Kennedy's Speech On The Brink Of Nuclear Annihilation

During the Cold War, there were a series of moments when the world seemed on the brink of nuclear annihilation. The closest of these moments was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and it left a lasting feeling of pessimism in the global atmosphere. The United States and the Soviet Union had been actively involved in an arms race and many feared that continued escalation would result in direct conflict between the two super powers and their respective allies. It was in this atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that the US president John F. Kennedy gave a commencement address at American University in 1963. When the speech was given, it served several key purposes. The speech was designed as a way of easing the tensions between the Americans and

The decline of British and French power and the occupation of Germany had allowed for the bipolar world to form in the aftermath of the war. Initially, the US’s sole control of nuclear weapons tilted the balance of power towards the Americans but the Soviet’s quickly closed the gap when they successfully tested their first atomic bomb in 1949. The years that followed saw tensions between the Soviets and the Americans rise as both powers attempted to gain the advantage. Those tensions looked to be reaching a head as the Cuban Missile Crisis took place in 1962. Following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, the Soviets offered to place nuclear missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to further American intervention in the island nation. The resultant stand-off between the Soviets and Americans brought the world to the brink of war. While the crisis did pass and both sides stood down, the world had seemed to be on the brink of nuclear war. When Kennedy gave the “Peace Speech” in June of 1963, he used it as a chance to announce planned talks with the Soviets concerning nuclear testing. Further, Kennedy used the speech to discuss the idea of peace, abandoning previous Cold War rhetoric for a discussion of world peace. By turning the discussion from war and towards peace, the speech was designed to encourage a similar move among the leaders of the Soviet

As stated, tensions did ease for a time between the Soviets and Americans, but these effects were short-lived. Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963 shocked the American people and events that took place over the years to follow continued to lessen the optimism that the “Peace Speech” had intended to illicit. Increased unease with the Soviets, along with events such as the Vietnam War, the Iranian Revolution, and the so called “Golden Age of Terror” fostered less positive outlooks amongst Americans. Even after the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the optimism that Kennedy conveyed seemed unrealized. Genocides, wars, diseases, and other events which humanity could have prevented continued to happen. The attacks on 9/11 served to only cement the general atmosphere of pessimism that had been seen following the Missile Crisis. In 2009, President Barak Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. He said, “War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man,” and that “We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.” Obama’s acceptance peace for the Nobel Peace Prize differs in many ways from Kennedy’s “Peace Speech.” However, perhaps the most notable difference is the tone. Kennedy’s words are designed to create an image of a world where war can