【名人演讲】John F. Kennedy: Cuban Missile Crisis Address

2012-12-22作者：出处：

Good evening, my fellow citizens:
This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island

of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile

sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western

Hemisphere.
Upon receiving the first preliminary hard information of this nature last Tuesday morning at 9 A.M., I directed that

our surveillance be stepped up. And having now confirmed and completed our evaluation of the evidence and our

decision on a course of action, this Government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in fullest detail.
The characteristics of these new missile sites indicate two distinct types of installations.
Several of them include medium range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of

more than 1,000 nautical miles. Each of these missiles, in short, is capable of striking Washington, D. C., the

Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in

Central America, or in the Caribbean area.
Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate range ballistic missiles capable of

traveling more than twice as far and thus capable of striking most of the major cities in the Western Hemisphere,

ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru. In addition, jet bombers, capable of

carrying nuclear weapons, are now being uncrated and assembled in Cuba, while the necessary air bases are being

prepared.
This urgent transformation of Cuba into an important strategic base by the presence of these large, longrange,and

clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction constitutes an explicit threat to the peace and security of all

the Americas, in flagrant and deliberate defiance of the Rio Pact of 1947, the traditions of this Nation and

hemisphere, the joint resolution of the 87th Congress, the Charter of the United Nations, and my own public warnings

to the Soviets on September 4 and 13. This action also contradicts the repeated assurances of Soviet spokesmen, both

publicly and privately delivered, that the arms buildup in Cuba would retain its original defensive character, and

that the Soviet Union had no need or desire to station strategic missiles. on the territory of any other nation.
The size of this undertaking makes clear that it has been planned for some months. Yet, only last month, after I had

made clear the distinction between any introduction of groundtoground missiles and the existence of defensive

antiaircraft missiles, the Soviet Government publicly stated on September 11 that, and I quote, "the armaments and

military equipment sent to Cuba are designed exclusively for defensive purposes," that there is, and I quote the

Soviet Government, "there is no need for the Soviet Government to shift its weapons for a retaliatory blow to any

other country, for instance Cuba," and that, and I quote their government, "the Soviet Union has so powerful rockets

to carry these nuclear warheads that there is no need to search for sites for them beyond the boundaries of the

Soviet Union."
That statement was false.Only last Thursday, as evidence of this rapid offensive buildup was already in my hand,

Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko told me in my office that he was instructed to make it clear once again, as he said

his government had already done, that Soviet assistance to Cuba, and I quote, "pursued solely the purpose of

contributing to the defense capabilities of Cuba," that, and I quote him, "training by Soviet specialists of Cuban

nationals in handling defensive armaments was by no means offensive, and if it were otherwise," Mr. Gromyko went on,

"the Soviet Government would never become involved in rendering such assistance."
That statement also was false.Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate

deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world

where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation's security to constitute

maximum peril. Nuclear weapons are so destructive and ballistic missiles are so swift, that any substantially

increased possibility of their use or any sudden change in their deployment may well be regarded as a definite

threat to peace.
For many years, both the Soviet Union and the United States, recognizing this fact, have deployed strategic nuclear

weapons with great care, never upsetting the precarious status quo which insured that these weapons would not be

used in the absence of some vital challenge.
Our own strategic missiles have never been transferred to the territory of any other nation under a cloak of secrecy

and deception; and our history unlike that of the Soviets since the end of World War II demonstrates that we have no

desire to dominate or conquer any other nation or impose our system upon its people.
Nevertheless, American citizens have become adjusted to living daily on the bull'seye of Soviet missiles located

inside the U.S.S.R. or in submarines.
In that sense, missiles in Cuba add to an already clear and present danger although it should be noted the nations

of Latin America have never previously been subjected to a potential nuclear threat. But this secret, swift,

extraordinary buildup of Communist missiles in an area well known to have a special and historical relationship to

the United States and the nations of the Western Hemisphere, in violation of Soviet assurances, and in defiance of

