William Kelly Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Memo From COPA And We Are All Mortal, June 10, 2009, American University campus Friends, On June 10, 1963, just a few months before his assassination in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy gave what his aide Arthur Schleisinger, Jr. called the most important speech of his term in office. He addressed the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and the chance for world peace through detente and disarmament and a ban on testing nuclear weapons. The text is attached with commentary. This was consistent with his decision in April, 1963 to withdraw all US troops from Vietnam and his decision to explore normalizing relations with Cuba following the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world so close to nuclear war. All of these were reasons, in my view, for the assassination and coup d`etat that followed on November 22, and reversed those plans completely. The Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) holds an annual commemorative event at the plaque that marks the location of the speech, and you are welcome to attend. We will gather for a meal and discussion of our November regional meeting afterwards. Please respond if you are planning to come - John Judge "And We Are All Mortal..." Commemoration to JFK's Call for World Peace Sunday, June 10, 12:00 - 1:00 pm Commemorative Plaque Reeves Athletic Field (west end) (entrance off New Mexico from Nebraska) American University 4200 Nebraska Ave, NW (at Massachusetts Ave.-Ward Circle) Washington, DC Here are general directions to the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/ Here is a map of the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/maincampus.html Note the athletic field at the top left. The plaque sits at the west or left end of the field, beyond the Broadcast Center and Beeghley Hall on the access road. For Ted Sorenson's speech at AU in 2003 commemorating the event, see: http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Sorensen.htm Our 15th annual regional conference in Dallas is scheduled from November 20-22nd at the Hotel Lawrence. More details and speakers will follow. John Judge Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) PO Box 772 Washington, DC 20044 copa@starpower.net Check out our new website: www.politicalassassinations.com Annual meeting in Dallas in November Hotel Lawrence - 214-761-9090 - discount room reservations Speakers, films, books, resources, email for details National organization of medical and ballistic experts, academics and authors, researchers and interested individuals investigating major political assassinations in America and abroad. Responsible for creation and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act. Promoting a Martin Luther King Records Act and a grand jury process to reopen all the major assassinations. We accept donations that are NOT tax deductible. DVD set of last year's COPA meeting in Dallas for any donation of $50 or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/j...ityaddress.html American University Commencement Address delivered 10 June 1963 [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)] President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst's enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and to the conduct of the public's business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, whatever their color or their creed, the Methodists of this area and the Nation deserve the Nation's thanks, and I commend all those who are today graduating. Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support. "There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities -- and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to towers or to campuses. He admired the splendid beauty of a university, because it was, he said, "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see." I have, therefore, chosen this time and place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth too rarely perceived. And that is the most important topic on earth: peace. What kind of peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? 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. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, and the kind that enables men and nations to grow, and to hope, and build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace in all time. I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age where great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age where a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn. Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need them is essential to the keeping of peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles -- which can only destroy and never create -- is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace. I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary, rational end of rational men. I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war, and frequently the words of the pursuers fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task. Some say that it is useless to speak of peace or world law or world disarmament, and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitudes, as individuals and as a Nation, for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward, by examining his own attitude towards the possibilities of peace, towards the Soviet Union, towards the course of the cold war and towards freedom and peace here at home. First examine our attitude towards peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade; therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe they can do it again. I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of universal peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal. Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions -- on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace; no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process -- a way of solving problems. With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor, it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors. So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all people to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly towards it. And second, let us reexamine our attitude towards the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent, authoritative Soviet text on military strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims, such as the allegation that American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of war, that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union, and that the political aims -- and I quote -- "of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries and to achieve world domination by means of aggressive war." Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements, to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning, a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats. No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture, in acts of courage. Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union in the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and families were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland -- a loss equivalent to the destruction of this country east of Chicago. Today, should total war ever break out again -- no matter how -- our two countries will be the primary target. