JFK DODGES QUESTION ABOUT A 'MISSILE GAP'
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 8, 1961, President John F. Kennedy held his third news conference at the State Department Auditorium here in the Nation's Capital.
The President was asked...
"What are your feelings...about the missile gap?"
JFK responded...
"The study has not been completed. It has not come across my desk."
He continued...
"There will be a study of how the budget...should be changed in view of our strategic position, but that...will not be completed...for some days."
JFK+50 NOTE
Senator John F. Kennedy talked about a missile gap, alleging that the USSR was far ahead of the US in production of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), during his 1958 campaign for re-election to the Senate.
Apparently the Senator was given inaccurate information and in 1962 President Kennedy admitted that a missile gap had "scarcely ever existed."
According to the Federation of American Scientists, in 2025 the U.S. is "slightly behind" the Russians in stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Our countries hold 90% of the world's supply.
Other nations with nuclear capability include China, France, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. The FAS says there are 12,331 total nuclear weapons in the world today. As JFK once said, "I'm sure they can improve on that."
SOURCES
"JFK Says A Study On Our Strategic Position Is Underway," JFK+50, February 8, 2021, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/
"The President's News Conference of February 8, 1961," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1962
"What was the Missile Gap?," www.icanw.org/
"Which countries have nuclear weapons," www.icanw.org/
