"MANKIND ON BRINK OF ANOTHER MILITARY TRAGEDY"

KHRUSHCHEV SAYS HE IS READY FOR BUSINESSLIKE TALKS WITH JFK

Moscow (JFK+50) On September 8, 1961, Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union said that he is ready for "businesslike talks" with President John F. Kennedy of the United States "on urgent world problems."

The Premier, however, denounced President Kennedy's decision to resume nuclear testing declaring "mankind is on the brink of another military tragedy."

JFK had announced earlier that the United States would resume nuclear tests in the laboratory and underground thus avoiding contaminating the atmosphere with harmful radiation.

JFK+50 NOTE

Despite Khrushchev's readiness to talk with JFK in Sept 1961, a face-to-face meeting never materialized.  The two cold war leaders had met earlier on June 3 & 4, 1961 in Vienna.  Afterwards, they did communicate by correspondence and by telephone.

SOURCE

"Khrushchev Ready To Face Kennedy," by Preston Grover, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 8, 1961, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Khrushchev & Kennedy

Vienna, Austria

June 3 1961

JFK Library Photo

www.Flickr.com/

"A NECESSARY RESPONSE TO SOVIET ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEAR TESTS"

U.S. RESUMES NUCLEAR TESTS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 12, 1962, Newsweek magazine reported 
on President John F. Kennedy's recent "grinding decision" to order resumption of United States nuclear testing in the atmosphere.  The President said it was the most "thoughtfully weighed" decision of his administration.*

Privately, JFK said his final decision had been building up "like a coral reef" since the Soviets launched their atmospheric nuclear tests in the fall.  In polling the National Security Council, there was unanimous agreement that the U.S. had to resume the tests.

Arguments against the decision came from from scientists, including Linus Pauling,** who said that 20 million unborn children would suffer damage as a result.  2000 protesters made known their opposition to JFK's decision in New York's Time Square.

*Senator John F. Kennedy supported a nuclear testing ban since 1956 believing it would help reduce the possibility other nations would attain nuclear capabilities.

**Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) was born in Portland, Oregon & earned his B.S. at Oregon State University & PhD at the California Institute of Technology in 1925.  LCP won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 & is rated one of the top 20 scientists of all time.

JFK+50 NOTE

In August 1963, JFK signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which outlawed nuclear testing in outer space, under water and in the atmosphere.  The treaty is widely considered to be President Kennedy's greatest accomplishment.

SOURCES

"March 12, 1961:  The Decision To Resume Nuclear Testing", Newsweek, www.newsweek.com/

"The Grinding Decision--"Built Like Coral", Newsweek Magazine, March 12, 1962.

Types of Nuclear Testing
by User: Fastfission
www.commons.wikimedia.org/

BUILDING UP "LIKE A CORAL REEF" SINCE SOVIET TESTING

NEWSWEEK REPORTS ON JFK DECISION ON NUCLEAR TESTING

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 12, 1962, Newsweek magazine reported on President John F. Kennedy's recent "grinding decision" to order resumption of United States nuclear testing in the atmosphere.  In his announcement the previous Friday, the President said...  "No single decision of this Administration has been more...thoughtfully weighed."

Privately, JFK described his final decision had been building up "like a coral reef" since the USSR launched their atmospheric nuclear tests in the fall.  In polling the National Security Council, there was unanimous agreement that the U.S. had to resume the tests.

Arguments against the decision came from from scientists like Nobel Prize winning Linus Pauling* who said that 20 million unborn children would suffer damage as a result.  2000 protesters made known their opposition to JFK's decision in New York's Time Square.

*Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) was born in Portland, Oregon & earned his B.S. at Oregon State University & PhD at the California Institute of Technology in 1925.  LCP won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 & is rated one of the top 20 scientists of all time.

JFK+50 NOTE

In August 1963, JFK signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which outlawed nuclear testing in outer space, under water and in the atmosphere.

SOURCES

"March 12, 1961:  The Decision To Resume Nuclear Testing", Newsweek, www.newsweek.com/

"The Grinding Decision--"Built Like Coral", Newsweek Magazine, March 12, 1962.

Types of Nuclear Testing

by User: Fastfission

www.commons.wikimedia.org/

JFK'S THE STRATEGY OF PEACE IV

JFK's The Strategy of Peace IV

I. The Possibilities of Peace 

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today JFK+50 continues our report on Chapter 1 of "The Strategy of Peace" written by Senator John F. Kennedy.  The book is published by Harper & Row, New York, 1960.

The title of Chapter I is THE POSSIBILITIES OF PEACE

Senator Kennedy titles Part 4 of Chapter I:  Nuclear Tests

This part of Chapter 1 is the text of JFK's address at the Student Convocation at UCLA in Los Angeles, California on November 2, 1959.

Senator Kennedy begins by saying that the greatest challenge of a "fast-changing world" is the control of nuclear weapons.

JFK tells the UCLA students that this challenge "is not a simple problem with simple answers."

He goes on to reject the proposal by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller that the United States should resume nuclear testing.

Since the Soviets had stopped testing at the time of the speech, JFK argues that "our resumption of tests would bring Russian resumption of tests."

He also expresses concern about how many nations may soon acquire nuclear weapons.

Senator Kennedy makes the following recommendations:

1.The U.S. should announce a continued suspension of all nuclear tests as long as serious negotiations are proceeding & the USSR does not resume testing.

2.The US redouble efforts to achieve a test ban agreement.

3.If we are forced to resume testing by the Russians, those tests should be confined to underground & outer-space in order to prevent further contamination of earth's atmosphere.

4.We must step up studies of the impact of radioactive fall-out & how to control it.

JFK concludes by saying this course "is full of risks" & will require a greater effort & "more leadership, (&) more moral courage."

"And if we can master this danger, we will have earned the deep & lasting gratitude, not only of all men, but of all yet to be born--even to the farthest generation."*

*Also included in this part is the text of a speech JFK made on the same topic in Portland, Oregon on August 1, 1959.