[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S6034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TEST BAN TREATY--35TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, thirty-five years ago today, in his 
commencement address to the graduating class of The American University 
in 1963, President Kennedy announced his support for a comprehensive 
nuclear test ban. As he said on that occasion:

       The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, 
     would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most 
     dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a 
     position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest 
     hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of 
     nuclear arms. It would increase our security--it would 
     decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is 
     sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, 
     yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole 
     effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital 
     and responsible safeguards.

  In the weeks that followed, President Kennedy secured one of the most 
important of successes of his New Frontier--the signing of the Limited 
Test Ban Treaty.
  But, today, 35 years later, we still have not achieved the larger 
goal of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Especially in the wake of the 
recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, we need to do all we can to 
achieve the rapid ratification of this important treaty.
  The arguments in favor of the CTBT are stronger and more important 
than ever. The recent tests are a reminder that the greatest threat to 
humanity is still the danger of nuclear war.
  The end of the Cold War has presented us with a unique opportunity to 
step back from the nuclear brink and end nuclear testing worldwide. A 
Comprehensive Test Ban now would also end the current discrepancy 
between the world's recognized nuclear states which are permitted to 
test and the rest of the world's countries which are not. The Senate 
can take the lead in creating a more secure world by putting the United 
States in the front of the international effort to achieve a 
Comprehensive Test Ban.
  This is the right time for the CTBT. We no longer need to develop 
more powerful or more accurate nuclear weapons to deter the nations of 
the former Soviet Union, or any other nuclear-capable state. Through 
the Stockpile Stewardship Program, we are learning more each day about 
how to keep our nuclear arsenal safe and reliable without testing.
  One-hundred and forty-nine nations around the world have already 
signed the CTBT, including all five of the recognized nuclear states. 
The United States signed it in September 1996, but the Senate has not 
yet ratified it.
  President Kennedy said it best 35 years ago when he told the students 
at American University, ``. . . 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.''
  I urge the Senate to act on the ratification of the Comprehensive 
Test Ban Treaty. The most important single step we can take today to 
reduce the dangers of nuclear war.

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