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many countries, including this Nation's closest allies, our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combat ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle, with suspicion on one side breeding suspicion on the other, and new weapons begetting counter-weapons. In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours. And even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest. So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal. Third, let us reexamine our attitude towards the cold war, remembering we're not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different. We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. And above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy -- or of a collective death-wish for the world. To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self-restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility. For we can seek a relaxation of tensions without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people, but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth. Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system -- a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished. At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention, or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others, by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and Canada. Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge. Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope, and the purpose of allied policy, to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured. This will require a new effort to achieve world law, a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of others' actions which might occur at a time of crisis. We have also been talking in Geneva about our first-step measures of arm controls designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and reduce the risk of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament, designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects are today, we intend to continue this effort -- to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are. The only major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security; it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards. I'm taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard. First, Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking towards early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hope must be tempered -- Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history; but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind. Second, to make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on this matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not -- We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it. Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude towards peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives -- as many of you who are graduating today will have an opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home. But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because freedom is incomplete. It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government -- local, State, and National -- to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within our authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever the authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of others and respect the law of the land. All this -- All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's way please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights: the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation; the right to breathe air as nature provided it; the right of future generations to a healthy existence? While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can, if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement, and it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers, offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race. The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough -- more than enough -- of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we must labor on--not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace. toric.com/speeches/jfkamericanuniversityaddress.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 (edited) http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/j...ityaddress.htmlAmerican University Commencement Address delivered 10 June 1963 [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)]... ...The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough -- more than enough -- of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we must labor on--not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace. toric.com/speeches/jfkamericanuniversityaddress.html Right on,..... Bill ! http://www.asklyrics.com/display/Steppenwo...rics/304242.htm....Yeah, there's a monster on the loose It's got our heads into the noose And it just sits there watchin'... Looks to me that, unlike JFK, Obama has the reality of the perpetual US political dynamic figured out, and he chooses life. : http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/200...fear/index.htmlWednesday June 10, 2009 12:11 EDT The paralyzing fears of the Right The Obama administration announced today that it will pay $200 million to the tiny Pacific island-nation of Palau in exchange for Palau's agreement to accept 17 Chinese Uighurs who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo for seven years. The Uighurs have been locked away despite the fact that even the Bush Pentagon concluded years ago that they pose no threat whatsoever and were never "enemy combatants." They've been imprisoned by the U.S. despite being cleared because no other nation was willing to accept them, principally because the Chinese government considers them to be separatists and were demanding they be returned to China, and nobody wanted to offend China by accepting them. Writing on Michelle Malkin's blog Hot Air today, war-supporting tough guy Ed Morrissey is petrified about this development and, as a result, he has announced that he is now too fearful to consider visiting that island:..... .....But this is the right-wing movement at its core: its leaders cynically ratchet up fear levels as high as possible to justify whatever they want to do (invade Iraq, torture people, spy on Americans with no warrants) and their adherents (along with plenty of others) become more and more paralyzed by their fears of anything Muslim. This, after all, is the same faction that continues to shake with terror at the very idea that accused Terrorists will be brought to the U.S. -- in handcuffs, imprisoned, and disappeared into super-max facilities. And it is the same faction that made accepting the Uighurs into the U.S. politically unpalatable by threatening legislation -- The Keep Terrorists Out of America Act -- that would bar their entrance... Edited June 10, 2009 by Tom Scully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Tom, Please don't quote or post anything that Michelle Malkin says, as she is full of crap and Hot Air, a right wing mouthpiece who can't think without considering the basic strict conservative ideology that she's paid well to propagate. From the same Holy Spirt, Absecon, NJ high school as 9/11 victim John O'Neil and JMWAVE - RFK liason Charles Ford, I once considered responding in the same format to every one of her silly columns berating immigrants and liberals, but she makes me sick just to read her. If you can't say something intelligent yourself, don't bother quoting some ignorant fool like Michelle Malkin. And what does what you posted have anything at all to do with JFK's speech? Bill Kelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/j...ityaddress.htmlAmerican University Commencement Address delivered 10 June 1963 [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)] President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst's enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and to the conduct of the public's business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, whatever their color or their creed, the Methodists of this area and the Nation deserve the Nation's thanks, and I commend all those who are today graduating. Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support. "There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities -- and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to towers or to campuses. He admired the splendid beauty of a university, because it was, he said, "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see." I have, therefore, chosen this time and place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth too rarely perceived. And that is the most important topic on earth: peace. What kind of peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? 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. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, and the kind that enables men and nations to grow, and to hope, and build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace in all time. I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age where great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age where a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn. Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need them is essential to the keeping of peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles -- which can only destroy and never create -- is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace. I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary, rational end of rational men. I realize the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war, and frequently the words of the pursuers fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task. Some say that it is useless to speak of peace or world law or world disarmament, and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitudes, as individuals and as a Nation, for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward, by examining his own attitude towards the possibilities of peace, towards the Soviet Union, towards the course of the cold war and towards freedom and peace here at home. First examine our attitude towards peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade; therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe they can do it again. I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of universal peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal. Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions -- on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace; no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process -- a way of solving problems. With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor, it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors. So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all people to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly towards it. And second, let us reexamine our attitude towards the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent, authoritative Soviet text on military strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims, such as the allegation that American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of war, that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union, and that the political aims -- and I quote -- "of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries and to achieve world domination by means of aggressive war." Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements, to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning, a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats. No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture, in acts of courage. Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union in the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and families were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland -- a loss equivalent to the destruction of this country east of Chicago. Today, should total war ever break out again -- no matter how -- our two countries will be the primary target. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many countries, including this Nation's closest allies, our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combat ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle, with suspicion on one side breeding suspicion on the other, and new weapons begetting counter-weapons. In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours. And even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest. So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal. Third, let us reexamine our attitude towards the cold war, remembering we're not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different. We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. And above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy -- or of a collective death-wish for the world. To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self-restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility. For we can seek a relaxation of tensions without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people, but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth. Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system -- a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished. At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention, or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others, by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and Canada. Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge. Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope, and the purpose of allied policy, to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured. This will require a new effort to achieve world law, a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of others' actions which might occur at a time of crisis. We have also been talking in Geneva about our first-step measures of arm controls designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and reduce the risk of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament, designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects are today, we intend to continue this effort -- to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are. The only major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security; it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards. I'm taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard. First, Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking towards early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hope must be tempered -- Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history; but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind. Second, to make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on this matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not -- We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it. Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude towards peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives -- as many of you who are graduating today will have an opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home. But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because freedom is incomplete. It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government -- local, State, and National -- to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within our authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever the authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of others and respect the law of the land. All this -- All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's way please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights: the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation; the right to breathe air as nature provided it; the right of future generations to a healthy existence? While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can, if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement, and it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers, offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race. The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough -- more than enough -- of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we must labor on--not towards a strategy of annihilation but towards a strategy of peace. toric.com/speeches/jfkamericanuniversityaddress.