For threats of massive retaliation may not deter piecemeal aggression--and a line of destroyers in a quarantine, or a division of well-equipped men on a border, may be more useful to our real security than the multiplication of awesome weapons beyond all rational need.
Kennedy argues for a balanced approach to military readiness, highlighting the need for flexible responses to aggression.
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More from John F. Kennedy
While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.
But now the winds of change appear to be blowing more strongly than ever, in the world of communism as well as our own.
We steer our ship with hope, as Thomas Jefferson said, "leaving Fear astern.
Tomorrow it can form the framework for a world of law--a world in which no nation dictates the destiny of another, and in which the vast resources now devoted to destructive means will serve constructive ends.