John F. Kennedy Quotes

In a nuclear age, each of us is threatened when peace is not secured everywhere.

A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.

Any possession of nuclear weapons in the Middle East is a danger.

No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can, if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers, offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.

That is potentially putting us all in the target hairs now is the reactivation of a new nuclear arms race. This arms race and this cold war is potentially hotter than it's been at any time in my lifetime.

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery is a threat to both the Nato allies and Russia.

Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror.

We are told that the possession of nuclear weapons - in some cases even the testing of these weapons - is essential for national security. But this argument can be made by other countries as well.

Nuclear tests poison the environment - and they also poison the political climate. They breed mistrust, isolation and fear.

Nuclear proliferation - the proliferation of WMDs altogether - is one of the greatest dangers of our time.

Nuclear arms is pretty scary because that could end the world. I'm more interested in that stuff than I am Bill Clinton. I mean, I think Bill Clinton is a good president.

The present basic philosophy is nuclear deterrence.

But the nuclear powers still cling tenaciously to their weapons.

Iran is actively pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

Well, Israel, obviously, thinks of the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel.

It is of the greatest importance that people and governments in many more countries than ours should realize that it is more dangerous to have access to nuclear arms than not to possess them.

The Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons would be infinitely more costly than any scenario you can imagine to stop it.

For while the threat of nuclear holocaust has been significantly reduced, the world remains a very unsettled and dangerous place.

There is only one thing worse than one nation having the atomic bomb -- that's two nations having it.

We can do better than condone a world in which nuclear weapons are accepted as commonplace.

The goal [of disarmament] is no longer a dream. It is a practical matter of life or death. The risks inherent in disarmament pale in comparison to the risks inherent in an unlimited arms race...

I say in all sincerity that the nuclear arms race has no military purpose. Wars cannot be fought with nuclear weapons; their existence only adds to our perils because of the illusions which they have generated.

Disarmament has become the urgent imperative of our time. I do not say this because I equate the absence of arms to peace, or because I believe that bringing an end to the nuclear arms race automatically guarantees the peace, or because the elimination of nuclear warheads from the arsenals of the world will bring in its wake that change in attitude requisite to the peaceful settlement of disputes between nations. Disarmament is vital today, quite simply, because of the immense destructive capacity of which men dispose.

Nuclear weapons are the greatest national security risk to the United States, and they are the most important weapons in our arsenal.

Nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary a choice of either a humiliating defeat or a nuclear war.