For more than 40 years, Presidents of both parties have advocated for such a treaty. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards. Mr. President, those words are as relevant today as they were when President Kennedy spoke them 36 years ago.
Nuclear weapons are still one of the greatest hazards on the planet.
And they have been joined by chemical, biological, and other weapons of mass destruction. President Kennedy spoke from the perspective of the cold war and the still escalating arms race with the Soviet Union. Now, in 1999, the cold war is over and the Soviet Union is no more. But we are on the brink of another nuclear arms race, this time in south Asia. India and Pakistan are watching, Mr. President.