UN Security Council

Adlai Stevenson

United Nations Security Council Address on Soviet Missiles in Cuba

delivered 25 October 1962::::::::
"I deeply appreciate the spirit which prompted your message of yesterday. As we made clear in the Security Council, the existing threat was created by the secret introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba, and the answer lies in the removal of such weapons.

In your message and your statement to the Security Council last night, you have made certain suggestions and have invited preliminary talks to determine whether satisfactory arrangements can be assured.

Ambassador Stevenson is ready to discuss promptly these arrangements with you.

I can assure you of our desire to reach a satisfactory and a peaceful solution of this matter.

Signed, John F. Kennedy." ::::::

I have nothing further to say at this time, Mr. President.

ZORIN: [remarks to the Security Council]

STEVENSON: Mr. Zorin and gentlemen, I want to say to you, Mr. Zorin, that I don't have your talent for obfuscation, for distortion, for confusing language, and for doubletalk. And I must confess to you that I'm glad I don't. But if I understood what you said, you said that my position had changed, that today I was defensive because we didn't have the evidence to prove our assertions that your Government had installed long-range missiles in Cuba. Well, let me say something to you, Mr. Ambassador -- we do have the evidence. We have it, and it's clear and incontrovertible. And let me say something else -- those weapons must be taken out of Cuba.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• UN
• Soviet

[LivelyTK]

I successfully disputed WMG's false claim of copyright of the audio.

thanks for your comments and support!!

Enjoy!

[lordofmyarse]

dude thats just pwnage

[DestinysNinja]

"You are in the courtroom of world opinion."

Killer line.

[DestinysNinja]

@LivelyTK stick it to the man!

[briantotse3]

@LivelyTK

Excellent. It's high time someone stopped them from censoring material that doesn't belong to them in the first place.

[TheRabbi1203]

epic



[ilovenaltsvideos]

Classic example of America flexing her might if need be. JFK said that we will never start a war, but if necessary we're not afraid to fight.

[GusF]

If Stevenson has shown this much resolve ten years earlier, his chances of beating Eisenhower would have been considerably higher.

Incidentally, was this shown on television at the time?

[pacific14586]

"obfuscation, for distortion, for confusing language"

Sounds like he doesn't speak Russian.

[QueenAleenaFan]

It's pretty bad when someone's getting smoked so bad that people are laughing at a political conference when the world's like five button presses from Nuclear War.

[mjcamck71]

This kind of GENUINE STATESMANSHIP (not exclusively self-serving politicking) is something from which so many of today's so called "leaders" could learn from; we can suggest and hope. Thank you, Ambassador Stevenson.

[sleepcity]

@apresesco Whether or not Iran has a right to have nuclear weapons is an entirely separate question and one worth considering deeply. Should all countries have nuclear weapons? Does that not raise the risk of their use in armed conflict? Again, you either believe in nonproliferation or your don't. Call the UN all the names you want...just like all other serious adult arguments, name-calling leads nowhere fast.