America’s strength is for peace

Media

Part of Panorama

Title: America’s strength is for peace
Creator: Kennedy, John F.
Language: English
Year: 1963
Rights
Abstract: The speech that was to have been delivered in Dallas, Texas just before the assassination.
Fulltext: ■ The speech that was to have been delivered in Dallas, Texas just before the assassination. AMERICA'S STRENGTH IS FOR PEACE John F. Kennnedy I am honored to have this invitation to address the an nual meeting of the Dallas Citizens Council, joined by the members of the Dallas As sembly — and pleased to have this opportunity to sa lute the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest. It is fitting that these two symbols of Dallas progress are united in the sponsor ship of this meeting. For they represent the best qua lities, I am told, of leadership and learning in this city — and leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on commu nity leadership for financial and political support — and the products of that learning, in turn, are essential to the leadership's hopes for con tinued progress and prosper ity. It is not a coincidence that those communities pos sessing the best in research and graduate facilities — from MIT to Cal Tech — tend to attract the new and growing industries. I con gratulate those of you here in Dallas who have recog nized these basic facts through the creation of the unique and forward-looking Graduate Research Center. This link between leader ship and learning is not only essential at the community level. It is even more indis pensable in world affairs. Ig norance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a compay — but they can, if allowed to pre vail in foreign policy, handi cap this country’s security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America’s leader December 1963 57 ship must be guided by the lights of learning and reason — or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular as cendancy with their seeming ly swift and simple solutions to every world problem. There will always be dissi dent voices heard in the land, expressing opposition with out alternatives, finding fault but never favor, per ceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence with out responsibility. Those voices are inevitable. But today other voices are heard in the land — voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated ta reality, wholly unsuited to the Sixties, doc trines which apparently as sume that words will suffice without .weapons, that vitu peration is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they see that debt as the greatest single threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies. We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will “talk sense to the American peo ple." But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense. I want to discuss with you today the status of dur strength and our security be cause this question clearly calls for the most responsible qualities of leadership and the most enlightened pro ducts of scholarship. For this Nation’s strength and security are not easily or cheaply obtained — nor are they quickly and simply ex plained. There are many kinds of strength and no one kind will suffice. Over whelming nuclear strength cannot stop a guerilla war. Formal pacts of alliance can not stop ■ internal subversion. Displays of material wealth cannot stop the disillusion 58 PANORAMA ment of diplomats subjected to discrimination. Above all, words alone are not enough. The United States is a peaceful nation. And where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction, not blligerence. If we- are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help. I realize that this Nation often tends to identify turn ing-points in world affairs with the major addresses which preceded them. But it was- not the Monroe Doc trine that kept all Europe away from this hemisphere — it was the strength of the British fleet and the width of the Atlantic Ocean,. It was not General Marshall’s speech at Harvard which kept communism out of Western Europe — it was the strength and stability made possible by bur military and economic assistance. In this Administration also it has been necessary at times to issue specific warnings — warnings that we could not stand by and watch the com munists conquer Laos by force,- or intervene in the Con go, or swallow West Berlin or maintain offensive missiles on Cuba. But while our goals were at least temporarily ob tained in these and other instances, our successful de fense of freedom was due — not to the words we used — but to the strength we stood ready to use on behalf of the principles we stand ready to defend. This strength is composed of many different elements, ranging from the most mas sive deterrents to the most subtle influences. And all types of strength are needed — no one kind could do the job alone. Let us take a moment, therefore, to review this Nation’s progress in each major area of strength. First, as Secretary McNa mara made clear in his ad dress last Monday, the strate gic nuclear power of the United States has been so greatly modernized and ex panded in the last 1,000 days, by the rapid production and deployment of the most mo dern missile systems, that any and all potential aggres sors are clearly confronted now with the impossibility of strategic victory — and the certainty of total destruction December 1963 59 — if by reckless attack they should ever force upon us the necessity of a strategic reply. In less than three years, we have increased by 50 per cent the number of Polaris submarines scheduled to be in force by the next fiscal year — increased by more than 70 percent our total Polaris purchase program — increased by more than 75 percent our Minuteman pur chase program — increased by 50 percent the portion of our strategic bombers on 15minute alert — and increased by 100 percent the total num ber of nuclear weapons avail able in our strategic alert forces. Our security is fur ther enhanced by the steps we have taken regarding these weapons to improve the speed arid certainty of their response, their readiness at all times to respond, their ability to survive an attack and their ability to be care fully controlled and directed through secure command operations. But the lessons of the last decade have taught us that freedom cannot be defended by strategic nuclear power alone. We have, therefore, in the last three years acce lerated the development and deployment of tactical nu clear weapons — and increas ed by 60 percent the tactical nuclear forces deployed in Western Europe, Nor can Europe or any other continent rely on nu clear forces alone, whether they are strategic or tactical. We have radically improved the readiness of our conven tional forces — increased by 45 percent the number of combat-ready army divisions — increased by 100 percent the procurement of modern army weapons and equip ment — increased by 100 our ship construction, con version and modernization program — increased by 100 percent our procurement of tactical aircraft — increased by 30 percent the number of tactical air squadrons — and increased the strength of the Marines. As last month's "Operation B i g Lift” — which originated here in Texas — showed so clearly, this Nation is prepared as never before to move sub stantial numbers of men in surprisingly little time to advanced positions anywhere in the world. We have in 60 Panorama creased by 175 percent the procurement of airlift air craft — and we have already achieved a 75 percent in crease in our existing stra tegic airlift capability. Final