Why President Kennedy’s 1963 “Peace Speech” Matters Today

By 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, the United Kingdom, and China had conducted over 500 nuclear tests in the atmosphere. The fallout from these tests poisoned our air, land, and bodies. Yet, the American public, convinced that an arms race was necessary for their safety, was largely opposed to an atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty.

In June 1963, just months before he was assassinated, President Kennedy gave the commencement address at American University, an address that came to be known as the Peace Speech. Kennedy was getting close to achieving his long-time goal of a test ban treaty. His speech was a call to shift the mindset of the nation.

At the outset, Kennedy argued that the peace Americans should seek is “Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave.” Instead, he said,

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