“We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth—but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced.”
John F. Kennedy
Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis (Primary source)
On the evening of October 22, 1962, at 7:00 p.m., Kennedy spoke on television, revealing the evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and calling for their removal. He reported that the installations included medium-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for more than 1,000 nautical miles—each capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States.
More about “Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis” →
“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“There’s an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary sourceMore quotes by John F. Kennedy →
“A war postponed may be a war averted.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Truth was the only daughter of Time.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Primary source“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“You may delay, but time will not.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourceResolution Defiance War Atoms Nuclear war