President Kennedy's Final Address to the United Nations General Assembly

Mr President as one who has taken some interest in the election of presidents I want to congratulate you on your election to this High office Mr Secretary General delegates to the United Nations ladies and gentlemen we meet again in the Quest for Peace 24 months ago when I last had the honor of addressing this body the shadow of fear laid Darkly across the world the freedom of West Berlin Wars in immediate Peril agreement on a neutral Laos seemed remote the Mandate of the United Nations in the Congo was Under Fire hold back the darkness today

the clouds have lifted a little so that new Rays of Hope can break through the pressures on West Berlin appear to be temporarily eased political unity in the Congo has been largely restored a neutral Coalition in Laos while still in difficulty is at least in being the Integrity of the United Nations Secretariat has been reaffirmed a United Nation's decade of development is underway and for the first time in 17 years of effort a specific step has been taken to limit the nuclear arms race I refer of course to the treaty to ban nuclear tests in

the atmosphere out of space and underwater concluded by the Soviet Union the United Kingdom and the United States and already signed by nearly 100 countries it has been hailed by people the world over who are thankful to be free from the fears of nuclear fallout and I am confident that on next Tuesday at 10:30 o00 in the morning it will receive the overwhelming endorsement of the Senate of the United States the world has not escaped from the darkness The Long Shadows of conflict and crisis envelop us still but we meet today in an atmosphere of

rising hope and at a moment of comparative calm my presence here today is not a sign of Crisis but of confidence I am not here to report on a new threat to the peace or new signs of War I have come to salute the United Nations and to show the support of the American people for your daily deliberations for the value of this body's we the reduction of global tension must not be an excuse for the narrow pursuit of self-interest if the Soviet Union and the United States with all of their Global interests and clashing

commitments of ideology and with nuclear weapons still aimed at each other today can find areas of common interest and agreement then surely other nations can do the same Nations caught in Regional conflicts in racial issues or in the death throws of old colonialism chronic disputes which divert precious resources from the needs of the people or drain the energies of both sides serve the interests of no one and the badge of responsibility in the modern world you is a willingness to seek peaceful Solutions it is never too early to try and it's never too late to

talk and United States as a major nuclear power does have a special responsibility to the world it is in fact a three-fold responsibility a responsibility to our own citizens a responsibility to the people of the whole world who are affected by our decisions and to the next generation of humanity we believe the Soviet Union also has these special responsibilities and that those responsibilities require our two Nations to concentrate Less on our differences and more on the means of resolving them peacefully for too long both of us have increased our military budgets our nuclear stockpiles and

our cap capacity to destroy all life on this hemisphere human animal vegetable without any corresponding increase in our security our conflicts to be sure are real our concepts of the world are different no service is performed by failing to make clear our disagreements a central difference is the belief of the American people in self-determination for all people we believe that the people of Germany and Berlin must be free to reunite their capital and their country we believe that the people of Cuba must be free to secure the fruits of the Revolution that have been betrayed

from within and exploited from without protection of freedom and our determination to safeguard that freedom will measure up to to any threat or challenge but I would say to the leaders of the Soviet Union and to their people that if either of our countries is to be fully secure we need a much better weapon than the hbomb a weapon better than ballistic missiles or nuclear submarines and that better weapon is peaceful cooperation we have in recent years agreed on a limited test B treaty on an emergency communications link between our capitals on a statement of

principles for disarmament on an increase in cultural exchange on cooperation in outer space on the peaceful exporation of the antarcticspring last year's crisis over Cuba I believe therefore that the Soviet Union and the United States together with their allies can achieve further agreements agreements which spring from our mutual interest in avoiding Mutual destruction there can be no doubt about the agenda of further steps we must continue to seek agreements on measures which prevent War by accident or miscalculation we must continue to seek agreement on safeguards against surprise attack including observation posts at key points we

must continue to seek agreement on further measures to curve the nuclear arms race by controlling the transfer of nuclear weapons converting fishable materials to Peaceful purposes and banning underground testing with adequate inspection and enforcement we must continue to seek agreement on a freeer flow of information and people from east to west and west to east we must continue to seek agreement encouraged by yesterday's affirmative response to this proposal by the Soviet foreign minister on an arrangement to keep weapons of mass destruction out of outer space let us get our negotiators back to the negotiating table

to work out a practicable arrangement to this end purposes finally in a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity in the field of space there is room for new cooperation for further joint efforts in the regulation and exploration of space I include among these possibilities a joint expedition to the Moon space offers no problems of sovereignty by resolution of this assembly the members of the United Nations have for sworn any claim the territorial rights in outer space are on celestial bodies and declared that inational law and the United Nations

