John F. Kennedy photo

Message to the Conference on Science and World Affairs Meeting at Stowe, Vermont.

September 04, 1961

I HAD LOOKED forward to sending my best wishes to the Conference on Science and World Affairs under happier and more optimistic conditions than now prevail. The somber turn of events within the past week, a course against which your past Conferences have strongly counseled, makes all the more urgent the matters you meet to discuss. As you take up the problems of scientific cooperation and disarmament, I urge that you search with renewed diligence and imagination for practical ways in which to set forth on both these paths to peace.

Science remains universal, and the fruits of science, if wisely chosen, provide a means by which humanity can realize a full and abundant life. Yet the vitality of science, its ability to enrich our culture and our understanding, and the material benefits it promises all depend in large measure upon international pooling of knowledge and effort. National leaders who share this view must look to scientists such as yourselves for the initiative and guidance to transform the desire to cooperate into actual achievement. We hope that out of the suggestions and proposals that you make, new ways can be found to extend the benefits of science, and to foster the trust and mutual understanding that is essential to a prospering world.

In the other area of your discussions, you will have an opportunity to advance the world-wide search for a solution to the central threat of our time, nuclear war. Your past Conferences have revealed that special knowledge and concern make you particularly sensitive to the meaning of this threat. The task of disarmament is not easy, and progress, the world has found, is not inevitable. But, when men of good will meet in such frankness as your discussions typify, the door to peace is open, reason can guide us forward, and all nations can begin to face their full responsibilities to mankind.

I am hopeful that your deliberations, in their quiet and beautiful Vermont setting, will be informed by the objectivity of your science and inspired by the desire of men everywhere for peace. Despite setbacks, there is no more noble or urgent cause than the development of practical ways to bring closer the goal of reliable disarmament.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

Note: The message was addressed to Professor Paul Dory, c/o Smugglers Notch Hotel in Stowe, Vt. where the conference opened on September 5. The message was released at Hyannis, Mass.

John F. Kennedy, Message to the Conference on Science and World Affairs Meeting at Stowe, Vermont. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235568

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