Future
historians, looking back at 1962, may well mark this year as the time when
the tide of international politics began at last to flow strongly toward
the world of diversity and freedom. Following the launching of Sputnik
in 1957, the Soviet Union began to intensify its pressures against the
non-communist world - especially in Southeast Asia, in Central Africa,
in Latin America and around Berlin. The notable Soviet successes in space
were taken as evidence that communism held the key to the scientific and
technological future. People in many countries began to accept the notion
that communism was mankind's inevitable destiny.
1962 stopped this process - and nothing was more important in deflating the notion of communist invincibility than the American response to Soviet provocations in Cuba. The combination of firmness and restraint in face of the gravest challenge to world peace since 1939 did much to reassure the rest of the world both about the strength of our national will and the prudence of our national judgment. Menacing problems remained at the end of the year: if West Berlin seemed temporarily secure and Congo on the road to national unification, conditions in Laos and Vietnam were still precarious, and the Cuban crisis was not resolved. Yet it was increasingly obvious that the momentum of the post-Sputnik offensive had been halted. At the same time, American scientists, engineers and astronauts helped recapture for the United States the lead in important aspects of the space effort. And, within the communist empire itself, the forces of diversity and pluralism were straining the supposed monolithic unity of communist ideology and action.
This situation gave the free peoples opportunity to prosecute with new vigor the constructive action necessary to build the strength and responsibility of the non-communist world. To this effort, the United States made indispensable contributions through the passage of the Trade Expansion Act and through staunch and continuing support of the foreign aid program and the United Nations. Our attempts to advance the cause of world disarmament were, unhappily, less successful. Nonetheless, I believe that the year 1962 showed heartening progress toward the goal of a world of independent nations, each developing according to its own needs and aspirations, and all united by common respect for the rights of others, a common loyalty to the world community and a common longing for peace.
The foundation of foreign policy is, of course, the vigor and health of the national community. In 1962 the Congress enacted a number of measures designed to strengthen our economy, develop our resources and confirm the rights of our citizens. On occasion, special circumstances required me to take drastic action - at one time, to protect an American citizen in his right to education at a state university; and, at another time, to prevent an inflationary rise in the price of steel.
1962 was, both abroad and at home, a year of effort and achievement. Our gains were made possible by fruitful collaboration among the branches of government and between the government and the people in pursuit of our national objectives. Certain of these objectives - especially those of peace in the world and of accelerated economic growth, full employment, and full equality of opportunity in the United States - still elude us and therefore will demand even more thoughtful and urgent attention in the years to come.
