John F. Kennedy Quotes About War

• Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Peace, Freedom

  Address on first anniversary of Alliance for Progress, 13 Mar. 1962

• Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Peace, Strong

• Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, War, Power

• The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, Military, War

  "John F. Kennedy: 1961 : containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the president, January 20 to December 31, 1961" by John F. Kennedy, Washington: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1962.

• A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

  John F. Kennedy

  Christian, Peace, War

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.163, Best Books on

• Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Peace, Fear

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

• Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

  John F. Kennedy

  Workout, Peace, War

  Final Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 20 September 1963, New York, NY

• It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, War, Humanity

  Speech of at Civic Auditorium, Seattle, Washington, www.presidency.ucsb.edu. September 06, 1960.

• Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, 'rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation', a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Struggle, Twilight

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961. The words in quotation marks are from the Bible, Romans 12:12.

• Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable .. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Nuclear Disarmament, Nuclear Proliferation

  Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 25 September 1961

• War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, War, Presidential

  "Warrior" by William Safire, www.nytimes.com. August 26, 2007.

• The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate... we want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, Strong, Hate

• I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, War, Mistake

  Address to the American Newspaper Publishers, delivered 27 April 1961, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York

• The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Justice, Poverty

• There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Europe, Issues

  1963 Address in Berlin's Rudolf Wilde Platz, 26 Jun, 22 months after the erection of the wall dividing the city.

• We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of a worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth - but neither shall we shrink from that risk any time it must be faced.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Risk, Victory

  Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation, delivered 22 October 1962

• The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Nuclear Disarmament, Nukes

  Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 25 September 1961

• Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as be wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, Attitude, War

  American University Commencement Address, delivered 10 June 1963

• Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, War, Torches

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

• It was involuntary. They sank my boat.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, War, History

  Quoted in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days (1965)

• We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.

  John F. Kennedy

  Peace, Truth, Philosophy

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.163, Best Books on

• My fellow Americans, let us take that first step. Let us...step back from the shadow of war and seek out the way of peace. And if that journey is a thousand miles, or even more, let history record that we, in this land, at this time, took the first step.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Journey, Land

  Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Address to the Nation, delivered 26 July 1963

• We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Ocean, Knowledge

  Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Program, delivered 12 September 1962, Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas

• There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in war and some men are wounded; some men never leave the country, some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It's very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Life, Country

  News conference, 21 Mar. 1962

• Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Needs, Inevitable

  American University Commencement Address, delivered 10 June 1963

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