American and hemispheric policy this sudden, clandestine decision to station strategic weapons for the first time

outside of Soviet soil is a deliberately provocative and unjustified change in the status quo which cannot be

accepted by this country, if our courage and our commitments are ever to be trusted again by either friend or foe.
The 1930's taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately

leads to war. This nation is opposed to war. We are also true to our word. Our unswerving objective, therefore, must

be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country, and to secure their withdrawal or

elimination from the Western Hemisphere.
Our policy has been one of patience and restraint, as befits a peaceful and powerful nation which leads a worldwide

alliance. We have been determined not to be diverted from our central concerns by mere irritants and fanatics. But

now further action is required, and it is under way; and these actions may only be the beginning. We will not

prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be

ashes in our mouth; but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced.
Acting, therefore, in the defense of our own security and of the entire Western Hemisphere,and under the authority

entrusted to me by the Constitution as endorsed by the Resolution of the Congress, I have directed that the

following initial steps be taken immediately:
First: To halt this offensive buildup a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba

is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain

cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo

and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in

their Berlin blockade of 1948.
Second: I have directed the continued and increased close surveillance of Cuba and its military buildup. The foreign

ministers of the OAS [Organization of American States], in their communiqué' of October 6, rejected secrecy on such

matters in this hemisphere. Should these offensive military preparations continue, thus increasing the threat to the

hemisphere, further action will be justified. I have directed the Armed Forces to prepare for any eventualities; and

I trust that in the interest of both the Cuban people and the Soviet technicians at the sites,the hazards to all

concerned of continuing this threat will be recognized.
Third: It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in

the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response

upon the Soviet Union.
Fourth: As a necessary military precaution, I have reinforced our base at Guantanamo,evacuated today the dependents

of our personnel there, and ordered additional military units to be on a standby alert basis.
Fifth: We are calling tonight for an immediate meeting of the Organ[ization] of Consultation under the Organization

of American States, to consider this threat to hemispheric security and to invoke articles 6 and 8 of the Rio Treaty

in support of all necessary action. The United Nations Charter allows for regional security arrangements, and the

nations of this hemisphere decided long ago against the military presence of outside powers. Our other allies around

the world have also been alerted.
Sixth: Under the Charter of the United Nations, we are asking tonight that an emergency meeting of the Security

Council be convoked without delay to take action against this latest Soviet threat to world peace. Our resolution

will call for the prompt dismantling and withdrawal of all offensive weapons in Cuba, under the supervision of U.N.

observers, before the quarantine can be lifted.
Seventh and finally: I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and

provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to

abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to

transform the history of man. He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction by

returning to his government's own words that it had no need to station missiles outside its own territory, and

withdrawing these weapons from Cuba by refraining from any action which will widen or deepen the present crisis, and

then by participating in a search for peaceful and permanent solutions.
This Nation is prepared to present its case against the Soviet threat to peace, and our own proposals for a peaceful

world, at any time and in any forum in the OAS, in the United Nations, or in any other meeting that could be useful

without limiting our freedom of action.
We have in the past made strenuous efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. We have proposed the elimination

of all arms and military bases in a fair and effective disarmament treaty. We are prepared to discuss new proposals

for the removal of tensions on both sides,including the possibilities of a genuinely independent Cuba, free to

determine its own destiny.
We have no wish to war with the Soviet Union for we are a peaceful people who desire to live in peace with all other

peoples.
But it is difficult to settle or even discuss these problems in an atmosphere of intimidation.
That is why this latest Soviet threat or any other threat which is made either independently or in response to our

actions this weekmust and will be met with determination.
Any hostile move anywhere in the world against the safety and freedom of peoples to whom we are committed, including

in particular the brave people of West Berlin, will be met by whatever action is needed.
Finally, I want to say a few words to the captive people of Cuba, to whom this speech is being directly carried by

special radio facilities. I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of your deep attachment to your fatherland,

as one who shares your aspirations for liberty and justice for all. And I have watched and the American people have

watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist revolution was betrayed and how your fatherland fell under foreign

domination. Now your leaders are no longer Cuban leaders inspired by Cuban ideals. They are puppets and agents of an

international conspiracy which has turned Cuba against your friends and neighbors in the Americas, and turned it

into the first Latin American country to become a target for nuclear war the first Latin American country to have

these weapons on its soil.
These new weapons are not in your interest. They contribute nothing to your peace and wellbeing.They can only

undermine it. But this country has no wish to cause you to suffer or to impose any system upon you. We know that

your lives and land are being used as pawns by those who deny your freedom. Many times in the past, the Cuban people

have risen to throw out tyrants who destroyed their liberty. And I have no doubt that most Cubans today look forward

to the time when they will be truly free free
from foreign domination, free to choose their own leaders, free to select their own system, free to own their own

land, free to speak and write and worship without fear or degradation. And then shall Cuba be welcomed back to the

society of free nations and to the associations of this hemisphere.
My fellow citizens, let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one

can foresee precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of

sacrifice and selfdiscipline lie ahead months in which both our patience and our will be tested, months in which

many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do

nothing.
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is the one most consistent with

our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high, but

Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom, but both

peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
Thank you and good night.