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Kennedy defined the peace he sought as neither “a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war” nor a utopian ideal, but a practical, gradual peace built on concrete agreements and evolving institutions. He argued that total war had become irrational in the nuclear age, noting that a single nuclear weapon contained nearly ten times the explosive force of all Allied air power in the Second World War.
He urged Americans to reexamine three attitudes: toward peace itself, toward the Soviet Union, and toward the Cold War. He cautioned against viewing conflict as inevitable, paid tribute to Soviet wartime suffering—citing at least 20 million dead—and observed that both superpowers shared an interest in halting the arms race. In one of the speech’s most-quoted passages, he reminded listeners that “we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Kennedy then announced two concrete decisions: that high-level talks would soon begin in Moscow with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union toward a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, and that the United States would not resume atmospheric nuclear testing so long as other states refrained.
“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of 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, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to 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 for all time.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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 be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Our problems are manmade—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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 Primary source“Confident and unafraid, we labor on—not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source• Title: Commencement address at American University
• Author: John F. Kennedy
• Type: Speech
• Publisher: n/a
• Publication time: June 10, 1963
• Publication place: American University, Washington, D.C.
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