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 (edited) After JFK gave the commencement speech to the graduating American University students, he asked on of his aides, on the ride back to the white house, "do you think they got it?" Both the film Executive Action and James Douglas' book JFK and the Unspeakable, point to the American U. speech as the final straw for those who wanted to kill him and was the trigger that led to his death. But if the information about Dr./Col. Jose Rivera is correct, the plot to kill JFK was already in motion in April, as well as Oswald's role in the assassination, so the plan was in the works by the time of the June 10th American U speech. While it doesn't seem like the message of the speech reached the American people at the time, the Russians were moved by it, and it stimulated the Test Band treaties and negotiations that continue today. Obama will be meeting with the Ruskies soon, and the continuation of that change in policy, from one of nuclear arms buildup to one of reduction, is still going on today. BK Edited June 11, 2009 by William Kelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 But if the information about Dr./Col. Jose Rivera is correct, the plot to kill JFK was already in motion in April, as well as Oswald's role in the assassination, so the plan was in the works by the time of the June 10th American U speech. Santo Trafficante told Jose Aleman in September 1962 that JFK was going to be hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 But if the information about Dr./Col. Jose Rivera is correct, the plot to kill JFK was already in motion in April, as well as Oswald's role in the assassination, so the plan was in the works by the time of the June 10th American U speech. Santo Trafficante told Jose Aleman in September 1962 that JFK was going to be hit. LBJ told Clare Booth Luce, in the limo between the swearing in and the White House, that the reason he took the VP was because the chances of the President surviving his term of office was 20 to 1 - as one in every five presidents died in office, and that he could increase those odds. While Carlos Marcello had the means and motive to kill JFK, he didn't have the opportunity to do it in the way it was done - setting up Oswald as the patsy, and keeping those responsible from being responsible for their crimes. Marcello didn't have the poser to control communications, control the autopsy, or redirect the investigation. Just because he threatened to kill JFK doesn't mean he was responsible for the crime that resulted in the Dealey Plaza operation. The key to understanding who killed JFK comes down to identifying exactly which specific plot to kill Castro was redirected to kill JFK. And that was a plot that involved the CIA/DOD maritime raiders circa July-Nov. 1963.] All other plots are diversionary. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 http://www.politicalassassinations.com/WashingtonDC.html Thursday June 10 "And We Are All Mortal..." Anniversary of JFK's speech against the Cold War at American UniversityAnnual Commemorative Event by COPA in Washington, DC American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, off Ward Circle (at Nebraska Ave.) Gather 12:30 pm at the commemorative plaque, between the BroadcastCenter and the eastern end of Reeves Athletic Field Researcher lunch follows. Free to public, parking south side of Nebraska, enter at New Mexico. See campus map at - http://www.american.edu/maps/campus.htmText of speech at - http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Kennedy.htm Memo From COPA And We Are All Mortal, June 10, American University campus Friends, On June 10, 1963, just a few months before his assassination in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy gave what his aide Arthur Schleisinger, Jr. called the most important speech of his term in office. He addressed the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and the chance for world peace through detente and disarmament and a ban on testing nuclear weapons. The text is attached with commentary. This was consistent with his decision in April, 1963 to withdraw all US troops from Vietnam and his decision to explore normalizing relations with Cuba following the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world so close to nuclear war. All of these were reasons, in my view, for the assassination and coup d`etat that followed on November 22, and reversed those plans completely. The Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) holds an annual commemorative event at the plaque that marks the location of the speech, and you are welcome to attend. We will gather for a meal and discussion of our November regional meeting afterwards. Please respond if you are planning to come - John Judge "And We Are All Mortal..." Commemoration to JFK's Call for World Peace Sunday, June 10, 12:00 - 1:00 pm Commemorative Plaque Reeves Athletic Field (west end) (entrance off New Mexico from Nebraska) American University 4200 Nebraska Ave, NW (at Massachusetts Ave.-Ward Circle) Washington, DC Here are general directions to the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/ Here is a map of the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/maincampus.html Note the athletic field at the top left. The plaque sits at the west or left end of the field, beyond the Broadcast Center and Beeghley Hall on the access road. For Ted Sorenson's speech at AU in 2003 commemorating the event, see: http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Sorensen.htm Our 15th annual regional conference in Dallas is scheduled from November 20-22nd at the Hotel Lawrence. More details and speakers will follow. John Judge Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) PO Box 772 Washington, DC 20044 copa@starpower.net Check out our website: www.politicalassassinations.com Annual meeting in Dallas in November Hotel Lawrence - 214-761-9090 - discount room reservations Speakers, films, books, resources, email for details National organization of medical and ballistic experts, academics and authors, researchers and interested individuals investigating major political assassinations in America and abroad. Responsible for creation and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act. Promoting a Martin Luther King Records Act and a grand jury process to reopen all the major assassinations. We accept donations that are NOT tax deductible. DVD set of last year's COPA meeting in Dallas for any donation of $50 or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 http://jfkcountercoup.wordpress.com/ http://www.politicalassassinations.com/WashingtonDC.htmlThursday June 10 "And We Are All Mortal..." Anniversary of JFK's speech against the Cold War at American UniversityAnnual Commemorative Event by COPA in Washington, DC American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, off Ward Circle (at Nebraska Ave.) Gather 12:30 pm at the commemorative plaque, between the BroadcastCenter and the eastern end of Reeves Athletic Field Researcher lunch follows. Free to public, parking south side of Nebraska, enter at New Mexico. See campus map at - http://www.american.edu/maps/campus.htmText of speech at - http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Kennedy.htm Memo From COPA And We Are All Mortal, June 10, American University campus Friends, On June 10, 1963, just a few months before his assassination in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy gave what his aide Arthur Schleisinger, Jr. called the most important speech of his term