ABSTRACT
By avoiding the holocaust of nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to embark on a path toward peace. By the end of 1963, this new path culminated in the signing and ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In retracing the history of this era, we are able to reencounter the possibilities that they envisioned for their respective countries to live in a relationship of peaceful coexistence. Upon reflection, their efforts have provided us with a historical paradigm with ongoing relevance for the challenges we face in our own day and generation with regard to the control and eventual abolition of nuclear weapons. In this respect, our review of the record from 1962 to 1963 presents us with a story of transformational change at many levels-psychological, ethical, political, decision-making, and policy. In short, the changes brought about by the Kennedy/Khrushchev interactions, dialogues, and foreign policy decisions serve to reveal to us the historical promise that such changes held for the rest of humanity that has continued to live under a nuclear sword of Damocles.
