Foreign Relations: Taking the Initiative

Only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

—John Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Stepping up the tempo of his Administration's action on the Berlin crisis, President Kennedy last week asked the Congress and the nation to strengthen, beyond doubt, the already powerful U.S. military machine. At the same time, Administration strategists sought to seize the diplomatic initiative, in an all-out effort to preserve—beyond doubt—the freedom of the non-Communist world.

Not even 19th century Great Britain, in the heyday of empire, had as many military commitments as the U.S. Armed Forces when...