June 10, 1963: President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., at their Reeves Field, 5 miles northwest of the White House.
It was less than 8 months since JFK and Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, faced each other down in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and found a solution that meant not launching nuclear attacks against each other's countries. It was a little over 2 years since the summit meeting in Vienna, Austria, the only time the two men actually met, in which Khrushchev, 23 years older, thought he could push JFK around, and did, making the Cuban Missile Crisis possible.
And it was 24 years since the start, and 18 years since the end, of World War II, which marked the psyches of both men, to the point that they did not want to preside over a World War III. Kennedy knew Khrushchev was willing to listen, because he already had.
And what Kennedy wanted to talk about was peace, to a generation not old enough to remember World War II, and not old enough to serve in the Korean War, but was now old enough to serve in the armed forces, and with a war in Vietnam becoming a bigger story all the time, along with threats in Berlin, Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the Middle East, and South Asia. Kennedy told them:
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 to 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 speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces...
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it...
And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal...
I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard.
First: Chairman khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history--but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.
Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.
JFK's mention of the proposed Test Ban Treaty got mild applause from those gathered at AU -- probably because it was simply too hard to believe. But on August 5, the Treaty was signed by Dean Rusk, Kennedy's Secretary of State; Alec Douglas-Home, British Foreign Secretary, and soon to be Prime Minister; and Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister. On September 24, the U.S. Senate, needing 2/3rds to approve it, 67 out of 100, approved it 80-14.
June 1963 turned out to be a very busy month for JFK. In particular, the next 2 days.
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June 10, 1963 was a Monday. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn was born.
These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Washington Senators, at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington, which would later be renamed for JFK's brother, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The Yanks won the opener, 7-0. Al Downing, on his way to becoming the 1st black pitcher to lead the American League in strikeouts, pitched a 2-hit, 9-strikeout shutout. Elston Howard and Clete Boyer hit home runs.
The Senators won the nightcap, 1-0. Claude Osteen pitched a 6-hit shutout, to outduel Jim Bouton. Roger Maris went 1-for-3 in the 1st game, and failed as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play in either game.
* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at the Polo Grounds. Tracy Stallard, best known for giving up Roger Maris' 61st home run of the 1961 season, when the distance for the Mets. Tim Harkness hit a home run. Duke Snider played for the Mets that day, going 0-for-2 with a walk. For the Reds, Frank Robinson went 1-for-3, and rookie Pete Rose went 2-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-2 at Connie Mack Stadium, in a game shortened to 6 innings due to rain. Eddie Mathews hit a home run, while Hank Aaron went 0-for-2 with a walk.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-3 with an RBI, but they were the only hits the Red Sox got, as Bill Faul shut them down for the Tigers. Al Kaline hit 2 home runs and had 4 RBIs.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 13-3 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Colt .45s, 3-2 at Colt Stadium in Houston. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965. Billy Williams hit a home run for the Cubs, and Ernie Banks went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Ed Bailey hit home runs for the Giants, and Willie Mays went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
* The St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, but were rained out. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 6. The Pirates won the 1st game, 5-1. The Cards won the 2nd game, 5-0, with Bob Veale pitching a 6-hit shutout.
Stan Musial went 0-for-3, Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4, and Willie Stargell went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. (Stargell was only a pinch-hitter in the opener, Musial was only a pinch-hitter in the nightcap, and Clemente didn't play in the nightcap at all).
* And the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins were not scheduled to play.
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