KENNEDY'S REFORMS
The Cuban Missile Crisis averted, Kennedy took action to ensure that the world would never come so perilously close to nuclear war again. Though opponents of these actions believed they would diminish US power, Kennedy believed the survival of the human race was more important. This demonstrates Kennedy's ultimate commitment to peace, a quality that defined him as a leader and persists as his legacy.
|
"President John F. Kennedy delivers remarks after signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty" (JFK Library).
|
NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY"After the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev realized that they had come dangerously close to nuclear war. Both leaders sought to reduce tensions between their two nations."
"The Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty was signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963, by U.S. Secretary Dean Rusk, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, and British Foreign Secretary Lord Home.... Over the next two months, President Kennedy convinced a fearful public and a divided Senate to support the treaty. The Senate approved the treaty on September 23, 1963, by an 80-19 margin. Kennedy signed the ratified treaty on October 7, 1963." (JFK Library)
|
"Remarks on Signing Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 7 October 1963"
"In its first two decades, the Age of Nuclear Energy has been full of fear, yet never empty of hope. Today the fear is a little less and the hope a little greater. For the first time we have been able to reach an agreement which can limit the dangers of this Age." |
"A draft [of Kennedy's Nuclear Test Ben Treaty Speech] with handwritten notations by the President" (JFK Library).
|
MOSCOW-WASHINGTON HOTLINE
"On June 20, 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the 'Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link,' also known as the hotline agreement, which was designed to help speed up communications between the two governments and prevent the possibility of accidental nuclear war. It is no coincidence that the agreement came just a few months after the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear conflict. The new agreement was designed to forestall such a crisis in the future" (Arms Control).
Excerpts from "The New York Times" article:
“A diplomatic "hot line" between Moscow and Washington went into operation today with the simultaneous clattering of telecommunication machines in the Kremlin and the Pentagon." |
However, this decision was met with controversy as well. Many republicans believed, "This Administration has sought accommodations with Communism without adequate safeguards and compensating gains for freedom. It has alienated proven allies by opening a "hot line" first with a sworn enemy rather than with a proven friend, and in general pursued a risky path such as began at Munich a quarter century ago" (UCSB).