Reading copy of the radio and television report to the American people on the Soviet arms build-up in Cuba, 22 October 1962

Reading copy of President John F. Kennedy's radio and television address to the nation regarding the Soviet Union's military presence in Cuba. In his speech the President reports the establishment of missile sites presumably intended to launch a nuclear offensive against Weste...

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13 We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of world-wide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth -- but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced. Acting, therefore, in the defense of our own security and that of the entire Western Hemisphere, and under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution as endorsed by the Resolution of the Congress, I have directed that the following initial steps be taken immediately: