Museum Matters

Its was early in John F. Kennedy’s political career that words of peace were spoken. “Let us not emphasize all on which we differ but all we have in common. Let us consider not what we fear separately, but what we share together.” Those words were spoken at a commencement address at Harvard University in June 14, 1956. His travels as a young man had allowed him to see first hand the devastation of war in Europe. Those insights lead him to be the one meeting with his cabinet that did not want to go to war when missiles were discovered on a U2 CIA mission over Cuba in 1962.

It is likely that no book has guided the hand of a President more than a book by Barbara W. Tuchman, “The Guns of August” did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The book tells the story of how many opportunities passed for world leaders to avoid World War I. Kennedy said “In reading the history of past wars and how they began, we cannot help but be impressed how the failure of communication, misunderstanding and mutual irritation have played an important role in the events leading up to fateful decisions for war.” Through his efforts to resolve the issues of the missiles in Cuba, he was able to avoid nuclear war. (newrepublic.com/The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War) Other words of peace were repeated later in his administration, “So let us not be blind to our differences-but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breath the the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” (Commencement Address, American University, June 10, 1963.)

May we all seek peace in our daily lives this Christmas Season. May there be peace on earth, and let it begin with ourselves. Merry Christmas.