Radio
and Television Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms
Buildup in Cuba
President John F. Kennedy
The White House
October 22, 1962
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, long range, 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 ground-to-ground missiles and the existence
of defensive antiaircraft missiles, the Soviet Government publicly
stated on September 11, and I quote, "the armaments and military
equipment sent to Cuba are designed exclusively for defensive purposes,"
that, 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
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's-eye
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, and 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, in their communique of October 6, rejected secrecy in 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 in 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 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 possibility 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 week--must 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 well-being. 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 see precisely what course
it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many
months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead--months in which
our patience and our will 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--and 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.
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