How JFK Would Pursue Peace in Ukraine

Professor Jeffrey Sachs

By Jeffrey D. Sachs

President John F. Kennedy was one of the world’s great peacemakers.  He led a peaceful solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis and then successfully negotiated the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union at the very height of the Cold War.  At the time of his assassination, he was taking steps to end US involvement in Vietnam.    

In his dazzling and unsurpassed Peace Speech, delivered exactly sixty years ago on June 10, 1963, Kennedy laid out his formula for peace with the Soviet Union.  Kennedy’s Peace Speech highlights how Joe Biden’s approach to Russia and the Ukraine War needs a dramatic reorientation. Until now, Biden has not followed the precepts that Kennedy recommended to find peace.  By heeding Kennedy’s advice, Biden too could become a peacemaker.