ly, moving beyond the tradi tional roles of. our military forces, we have achieved an increase of nearly 600 per cent in our Special Forces — those forces that are prepar ed to work with our allies and friends against the guer rillas, saboteurs, insurgents and assassins who threaten freedom in a less direct but equally dangerous manner. But American military might should not and need not stand alone against the ambitions of international communism. Our security and strength, in the last an alysis, directly depend on the security and strength of others — and that is why our military and economic as sistance plays such a key role in enabling those who live on the periphery of the communist world to main tain their independence of choice. Our assistance to these nations can be painful, risky and costly — as is true in Southeast Asia today. But we dare not weary of the task. For our assistance makes possible the stationing of 3.5 million Allied troops along the communist fron tier at one-tenth the cost of maintaining a comparable number of American soldiers. A successful communist breakthrough in these areas, necessitating direct United States intervention, would cost us several times as much as our entire foreign aid program — and might cost us heavily in American lives as well. About 70 percent of our military assistance goes to nine key countries located on or near the borders of the communist bloc — nine coun tries confronted directly or indirectly with the threat of communist aggression — VietNam, Free China, Korea, Ind i a, Pakistan, Thailand, Greece, Turkey and Iran. No one of these countries possesses on its own the re sources to maintain the for ces which our own Chiefs of Staff think needed in the common interest. Reducing our efforts to train, equip and assist their armies can only encourage communist penetration and require in time the increased over December 1963 61 seas deployment of American combat forces. And reduc ing the economic help need ed to bolster these nations that undertake to help de fend freedom can have the same disastrous result. In short, the $50 billion we spend each year on our own defense could well be inef fective without the $4 billion required for military and economic assistance. Our foreign aid program is not growing in size — it is, on the contrary, smaller now than in previous years. It has had its weaknesses — but we have undertaken to correct them — and the proper way of treating weaknesses is to replace them with strength, not to increase those weaknesses by emascu lating essential programs. Dollar for dollar, in or out of government, there is no better form of investment in our national security than our much-abused foreign aid program. We cannot afford to lose it. We can afford to maintain it. We can surely afford, for example, to do as much for our 19 needy neigh bors of Latin America as the communist bloc is sending to the island of Cuba alone. I have spoken of strength largely in terms of the de terrence and. resistance of aggression and attack. But, in today’s world, freedom can be lost , without a shot being fired, by ballots as well as bullets. The success of our leadership is dependent upon respect for our mission in the world as well as our missiles — on a clearer recognition of the virtues of freedom as well as the evils of tyranny. That is why our Informa tion Agency has doubled the shortwave broadcast power of the Voice of America and increased the number of broadcasting hours by 30 per cent — increased Spanish-language broadcasting to Cuba and Latin America from one to nine — hours a day — in creased seven-fold to more than 3.5 million copies the number of American books being translated and publish ed for Latin American Readers — and taken a host of other steps to carry our message of truth and freedom to all the far comers of the earth. And that is also why we have regained the initiative in the exploration of outer space — making an annual 62 Panorama effort greater than the com bined total of all space acti vities undertaken during the Fifties — launching more than 130 vehicles into earth orbit — putting into actual operation valuable weather and communications satel lites — and making it clear to all that the United States of America has no. intention of finishing second in space. This effort is expensive — but it pays its own way, for freedom and for America. For there is ho longer any fear in the free world that a com munist lead in space will be come a permanent assertion of supremacy and the basis of military superiority. There is no longer any doubt about the strength and skill of Am erican science, American in dustry, American education and the American free enter prise system. In short, our na tional space effort represents a great gain in, and a great resource.of, our national strength — and both Texas and Texans are contributing greatly to this strength. Finally, it should be clear by now that a nation can be no stronger abroad than she is at home. Only an Am erica which practices what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be res pected by those whose choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully edu cated its citizens is fully cap able of tackling the complex problems and perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. And only an America which is growing and prospering economically can sustain the worldwide defenses of freedom, while demonstrating to all con cerned the opportunities of our system and society. It is clear, therefore, that we are strengthening our se curity as well as our econo my by our recent record in creases in national income and output — by surging ahead of most of Western Europe in the rate of busi ness expansion and the mar gin of corporate profits — by maintaining a more stable level of prices than almost any of our overseas competitors — and by cutting personal and corporate income taxes by some $11 billion, as I have proposed, to assure this Nation of the longest and stongest expansion in our peacetime economic history. December 1963 63 This Nation’s total output — which three years ago was at the $500 billion mark — will soon pass $600 billion, for a record rise of over $100 billion in three years. For the first time in history we have 70 million men and women at work. For the first time in history average factory earn ings have exceeded $100 a week. For the first time in history corporation profits after taxes — which have ris en 43 percent in less than three years — have reached an annual level of $27.4 bil lion. My friends and fellow citizens: I cite these facts and figures to make it clear that America today is strong er than ever before. Our ad versaries have not abandoned their ambitions — our dan gers have not diminished — our vigilance cannot be re laxed. But now we have the military, the scientific and the economic strength to do whatever must be done for the preservation and promo tion of freedom. That strength will never be used in pursuit of aggres sive ambitions — it will al ways be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations — it will always be used to pro mote the peaceful settlement of disputes. We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and res ponsibility — that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint — and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of ’’peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” That must always be our goal — and the righteousness of our cause must always un derlie our strength. For as was written long ago: "Ex cept the Lord keep the city, the watchman but in vain.” 64 Panorama