Charter will apply why therefore should Man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition why should the United States and the Soviet Union in preparing for such Expeditions become involved in immense duplications of research construction and expenditure surely we should explore whether the scientists and astronauts of our two countries and that freedom is more enduring than coercion and in the contest for a better life all the world can be a winner the effort to improve the conditions of man however is not a task for the few it is the task of all

Nations acting alone acting in groups acting in the United Nations for plague and pestilence and plunder and pollution the hazards of Nature and the hunger of children are the foes of every nation as man had such capacity to control his own environment to end thirst and hunger to conquer poverty and disease to banish illiteracy and massive human Misery we have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last unit the provision of development assistance by individual Nations must go on but the United

Nations also must play a larger role in helping bring to all men the fruits of modern science and industry a United Nations conference on this subject held earlier this year at Geneva opened new Vistas for the developing countries next year a United Nations conference on trade will consider the needs of these nations for new markets and more than four fifths of the entire United Nations system can be found today mobilizing the weapons of science and technology for the United Nations decade of development but more can be done a World Center for Health Communications under the

World Health Organization could warn of epidemics and the adverse effects of certain drugs as well as transmit the results of new experiments and new discoveries Regional research centers could Advance our common medical knowledge and train new scientists and doctors for new nations a global system of satellites could provide communication and weather information for all corners of the earth a worldwide program of conservation could protect the forest and Wild game preserves now in danger of extinction for all time improve the Marine Harvest of food from our oceans and prevent the contamination of air and water by

industrial as well as nuclear pollution and finally a world worldwide program of farm productivity and food distribution similar to our country's food for peace program could now give every child the food he needs new efforts are needed if this assembly's Declaration of Human Rights now 15 years old is to have full meaning and new means should be found for promoting the free expression and trade of ideas who travel and communication and through increased exchanges of people and books and broadcasts for as the world renounces the competition of weapons competition in ideas must flourish and that

competition must be as full and as Fair as possible the United States delegation will be prepared to suggest to the United Nations initiatives in the pursuit of all these goals for this is an organization for peace and peace cannot come without work and without progress the peacekeeping record of the United Nations has been a proud one though its tasks are always formidable we are fortunate to have the skills of our distinguished Secretary General and the brave efforts of those who have been serving the cause of Peace in the Congo in the Middle East in Korea

and Kashmir in West Guinea and Malaysia but what the United Nations has done in the past is less important than the tasks for the future we cannot take its peacekeeping machinery for granted that Machinery must be soundly financed which it cannot be if some members are allowed to prevent it from meeting its obligations by failing to meet their own the United Nations must be supported by all those who exercise their franchise here and its operations must be back to the end to often a project I also hope that the recent initiative of several members in

preparing standby peace forces for United Nations call will encourage similar commitments by others this nation remains ready to provide logistic and other material support policing moreover is not enough without provision for Pacific settlement we should increase the resort to special missions of fact finding and conciliation make greater use of the international court of justice and accelerate the work of the international law commission the United Nations cannot survive as a static organization its obligations are increasing as well as its size its Charter must be changed as well as its Customs the authors of that Charter did

not intend that it be frozen in perpetuity the science of weapons and War has made us all far more than 18 years ago in San Francisco one world and one human race with one common Destiny in such a world absolute sovereignty no longer assures us of absolute security the conventions of peace must pull a breast and then ahead of the inventions of war the United Nations building on its successes and learning from its failures must be developed into a genuine World security system but peace does not rest two years ago I told this body that

the United States had proposed and was willing to sign a limited test B B treaty today that treaty has been signed it will not put an end to war it will not remove basic conflicts it will not secure freedom for all but it can be a lever and aredes in explaining the principles of the lever was said to have declared to his friends give me a place where I can stand and I shall move the world my fellow inhabitants of this planet let us take our stand here in this assembly of Nations and let us

see that if we in our own time can move the world to a just and Lasting peace