On June 10, 1963 at height of Cold War, JFK advanced the then radical idea of viewing citizens of the Soviet Union in a more human light. He said, “We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future.” Five months later JFK was dead, 11/22/1963

“In the [June 10, 1963] speech, Kennedy argued for seeing citizens of the Soviet Union in a more human light. Kennedy said, “No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue.” (Let the Word go Forth: The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy-1947 to 1963, p. 285) In the same speech, Kennedy stressed what the citizens of the world have in common, saying, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” (Let the Word go Forth, p. 286) This was actually a pretty radical thing to say in 1963, at the height of the Cold War, to actually acknowledge that the Russians were people too, just like us. Today Kennedy’s speech at American University is seen as one of his most eloquent.”...JFK was killed five months later, Nov. 23, 1963.…On Oct. 7, 1963 JFK had signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union, the first significant arms control treaty signed by both countries. (It would be nice if these events were “conspiracy theories” but they actually happened).
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12/2/2011, “JFK and “Seven Days in May,” starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas (1964)," Mark My Words blog, Mark

“I recently watched John Frankenheimer’s 1964 movie Seven Days in May, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner. It’s about a right-wing general’s attempt to start a military coup against the President of the United States. [JFK was president during the movie’s filming]. It’s based on the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey, and the screenplay was written by Rod Serling. Seven Days in May is a tense, intelligent film that asks big questions about the relationship between the Presidency and the military. In the movie, the President, played by the great actor Fredric March, has just signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. 

This proves to be a very unpopular action, and right-wing Air Force General James Scott (Lancaster) feels as though the President has betrayed and weakened the country. Colonel Casey (Douglas), an aide to Scott, senses that something fishy is going on, as he starts learning of secret military bases and lots of interest in an office horse-racing pool. Casey soon discovers that Scott and the other Generals on the Joint Chiefs of Staff are planning to use a training exercise to take over the United States government. Casey goes to the President with what he knows, and an investigation begins….

[Burt] Lancaster wanted to make [Air Force General] Scott a real character, not just a cardboard cut-out, and he succeeded. Scott isn’t an evil person. Scott is just doing what he feels is right, out of his patriotic obligation to protect America from its enemies. Scott feels that the Soviet Union is using the treaty as a trick to launch a pre-emptive attack on the United States, and he thinks that he can best protect the country he loves by essentially staging a military coup….

What did the United States government think of Seven Days in May? It was released in February, 1964, just three months after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Predictably, the military hated it, and had wanted Frankenheimer to submit a script for Pentagon approval. Frankenheimer refused. Kennedy himself, however, had read the novel and strongly encouraged the movie to be made….For the opening scene of the movie, Frankenheimer wanted to film a mock protest outside of the White House between pro and anti-disarmament treaty protestors. Kennedy arranged his schedule so that he and the First Family would be in Hyannisport for a weekend, thus giving Frankenheimer the opportunity to capture the scene.

Kennedy was highly skeptical of the military after getting burned early in his administration during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. (The military had assured Kennedy the invasion plan would work; it didn’t.) Kennedy also earned the wrath of some right-wing generals who thought he should have taken more aggressive military action to support the Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. According to Richard Reeves’s book President Kennedy: Profile of Power, “John Kennedy distrusted the military, at least its commanders….Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, and Maxwell Taylor were the men he entrusted with one of his fundamental goals: gaining civilian control over the military.” (President Kennedy: Profile of Power, by Richard Reeves, p. 306) Kennedy also faced severe pressure from the military to act during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Many of Kennedy’s military advisors advocated a preemptive strike against the Cuban missile sites. But cooler heads prevailed, and Kennedy was able to skillfully defuse the crisis without starting a nuclear war. Kennedy said of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “If we listen to them, and do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to tell them that they were wrong.” (This quote is from a photo caption in President Kennedy: Profile of Power, by Richard Reeves.)

Kennedy was genuinely appalled at the idea of nuclear war, and despite his sometimes tough rhetoric, he was determined to maintain peace at the height of the Cold War. Early in his Presidency, he sat through a meeting where he was presented with the American plans for a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. (Kennedy was not seriously considering such an attack, it was merely a contingency plan.) After listening to details of exactly how many missiles would be fired, and learning how much they would destroy, Kennedy disgustedly said, “And we call ourselves the human race.” (Reeves, p. 230) Kennedy thought it was “insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization.” (One Minute to Midnight, by Michael Dobbs, p. 229)

Like President Lyman in the film, Kennedy also signed a weapons treaty with the Soviet Union, although Kennedy’s treaty was much more limited and was not a total disarmament treaty. It was the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. It was the first significant arms control treaty of any kind signed by both the United States and the Soviet Union.  

JFK signed it on October 7, 1963. Kennedy had called for the Treaty much earlier, and he advocated for it in a remarkable speech he gave at American University on June 10, 1963. The topic of Kennedy’s speech was world peace, and the speech was written by him and Ted Sorensen, his most trusted speechwriter. In the speech, Kennedy argued for seeing citizens of the Soviet Union in a more human light. Kennedy said, “No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue.” (Let the Word go Forth: The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy-1947 to 1963, p. 285) 

In the same speech, Kennedy stressed what the citizens of the world have in common, saying, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” (Let the Word go Forth, p. 286) 

This was actually a pretty radical thing to say in 1963, at the height of the Cold War, to actually acknowledge that the Russians were people too, just like us. Today Kennedy’s speech at American University is seen as one of his most eloquent. When JFK’s friend Red Fay asked Kennedy if he thought the events depicted in the novel Seven Days in May could ever actually happen in the United States, Kennedy had an interesting response.

“It’s possible. But the conditions would have to be just right. If the country had a young President, and he had a Bay of Pigs, there would be a certain uneasiness. Maybe the military would do a little criticizing behind his back. Then if there were another Bay of Pigs, the reaction of the country would be, ‘Is he too young and inexperienced?’ The military would almost feel that it was their patriotic obligation to stand ready to preserve the integrity of the nation and only God knows just what segment of Democracy they would be defending if they overthrew the elected establishment. Then, if there were a third Bay of Pigs it could happen. It won’t happen on my watch.” (Reeves, p. 305-6. Story originally from Red Fay’s book The Pleasure of His Company.)”…

Posted by Mark at 3:57 AM
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Comment: It would be nice if these events were “conspiracy theories,” but they actually happened.




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