Political Quotes

“Today marks the 35th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the first year of John F. Kennedy's Presidency. The groundwork had been laid earlier in the Eisenhower administration, and the effort reached fruition in 1961. I was privileged to be part of that process as a new Senator in his first year of service. I had become quite interested in the new processes of arms control, and I went with my more veteran and most distinguished colleagues, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Joseph Clark of Pennsylvania, to argue the case that the new agency would have more weight and authority if it were established not by Executive order, but by the Congress as a statutory agency of the Federal Government. Fortunately, our friends in the White House agreed, and, over the next several months, the agency was created. The Agency was started with much hope and high expectations. Some even feared that the Director of the Agency would be too powerful and might take steps that endangered the national security by moving too precipitously to control arms. In the process of compromise, the statute was worked out so that the Agency could fulfill high expectations, but the nation would be protected from precipitous arms control. As matters have worked out, it is clear that those who feared that ACDA would go too far have had their fears unrealized.”