Because the Soviet Union was trying to do the same thing to us that we were trying to do to the Soviet Union. And Kennedy felt that a dialog with the Soviet Union had to be based on mutual recognition, mutual respect for the security requirements of both countries. After the missile crisis of Cuba, which threw a great scare into everyone, an atmosphere existed for pressing ahead with some responsible and perhaps far-reaching efforts designed to reduce tensions in the world and to lay the basis for putting an end to the arms race in a way that would not jeopardize our genuine American security. It seemed that the place to start would be by putting an end to nuclear testing. An attempt was made to persuade the American people that there was no danger in nuclear testing, that there was no problem with respect to radioactive fallout.
Strontium is already in the bones of American children.
It was turning up in American teeth that were tested. And he felt that since the Soviet Union was involved in testing, and since the Soviet Union must also accept responsibility for what was happening as a result of the testing along with the United States, this was a good place to begin in trying to apply the brakes. Efforts were made to block this. All sorts of misrepresentations were made, and the negotiations with Khrushchev reached an impasse over inspection. And he was realistic and wise enough to know that that was a real issue, whether we were using talk of a test ban for propaganda purposes.