in office. He addressed the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and the chance for world peace through detente and disarmament and a ban on testing nuclear weapons. The text is attached with commentary. This was consistent with his decision in April, 1963 to withdraw all US troops from Vietnam and his decision to explore normalizing relations with Cuba following the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world so close to nuclear war. All of these were reasons, in my view, for the assassination and coup d`etat that followed on November 22, and reversed those plans completely. The Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) holds an annual commemorative event at the plaque that marks the location of the speech, and you are welcome to attend. We will gather for a meal and discussion of our November regional meeting afterwards. Please respond if you are planning to come - John Judge "And We Are All Mortal..." Commemoration to JFK's Call for World Peace Sunday, June 10, 12:00 - 1:00 pm Commemorative Plaque Reeves Athletic Field (west end) (entrance off New Mexico from Nebraska) American University 4200 Nebraska Ave, NW (at Massachusetts Ave.-Ward Circle) Washington, DC Here are general directions to the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/ Here is a map of the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/maincampus.html Note the athletic field at the top left. The plaque sits at the west or left end of the field, beyond the Broadcast Center and Beeghley Hall on the access road. For Ted Sorenson's speech at AU in 2003 commemorating the event, see: http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Sorensen.htm Our 15th annual regional conference in Dallas is scheduled from November 20-22nd at the Hotel Lawrence. More details and speakers will follow. John Judge Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) PO Box 772 Washington, DC 20044 copa@starpower.net Check out our website: www.politicalassassinations.com Annual meeting in Dallas in November Hotel Lawrence - 214-761-9090 - discount room reservations Speakers, films, books, resources, email for details National organization of medical and ballistic experts, academics and authors, researchers and interested individuals investigating major political assassinations in America and abroad. Responsible for creation and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act. Promoting a Martin Luther King Records Act and a grand jury process to reopen all the major assassinations. We accept donations that are NOT tax deductible. DVD set of last year's COPA meeting in Dallas for any donation of $50 or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernice Moore Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 (edited) THE STONE CENOTAPH INSCRIPTED BELOW ON RIGHT IS SEEN IN THE JFK MEMORIAL PARK, CAMBRIDGE MASS. Edited June 5, 2010 by Bernice Moore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 We remember most of our famous men, especailly presidents on the day they were born. Except John F. Kennedy, who is remembered on November 22, the day he died. The Kennedy family once released a statement requesting that JFK be remembered for his life, and not his death, but May 29 is not a day that anyone really thinks about JFK. Even the Kennedy family still visit the Arlington gravesites of JFK and RFK on November 22nd. But COPA took the Kennedys up on their request, and chose June 10th as the day that we will remember JFK the man, his vision, what he stood for and why he should be remembered. COPA members and friends have been meeting at the JFK Monument at American Univeristy every June 10th now for ten years, and we hope the tradition will continue and grow in numbers and meaning each year. If you live in the DC area or will be in DC next Thursday, or want to take a trip for a good cause, join COPA members at the JFK Monument at American University at 12 noon for a one hour memorial to JFK, his life, his administration, his policies and why he died. JFKCountercoup http://jfkcountercoup.wordpress.com/ COPA http://www.politicalassassinations.com/WashingtonDC.html Committee for an Open Archives http://openarchivescommittee.webs.com/ Thursday June 10 JFK Monument at American University for one hour 12noon - 1pm "And We Are All Mortal..." Anniversary of JFK's speech against the Cold War at American UniversityAnnual Commemorative Event by COPA in Washington, DC American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, off Ward Circle (at Nebraska Ave.) Gather 12:30 pm at the commemorative plaque, between the BroadcastCenter and the eastern end of Reeves Athletic Field Researcher lunch follows. Free to public, parking south side of Nebraska, enter at New Mexico. See campus map at - http://www.american.edu/maps/campus.htmText of speech at - http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Kennedy.htm Memo From COPA And We Are All Mortal, June 10, American University campus Friends, On June 10, 1963, just a few months before his assassination in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy gave what his aide Arthur Schleisinger, Jr. called the most important speech of his term in office. He addressed the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and the chance for world peace through detente and disarmament and a ban on testing nuclear weapons. The text is attached with commentary. This was consistent with his decision in April, 1963 to withdraw all US troops from Vietnam and his decision to explore normalizing relations with Cuba following the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world so close to nuclear war. All of these were reasons, in my view, for the assassination and coup d`etat that followed on November 22, and reversed those plans completely. The Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) holds an annual commemorative event at the plaque that marks the location of the speech, and you are welcome to attend. We will gather for a meal and discussion of our November regional meeting afterwards. Please respond if you are planning to come - John Judge "And We Are All Mortal..." Commemoration to JFK's Call for World Peace Sunday, June 10, 12:00 - 1:00 pm Commemorative Plaque Reeves Athletic Field (west end) (entrance off New Mexico from Nebraska) American University 4200 Nebraska Ave, NW (at Massachusetts Ave.-Ward Circle) Washington, DC Here are general directions to the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/ Here is a map of the campus: http://www.american.edu/maps/maincampus.html Note the athletic field at the top left. The plaque sits at the west or left end of the field, beyond the Broadcast Center and Beeghley Hall on the access road. For Ted Sorenson's speech at AU in 2003 commemorating the event, see: http://www.american.edu/media/speeches/Sorensen.htm Our 15th annual regional conference in Dallas is scheduled from November 20-22nd at the Hotel Lawrence. More details and speakers will follow. John Judge Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) PO Box 772 Washington, DC 20044 copa@starpower.net Check out our website: www.politicalassassinations.com Annual meeting in Dallas in November Hotel Lawrence - 214-761-9090 - discount room reservations Speakers, films, books, resources, email for details National organization of medical and ballistic experts, academics and authors, researchers and interested individuals investigating major political assassinations in America and abroad. Responsible for creation and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act. Promoting a Martin Luther King Records Act and a grand jury process to reopen all the major assassinations. We accept donations that are NOT tax deductible. DVD set of last year's COPA meeting in Dallas for any donation of $50 or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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