...not much there for the corporate greedhead warmonger set.
The speech hits the keys JFK raised in the American University speech from June. That speech, in which the President outlined a new strategic direction of peace and cooperation with the Soviet Union, got near-zero coverage in the press of the day or in the history books written since.
President John F. Kennedy:
Towards a Strategy of Peace, June 10, 1963
Address by President Kennedy at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963
EXCERPT...
First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.
We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as be wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe they can do it again.
I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of universal peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the values of hopes and dreams, but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.
Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions - on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace, no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process, a way of solving problems.
With such a peace there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor; it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. . . .
Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union.
CONTINUED...
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1963Kennedy-peacestrat.html
Thank you for a most important OP, Ichingcarpenter! Even 50 years later, some still understand -- and work for -- what Democracy can accomplish.
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