- It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University. I have chosen this time and place to discuss the most important topic on earth-- peace. Not merely peace for Americans, but peace for all men and women. Not merely peace in our time, peace in all time. - I graduated from American University in June of 1963. It was a very tense year. - It came on the heels of the Cuban Missile Crisis. - You know, we grew up being afraid of a nuclear bomb. - There might not be any grownups around when the bomb explodes. Then, you're on your own. - You just knew that every Russian was bad and they wanted to destroy the world. There was no talk. If they hit us, we were going to get them, and bango. - The communist world was demonstrating its collective image of belligerence, power, and solidarity. - President Kennedy brought in a whole new view of things. - He was adored. He was loved around the world. He'd already delivered that incredible inaugural address. - Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. - His call upon us as citizens to step forward, to be engaged, to look outward began to create an excitement. - He chose American University because American University had already developed a reputation for public service, for reaching out across the United States and across the world, for students and faculty. - So it was very, very exciting that he was going to speak at the graduation-- at my graduation. - Every graduate of this school who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace should begin by looking inward, by examining his own attitude towards the possibilities of peace. Too many think it is unreal, but that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. - What I remember was that it was an extremely important speech. This is Marvin Kalb, Moscow correspondent. CBS News Vienna. In my judgment, even looking back upon it now, I think it's the best speech he ever gave. - We've never fought a war between the United States and the Soviet Union, and he held out an olive branch. - It was really out of step with the times. We were at a very martial attitude towards the Soviet Union. We had just come out of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And here was a president saying we should focus on peace, not victory, and coexistence and respect. - And second, let us re-examine our attitude towards the Soviet Union. No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. - In those days, the word of a president of the United States was big stuff, and it was regarded as a big deal not only in the US, but all over the world. - It's remarkable. The height of the Cold War. President Kennedy's speech was translated and broadcast almost in its entirety in Russian in the Soviet Union. - We really were talking to the Russians. - And certainly no one was expecting the blockbuster announcement that came. - 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. - The speech represented Kennedy's way of taking the world beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis into a new era. - And the way to do it was parley, find a way to compromise. - The president said this country will not be the first to resume nuclear testing. He said such a declaration is no substitute for a formal, binding treaty, but he said, I hope it will help us achieve one. This is Roger Mudd in Washington. - The speech was June of '63. The treaty was August. And he said it was his greatest accomplishment. - I think the big takeaway from the Kennedy speeches about the engagement with adversaries, not only to get to a place of better security, but better understanding. - President Kennedy was trying to look beyond antagonistic speech, trying to show the importance of judgment, the importance of taking the other into account. - He caused all of us to think differently, think more inclusively. - No. I think I was very, very directly inspired by that speech. - It was a moment of arrival for the university, a point at which the university's reputation was on the rise. - I will find myself lecturing either in India or Brazil or Australia. American University. The speech. - At this point where the university is with the programs to bring the awareness of the global community to our students and to involve them is a result of some of the things that occurred here on campus the day that he made the announcement. - 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. - Confident and unafraid, we must labor on. Not towards a strategy of annihilation, but towards a strategy of peace. [APPLAUSE] [TRIUMPHANT MUSIC]