Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,
Early June brings two anniversaries significant for their meaning in the history of US/Russia relations. The first is June 6. Eighty years ago this June 6, the Western allies – the United States, United Kingdom and Canada – went ashore in Normandy and joined their Eastern ally – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – in the final push to eliminate the horror of Nazism from Europe.
A mere seventeen years later, the US and the USSR found themselves not only no longer allies but on the verge of mutual annihilation over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba.
How did such a thing happen? Would the enmity have occurred if there had been no Manhattan Project, no development of nuclear weapons anywhere by anyone? We were certainly not deadly enemies before WWII; did fear of the weapon we created make us so after?
June 10 is the anniversary of the famous American University commencement speech by President John F. Kennedy in which he patiently and eloquently made the case for peace with the USSR a mere eight months after the two countries pulled back from the brink of nuclear war.
Today we find ourselves confronted by the prospect of a new D Day – Doomsday. It sounds almost too melodramatic, doesn’t it? But if you will read the article by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, below, you will begin to feel the real immediacy of our situation.
And after that, we hope you will take the time to listen to Kennedy’s greatest speech – perhaps the greatest speech ever given by a US President. Some recent polls suggest over 60% of Americans believe World War III is inevitable; they are wrong, such deadly folly is not inevitable. Kennedy taught us that.
Sincerely,
The Directors
Center for Citizen Initatives
How Close Are We To ‘Midnight?’
May 30, 2024
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
The overriding job of any U.S. president is to keep the nation safe. In the nuclear age, that mainly means avoiding nuclear Armageddon.
Joe Biden’s reckless and incompetent foreign policy is pushing us closer to annihilation. He joins a long and undistinguished list of presidents who have gambled with Armageddon, including his immediate predecessor and rival, Donald Trump.
[Continue Reading]
His Words, His Voice
June 10, 1963
By Former President John F. Kennedy
[Continue to John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Audio File]