In commemoration of his uncle John F. Kennedy’s famous June 1963 Peace Speech, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will deliver a definitive foreign policy speech at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on June 20.
The theme of the speech will be peace through diplomacy, which will seek what the candidate’s uncle described as “a more practical, more attainable peace—based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions—on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned.”
In his presidential campaign, Kennedy has been an outspoken critic of President Joe Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine while the political establishment and much of the corporate-owned media have sought to sideline and censor the son of U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the 35th president of the United States.
This speech will place his position on that war in a larger context. It will define a new conception of American leadership in the coming multi-polar era.
Kennedy’s speech will be delivered at Saint Anselm College in the Dana Center-Koonz Theatre on June 20, at 7 p.m. ET.
A high priority of the Kennedy administration will be to make America strong again.
“When a body is sick, it withdraws its energy from the extremities in order to nourish the vital organs,” said Kennedy. “It is time to end the imperial project and attend to all that has been neglected: the crumbling cities, the antiquated railways, the failing water systems, the decaying infrastructure, the ailing economy.”
In the long term, a nation’s strength does not come from its armies. America spends as much on weaponry as the next nine nations combined, yet the country has grown weaker, not stronger, over the last 30 years.
Even as its military technology has reigned supreme, America has been hollowing out from the inside. We cannot be a strong or secure nation when our infrastructure, industry, society, and economy are infirm.
Annual defense-related spending is close to one trillion dollars. We maintain 800 military bases around the world. The peace dividend that was supposed to come after the Berlin Wall fell was never redeemed. Now we have another chance.
As president, Kennedy says he will start the process of unwinding the American empire and bring U.S. troops home from at least 750 military bases in at least 80 countries around the globe.
While no US troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan, where a 20-year war was the longest in US history, Biden said that Ayman al-Zawahiri, who led al-Qaeda following the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, was killed by U.S. drone missiles in an “over-the-horizon” mission involving two Hellfire missiles on July 31, 2022.
The only casualty in the operation, Zawahiri was killed when a house in downtown Kabul, in which he was residing as a guest of the Taliban, was struck by two Hellfire missiles.
“We will stop racking up unpayable debt to fight one war after another,” said Kennedy. “The military will return to its proper role of defending our country. We will end the proxy wars, bombing campaigns, covert operations, coups, paramilitaries, and everything else that has become so normal most people don’t know it’s happening. But it is happening, a constant drain on our strength. It’s time to come home and restore this country.”
In Ukraine, the most important priority is to end the suffering of the Ukrainian people, victims of a brutal Russian invasion, and also victims of American geopolitical machinations going back at least to 2014. We must first get clear: Is our mission to help the brave Ukrainians defend their sovereignty? Or is it to use Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia? Robert F. Kennedy will choose the first. He will find a diplomatic solution that brings peace to Ukraine and brings our resources back where they belong. We will offer to withdraw our troops and nuclear-capable missiles from Russia’s borders. Russia will withdraw its troops from Ukraine and guarantee its freedom and independence. UN peacekeepers will guarantee peace to the Russian-speaking eastern regions. We will put an end to this war. We will put an end to the suffering of the Ukranian people. That will be the start of a broader program of demilitarization of all countries.
We have to stop seeing the world in terms of enemies and adversaries. As John Quincy Adams wrote, “Americans go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”
Robert F. Kennedy has promised to revive a lost thread of American foreign policy thinking, the one championed by his uncle, John F. Kennedy who, over his 1000 days in office, had become a firm anti-imperialist.
He wanted to exit Vietnam. He defied the Joint Chiefs of Staff and refused to bomb Cuba, thus saving us from nuclear Armageddon. He wanted to reverse the imperialistic policies of Truman and Eisenhower, rein in the CIA, and support freedom movements around the world. He wanted to revive Roosevelt’s impulse to dissolve the British empire rather than take it over.
John F. Kennedy’s vision was tragically cut short by an assassin’s bullet. But now we have another chance. The country is ailing, yes, but underneath there is vitality still. America is a land rich in resources, creativity, and intelligence. We just need to get serious about healing our society, to become strong again from the inside.
America was once an inspiration to the world, a beacon of freedom and democracy. Our priority will be nothing less than to restore our moral leadership. We will lead by example. When a warlike imperial nation disarms of its own accord, it sets a template for peace everywhere. It is not too late for us to voluntarily let go of empire and serve peace instead, as a strong and healthy nation.
John F. Kennedy said, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
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