“The risks inherent in disarmament pale in comparison to the risks inherent in an unlimited arms race.”

—  John F. Kennedy

1961, UN speech
Context: For fifteen years this organization has sought the reduction and destruction of arms. Now that goal 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.
In short, general and complete disarmament must no longer be a slogan, used to resist the first steps. It is no longer to be a goal without means of achieving it, without means of verifying its progress, without means of keeping the peace. It is now a realistic plan, and a test — a test of those only willing to talk and a test of those willing to act.
Such a plan would not bring a world free from conflict and greed — but it would bring a world free from the terrors of mass destruction. It would not usher in the era of the super state — but it would usher in an era in which no state could annihilate or be annihilated by another.
But to halt the spread of these terrible weapons, to halt the contamination of the air, to halt the spiraling nuclear arms race, we remain ready to seek new avenues of agreement, our new Disarmament Program thus includes the following proposals:

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The risks inherent in disarmament pale in comparison to the risks inherent in an unlimited arms race." by John F. Kennedy?
John F. Kennedy photo
John F. Kennedy469
35th president of the United States of America 1917–1963

Related quotes

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“The massive reduction in risk that is inherent in the development of the modern corporation has been far from fully appreciated.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The Affluent Society

Source: The Affluent Society (1958), Chapter 8, Section II, p. 87

George Lincoln Rockwell photo

“The nigger race is inherently inferior to the white race intellectually.”

George Lincoln Rockwell (1918–1967) American politician, founder of the American Nazi Party

1966, Interview with Alex Haley

Henry M. Jackson photo

“We all want to put the brakes on the arms race…we all want to achieve arms control…but to those who say we must take risks for peace by cutting the meat from our military muscle, I say you are unwittingly risking war.”

Henry M. Jackson (1912–1983) American politician

" Henry “Scoop” Jackson for President 1972 Campaign Brochure http://www.4president.org/brochures/scoopjackson1972brochure.htm", 4President.org. Retrieved 07-02-2006.

Alan Hirsch photo

“If we can embrace the adventure and risk and equip our churches to lay down their lives and abandon their inherent loss-aversion, who knows what innovation, what freshness, what new insights from the Spirit will emerge.”

Alan Hirsch (1959) South African missionary

Source: The Faith of Leap (2011), p. 151

Fisher Ames photo

“The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people. Freedom of the press, too.”

Fisher Ames (1758–1808) American politician

Letter to George Richards Minot (June 12, 1789), reported in Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, John Thornton Kirkland, Works of Fisher Ames: With a Selection from His Speeches and Correspondence (1854), p. 54.

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh photo

“The INFOSPHERE we are heading towards invokes the inherent risk of being the sphere of the developed, the few. Unless we can bridge the technological gap between the 20% and the 80% of the global population, we will be heading towards an ugly world with ugly consequences.”

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (1938) Jordanian businesspeople

November 16, 1999, Amman, Jordan, Speech entitled : Technology in the Next Millennium.

Benjamín Netanyahu photo

“As dangerous as a nuclear-armed North Korea is, it pales in comparison to the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. A nuclear-armed Iran in the Middle East wouldn't be another North Korea. It would be another 50 North Koreas.”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

Address to the United Nations General Assembly https://archive.is/hZjh9#selection-723.6-723.114 (1 October 2013). <br class="br">2010s, 2013

Donald A. Schön photo

“Belief in the stable state serves primarily to protect us from apprehension of the threats inherent in change. Belief in stability is a means of maintaining stability, or at any rate the illusion of stability. But the most threatening situations are those that confront us with uncertainty, and by ‘uncertainty’, I don’t mean risk, which is a probability ratio which we all know how to handle, particularly those who are managers of industry. We can deal with risk.”

Donald A. Schön (1930–1997) American academic

Donald Schon &quot; REITH LECTURES 1970: Change and Industrial Society: Lecture 1: The Loss of the Stable State http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/radio4/transcripts/1970_reith1.pdf&quot; at the BBC, 15 November 1970 – Radio 4; cited in: Richard Duane Carter (1981) Future challenges of management education. p. 102

John F. Kennedy photo

“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.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, American University speech

Related topics