“WE MUST,
THEREFORE, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive
changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now
seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in
the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while
defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those
confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating
retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would
be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish
for the world.” (JFK commencement address, American University. Washington,
June 10, 1963.)
