Lyrics The Cuban Missile Crisis - President John F. Kennedy

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Good evening, my fellow citizens:
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.
That statement was false.
That statement also was false.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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,
but 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.