either independently or in response to our actions this week, must and will be met with
determination* Any hostile move, anywhere in the world against the safe and freedoms of
peoples to whom we are committed including in particular the brave people of West Rerlin,
will be by whatever action is needed. Finally I v/ant to say a few words to the captive
people of Cuba to whom this speach is being directly carried by special radio facilities.
I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of your deep attachment to your fatherland,
as one who shares your aspirations for liberty and justice for all. And I have watched,
and the American people have watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist revolution
was betrayed and how your fatherland fell under foreign domination. Now your leaders are
no longer Cuban leaders, inspired by Cuban ideals, they are puppets and agents of an
international conspiracy which has turned Cuba against your friends and neighbors in the
Americas and turned it into the first Latin American country to become a target for nuclear
war. The first Latin American country to have these weapons upon its soil. These new
weapons are not in your interest. They contribute nothing to your peace and well being,
they can only undermine it. But this country has no wish to cause you to suffer or to
impose any system upon you. We know that your lives and land are being used as pawns
by those who deny you freedom, Many times in the past, the Cuban people have risen to
throw out tyrants who destroyed their liberty and I have no doubt that most Cubans today
look forward to the time when they will be truly free. Free from foreign domination -
free to choose their own leaders - free to select their own system ~ free to own their
own land - free to speak, and write, and worship without fear or degradation and then
shall Cuba be welcomed back to the society of free nations and to the associations of
this he me sphere . My fellow citizens, let no one doubt that this is a difficult and
dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can forsee precisely what course it
wall take or what course or casualties will be incurred, many months of sacrifice and
self discipline lie ahead * Months in which both our patience and our will will be tested»
Months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers but the
greatest danger of all would be to do nothing. The path we have chosen for the present is
full of hazards, as all paths are but it is the one most consistent with our character
and courage as a nation and our committments around the world; The course to freedom is
always high but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose? and
that is the path of surrender or submission* Our goal is not the victory of might but
the vindication of right. Not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom!
here in this hemisphere and we hope around the world. GOD WILLING THAT GOAL WILL BE
ACHIEVED. Thank you and good nights