JFK TALKS WORLD PEACE, DISCUSSIONS ON NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY TO BEGIN SOON
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced that "high level discussions on a nuclear test ban treaty* will begin soon in Moscow."
In the meantime, the President pledges that the United States will "refrain from further atmospheric tests."
The talks, slated to begin in July, will include representatives of President Kennedy, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
The President, speaking at commencement exercises on the campus of American University here in the Nation's Capital, said...
"Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind."
David Broder writes that President Kennedy called world peace....
"the most important topic on earth."
JFK+50 NOTE
Republican leaders spoke out against a treaty while the Joint Chiefs of Staff opposed it "under almost any terms." In March 1963, JFK himself was "not hopeful" it could succeed. By June, things were looking better but it was JFK's American University speech that convinced the Soviets to agree to negotiate.
In late July, JFK spoke directly to the American people in an appeal for their support of the treaty. All along, it would take a miracle for the US Senate to approve it but on September 24 it did so by a vote of 80 to 19.
James W. Douglass writes that JFK had won but asks the question "Did it cost him his life?"
*The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) prohibited all nuclear testing in the atmosphere, outer space & underwater. Drafted by the U.S., GB & USSR it was signed on Aug 5 & took effect on Oct 10 1963. JFK considered it his greatest accomplishment as POTUS.
SOURCES
"JFK And The Unspeakable," by James W. Douglass, Orbis Books, New York, 2008
"Talks on A-Ban Set in Moscow," by David S. Broder, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"The Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1963," Office of the Historian, www.history.state.gov/
JFK Signs Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
