"ON POLICY AND THE COLD WAR"
ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT CHINESE PROVERB, "A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES MUST BEGIN WITH A SINGLE STEP." MY FELLOW AMERICANS, LET US TAKE THAT FIRST STEP. LET US, IF WE CAN, GET BACK FROM THE SHADOWS OF WAR AND SEEK OUT THE WAY OF PEACE. AND IF THAT JOURNEY IS ONE THOUSAND MILES, OR EVEN MORE, LET HISTORY RECORD THAT WE, IN THIS LAND, AT THIS TIME, TOOK THE FIRST STEP.
OUR PATIENCE AT THE BARGAINING TABLE IS NEARLY INEXHAUSTIBLE, THOUGH OUR CREDULITY IS LIMITED.
IN SHORT, WE ARE NEITHER "WARMONGERS" NOR "APPEASERS," NEITHER "HARD" NOR "SOFT".
LET US DEBATE COLONIALISM IN FULL, AND APPLY THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE CHOICE AND THE PRACTICE OF FREE PLEBISCITES IN EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE.
THE PURPOSE OF FOREIGN POLICY IS NOT TO PROVIDE AN OUTLET FOR OUR OWN SENTIMENTS OF HOPE OR INDIGNATION; IT IS TO SHAPE REAL EVENTS IN A REAL WORLD.
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL ABUNDANCE CAN BE FORGED INTO BOTH A SIGNIFICANT INSTRUMENT OF FOREIGN POLICY AND A WEAPON AGAINST DOMESTIC HARDSHIP AND HUNGER.
UNCONDITIONAL WAR CAN NO LONGER LEAD TO UNCONDITIONAL VICTORY.
EVERY NATION HAS ITS OWN TRADITIONS, ITS OWN VALUES, ITS OWN ASPIRATIONS. OUR ASSISTANCE FROM TIME TO TIME CAN HELP OTHER NATIONS PRESERVE THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND ADVANCE THEIR GROWTH, BUT WE CAN NOT REMAKE THEM IN OUR OWN IMAGE.
THIS IS THE SIDE OF THE HILL, NOT THE TOP. THE MERE ABSENCE OF WAR IS NOT PEACE.
WE SHALL NEED COMPROMISES IN THE DAYS AHEAD, TO BE SURE. BUT THESE WILL BE OR SHOULD BE, COMPROMISES OF ISSUES, NOT OF PRINCIPLES.
TODAY NO NATION CAN BUILD ITS DESTINY ALONE. THE AGE OF SELF-SUFFICIENT NATIONALISM IS OVER. THE AGE OF INTERDEPENDENCE IS HERE. THE CAUSE OF WESTERN EUROPEAN UNITY IS BASED ON LOGIC AND COMMON SENSE. IT IS BASED ON MORAL AND POLITICAL TRUTH. IT IS BASED ON SOUND MILITARY AND ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES, AND IT MOVES WITH THE TIDE OF HISTORY.
THE HOPES OF ALL MANKIND REST UPON US; NOT SIMPLY UPON THOSE OF US IN THIS CHAMBER, BUT UPON THE PEASANT IN LAOS, THE FISHERMAN IN NIGERIA, THE EXILE FROM CUBA, THE SPIRIT THAT MOVES EVERY MAN AND NATION WHO SHARES OUR HOPES FOR FREEDOM AND THE FUTURE.
WE SEEK TO KEEP PEACE INSIDE THE NON-COMMUNIST WORLD, WHERE MANY NATIONS, ALL OF THEM OUR FRIENDS, ARE DIVIDED OVER ISSUES WHICH WEAKEN WESTERN UNITY, WHICH INVITE COMMUNIST INTERVENTION OR WHICH THREATEN TO ERUPT INTO WAR.
THE EVENTS AND DECISIONS OF THE NEXT TEN MONTHS MAY WELL DECIDE THE FATE OF MAN FOR THE NEXT 10,000 YEARS. THERE WILL BE NO AVOIDING THESE EVENTS. THERE WILL BE NO APPEAL FROM THESE DECISIONS.
IF WE WERE TO TREAT FOREIGN POLICY AS MERELY A MEDIUM FOR DELIVERING SELF-RIGHTEOUS SERMONS TO SUPPOSEDLY INFERIOR PEOPLE, WE WOULD GIVE UP ALL THOUGHT OF WORLD INFLUENCE OR WORLD LEADERSHIP.
WE MEET HERE IN AN HOUR OF GRIEF AND CHALLENGE. DAG HAMMARSKJOLD IS DEAD. BUT THE UNITED NATIONS LIVES.
COMPROMISE NEED NOT MEAN COWARDICE.
TODAY, THIS NATION, CONCEIVED IN REVOLUTION, NURTURED IN LIBERTY, MATURED IN INDEPENDENCE, HAS NO INTENTION OF ABDICATING ITS LEADERSHIP IN THAT WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE TO ANY NATION OR SOCIETY COMMITTED TO SYSTEMATIC HUMAN SUPPRESSION.
ANY POTENTIAL AGGRESSOR CONTEMPLATING AN ATTACK ON ANY PART OF THE FREE WORLD WITH ANY KIND OF WEAPONS, CONVENTIONAL OR NUCLEAR, MUST KNOW THAT OUR RESPONSE WILL BE SUITABLE, SELECTIVE, SWIFT, AND EFFECTIVE.
SO I GO TO SEE MR. KHRUSHCHEV IN VIENNA. I GO AS THE LEADER OF THE GREATEST REVOLUTIONARY COUNTRY ON EARTH. I KNOW THAT THERE IS IN SOME AREAS OF THE WORLD, AND EVEN IN SOME PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES, AN IMAGE OF US AS A FIXED SOCIETY. THAT IS NOT MY VIEW.
WHERE NATURE MAKES NATURAL ALLIES OF US ALL, WE CAN DEMONSTRATE THAT BENEFICIAL RELATIONS ARE POSSIBLE EVEN WITH THOSE WITH WHOM WE MUST DEEPLY DISAGREE, AND THIS MUST SOMEDAY BE THE BASIS OF WORLD PEACE AND WORLD LAW.
THE FUNDAMENTAL TASK OF OUR FOREIGN-AID PROGRAM IS TO HELP MAKE AN HISTORICAL DEMONSTRATION THAT ECONOMIC GROWTH AND POLITICAL DEMOCRACY CAN DEVELOP HAND IN HAND.
PARTNERSHIP IS NOT A POSTURE BUT A PROCESS, A CONTINUOUS PROCESS THAT GROWS STRONGER EACH YEAR AS WE DEVOTE OURSELVES TO COMMON TASKS.
WE WANT A PEACE IN WHICH WE CAN TRULY BEAT OUR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES.
WE SEEK NOT THE WORLDWIDE VICTORY OF ONE NATION OR SYSTEM, BUT A WORLDWIDE VICTORY OF MEN. THE MODERN GLOBE IS TOO SMALL, ITS WEAPONS ARE TOO DESTRUCTIVE, THEY MULTIPLY TOO FAST, AND ITS DISORDERS ARE TOO CONTAGIOUS TO PERMIT ANY OTHER KIND OF VICTORY.
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"JOHN F. KENNEDY: WORDS TO REMEMBER"
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