time."
"
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough—more than enough—of war and hate and oppression."
"We shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just.
We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success.
Confident and unafraid, we must labor on—not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace."
The
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by the governments of the Soviet Union, the
United Kingdom and the
United States (represented by
Dean Rusk), named the "
Original Parties", at
Moscow on August 5, 1963. US ratification occurred by the
U.S. Senate on
September 24, 1963 and the treaty was signed into law by Kennedy on October 7, 1963. The treaty went into effect on
October 10, 1963. Kennedy was assassinated on
November 22, 1963.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/BWC7I4C9QUmLG9J6I8oy8w
.aspx
http://www.c-span.org/video/?153206-1/american-university-commencement-address
http://series.c-span.org/
History/Events/The-Presidency-President-Kennedys-1963-Speeches-at-American-University-amp-Berlin/10737440023/
http://series.c-span.org/History/Events/President-John-F-Kennedy39s-quotPeace-Speechquot/10737439909/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrspHo8uvmg
http://www.biography.com/people/barack-obama-12782369
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_speech
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse/photos/a.158628314237.115142.63811549237/10152754654949238/?type=1&theater;
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/jfk-university/
- published: 27 Aug 2014
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