President should pursue peace through negotiation with Russia
President Joe Biden is right in ruling out unilateral military action in Ukraine. His choice of sanctions rather than war, however preferable, is less promising than working toward a complete de-escalation of the new Cold War. Biden would do well in negotiations to adopt the attitude that President John F. Kennedy articulated in perhaps the most profound speech of his life.
The potential threat of war over the arms buildup in Ukraine presents the danger of a U.S. involvement in war with Russia; it should end in a resolve to work for peace as diligently — even more diligently, in light of all the death and destruction from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kennedy chose this direction after being goaded toward and coming very close to war early in his presidency.
He had also reconsidered the wisdom of sending military advisers to Vietnam and planned to end the U.S. military presence there in 1964.
He had realized, having stepped back from the precipice of a nuclear war over Cuba, that such a course could only end in a total disaster for all.
In a 1963 commencement speech delivered at the American University in Washington, he presented a new stance toward Russia and the Cold War.
After some preliminary remarks, Kennedy turned to what then, and perhaps even now, is a controversial and even dangerous idea to support — “the most important topic on earth: peace,” adding, “a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth too rarely perceived.”
In spite of the anti-communist hysteria that gripped so much of the country, Kennedy courageously chose to counter the bellicose mood of the time.
He spoke some of what should be his most memorable words, though unheeded by subsequent presidents: “What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on Earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and build a better life for their children. Not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women — not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”
“I realize,” he said, “that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war — and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.”
Calling for a “practical ... attainable peace,” he enjoined Americans, “So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable.”
The entrenched Washington
establishment, the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had called for attacking Cuba. One top military official wanted nuclear war with Russia. An exasperated Kennedy remarked to an aide after a meeting with them, “These people are crazy.”
Biden faces the same warmongering; for example, Mississippi’s Sen. Roger Wicker has advocated the same view regarding Ukraine: “I would not rule out American troops on the ground. We don’t rule out first-use nuclear action.”
Biden would do well to bring Kennedy’s peace stance to talks with Putin’s Russia, and maybe even invite Russia to join NATO, just as Putin once suggested.
Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated their way past this dangerous confrontation that might have resulted in the end of world civilizations. Yet, here we are, reading or viewing the latest news about the possibility of a war between superpowers. And, then as now, an attitude of “get tough with Russia” can easily intimidate peace advocates.
Another president might have followed the generals’ bad advice, but Kennedy had the courage to uphold peace and negotiate a Test Ban Treaty with Khrushchev later that year. Biden should take his cue from Kennedy and become our next peace president.
Jerome Donnelly is a retired UCF professor and a former Winter Park City Commissioner.