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President Obama's Iran Deal Speech Echoes John F. Kennedy

August 6, 2015 at 9:00 AM ET by Mae Bowen
Summary: 
Yesterday, President Obama spoke on the Iran Deal at American University. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy also delivered a historic foreign policy speech at AU.
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Yesterday, President Obama spoke on the Iran deal at American University's School of International Service.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy also delivered a historic foreign policy speech at American University. Just eight months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy had boldly entered into a diplomatic agreement with an adversary of the United States -- the Soviet Union. He faced criticism at home for choosing to pursue a peaceful weapons agreement with a country no one trusted.

President Kennedy addresses the American University Commencement, recieves honorary degree. 

 

President Kennedy's diplomatic approach succeeded in advancing the national security interests of the United States -- and the Iran deal does the same. 

 

 

Both Presidents believed that a peaceful agreement was preferable to alternatives which would likely lead to military confrontation. 

 

 

These are some of our favorite quotes from President Kennedy's 1963 speech -- and the parallels from President Obama's remarks on the Iran Deal. 

"Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many of us think it is unreal. But that is dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable -- that mankind is doomed -- that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view."

— President John F. Kennedy

 

 

 

"Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace -- based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions -- on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned."

— President John F. Kennedy

 

 

 

"Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process -- a way of solving problems."

— President John F. Kennedy

 

 

"While defending our vital interest, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy -- or of a collective death-wish for the world."

— President John F. Kennedy

 

 

You can read the full text of the Iran Deal here.