1962 - Presidential Speech: President Kennedy On Disarmament and Testing. 02Mar62 Pt 5 of 7

NOTE: FOR ORDERING See: www.footagefarm.co.uk or contact us at: Info@Footagefarm.co.uk 1962 - Presidential Speech: President Kennedy On Disarmament and Testing. 02Mar62 Pt 5 of 7 Continued... But those free peoples who value their freedom & their security, and look to our relative strength to shield them from danger; those who know of our good faith in seeking an end to testing & an end to the arms race will, I am confident, want the United States to do whatever it must do to deter the threat of aggression. If they felt we could be swayed by threats or intimidation, if they thought we could permit a repetition of last summer's deception, then surely they would lose faith in our will & wisdom as well as our weaponry. I have no doubt that most of our friends around the world have shared my hope that we would never find it necessary to test again, and my own belief that in the long run the only real security in this age of nuclear peril rests not in armament but in disarmament. But I am equally certain that they would insist on our testing once that is deemed necessary to protect free world security. They know we are not deciding to test for political or psychological reasons, and they also know that we cannot avoid testing for political or psychological reasons. 09:31:17 The leaders of the Soviet Union are also watching this decision. Should we fail to follow the dictates of our own security, they will chalk it up, not to goodwill but to a failure of will - not to our confidence in Western superiority, but to our fear of world opinion, the very world opinion for which they showed such contempt. They could well be encouraged by such signs of weakness to seek another period of no testing without controls, another opportunity for stifling our progress, while secretly preparing on the basis of last fall's experiments, for the new test series which might alter the balance of power. With such a one-sided advantage why would they change their strategy, or refrain from testing, merely because we refrained? Why would they want to halt their drive to surpass us in nuclear technology? And why would they ever consider accepting a true test ban or mutual disarmament? 09:32:26 Our reasons for testing & our peaceful intentions are clear, so clear that even the Soviets could not objectively regard our resumption of tests, following their own resumption of tests, as provocative or preparatory for war. On the contrary it is my hope that the prospects for peace may actually be strengthened by this decision; once the Soviet leaders realize that the West will no longer stand still, negotiating in good faith, while they reject inspection & are free to prepare for further tests. As new disarmament talks approach, the basic lesson of some three years & 353 negotiating sessions in Geneva is this: that the Soviets will not agree to an effective ban on nuclear tests as long as a new series of offers & prolonged negotiations, or a new uninspected moratorium, or a new agreement without controls, would enable them once again to prevent the West from testing while they prepare in secret. 09:33:46 But inasmuch as this choice is now no longer open to them, let us hope that they will take a different attitude on banning nuclear tests, that they will prefer to see the nuclear arms race checked instead of intensified w/ all the dangers that that intensification brings: the spread of nuclear weapons to other nations; the constant increase in world tensions; the steady decrease in all prospects for disarmament; and with it, a steady decrease in the security of us all. Continued... Diplomacy; Cold War; Broken Test Ban Agreements; Atmospheric Nuclear Testing Resumption; NOTE: Any continuous 15 minutes of entire speech 09:10:45 - 09:42:21 sold at per reel rate. NOTE: FOR ORDERING See: www.footagefarm.co.uk or contact us at: Info@Footagefarm.co.uk