Address on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Broadcast live on national television and radio on October 22, 1962, informing the world of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba and announcing a naval quarantine.
Full Transcript
Good evening, my fellow citizens.
This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.
Defining Key Excerpts
"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States."
"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it."
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