“Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War.”
John F. Kennedy
Commencement address at American University (Primary source)
On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., devoting the speech to what he called “the most important topic on earth: world peace.” Often referred to as the “Strategy of Peace” speech, the address marked a significant rhetorical shift in Cold War policy.
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“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.”
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“The creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“In those days we did not trust anyone who had not been in the war, but we did not completely trust anyone.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Intelligence precedes force. Force itself is nothing without intelligence. In the heroic age the leader was the strongest man; with civilization he has become the most intelligent of the brave.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source