Kennedy argues that peace does not require complete agreement between nations or political systems. Deep differences may persist, but those differences need not lead inevitably to hostility or conflict. The practical objective, in his view, is to create conditions in which opposing societies can coexist safely despite continuing disagreements.

In the context of his American University address, the statement reflects Kennedy’s effort to reduce Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Rather than insisting that ideological differences must first disappear, he presents coexistence as a more realistic immediate goal. The quotation therefore supports a pluralist approach to international relations: stability can depend on restraint, mutual recognition and rules that allow different systems to endure alongside one another. Its broader message is that diversity can be protected even when consensus remains out of reach.