The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Cold war
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy · 1961

Quotes

“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”

John F. Kennedy · Ich bin ein Berliner speech, 1963 · Primary source

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.”

John F. Kennedy · Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, 1961 · Primary source

“It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”

John F. Kennedy · Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 · Primary source

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough—more than enough—of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Confident and unafraid, we labor on—not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”

John F. Kennedy · Ich bin ein Berliner speech, 1963 · Primary source

“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner.”

John F. Kennedy · Ich bin ein Berliner speech, 1963 · Primary source

“While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.”

John F. Kennedy · Ich bin ein Berliner speech, 1963 · Primary source

Authors

President of the United States · 1911-2004
Ronald Reagan

Fortieth US president and former Hollywood actor whose economic and foreign policies defined 1980s America.

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Works

Ian Fleming · 1957
From Russia, with Love

James Bond is drawn into a Soviet intelligence plot involving defection, deception, assassination, and Cold War rivalry between Britain and the USSR.

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John F. Kennedy · 1961
Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy

Kennedy’s first presidential address, calling for civic responsibility, international cooperation and resolve in confronting Cold War tensions and global poverty.

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Ian Fleming · 1954
Live and Let Die

James Bond investigates a powerful criminal network linking organised crime, smuggling, espionage, and Soviet intelligence across the United States and Caribbean.

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Ian Fleming · 1955
Moonraker

James Bond investigates industrialist Hugo Drax and uncovers a conspiracy involving Britain’s Moonraker missile programme, espionage, deception, and nuclear attack.

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Ian Fleming · 1966
Octopussy and The Living Daylights

Four James Bond stories exploring espionage, assassination, betrayal, intelligence work, and the consequences of past actions across varied international settings.

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John F. Kennedy · 1961
Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs News Conference

A presidential news conference addressing the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs invasion, government responsibility and wider Cold War policy.

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John F. Kennedy · 1962
Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort

A defence of the US space programme and the goal of reaching the Moon, linking exploration with national ambition, technological progress and Cold War competition.

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John F. Kennedy · 1962
Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis

A televised address announcing Soviet missile installations in Cuba, a US naval quarantine and demands for their removal.

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John F. Kennedy · 1963
Commencement address at American University

A Cold War address calling for a more practical peace, reduced nuclear tensions and greater mutual understanding between the United States and Soviet Union.

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John F. Kennedy · 1963
Ich bin ein Berliner speech

A declaration of solidarity with West Berlin, contrasting democratic freedom with communist rule and affirming Western commitment to the divided city.

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Eleanor Roosevelt · 1935-1962
My Day

A long-running column combining Roosevelt’s daily experiences with commentary on politics, social reform, civil rights and international affairs.

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Ronald Reagan · 1984
Address to the Nation and Other Countries on United States-Soviet Relations

Reagan sets out his approach to United States-Soviet relations, calling for reduced arms, improved dialogue and peaceful competition based on realism, strength and negotiation.

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Robert Coughlan · 1954
Dr. Edward Teller’s Magnificent Obsession

A profile of Edward Teller exploring his campaign for the hydrogen bomb, scientific career and disputes over nuclear defence.

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