US Presidency
1962

World order will be secured only when the whole world has laid down these weapons which seem to offer us present security but threaten the future survival of the human race. That armistice day seems very far away. The vast resources of this planet are being devoted more and more to the means of destroying, instead of enriching, human life. But the world was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits his execution. Nor has mankind survived the tests and trials of thousands of years to surrender everything including its existence now. This Nation has the will and the faith to make a supreme effort to break the log jam on disarmament and nuclear tests and we will persist until we prevail, until the rule of law has replaced the ever dangerous use of force. I turn now to a prospect of great promise: our Hemispheric relations. The Alliance for Progress is being rapidly transformed from proposal to program.