Security Will Not Wait Speech

Shortly after the election of John Kennedy, Military Chief, Maxwell Taylor takes the opportunity to formally introduce the new military program to the American people in the article “Security Will Not Wait”. The need for a new military program was deemed necessary since before Kennedy came to office.This proposal addresses the changing ‘world conditions’ and the need to discard the ‘New Look Policy’ and all its entailments in order to maintain the power balance between the United States and the Soviet Union. Taylor asserts that the only way the United States can keep its security, reputation and peace at large is through a new military program that is based “on present conviction and available knowledge…consistent with the likely outcome of any comprehensive review of national policy” There are numerous fiscal problems in need of amending but it is the duty of the new Administration to use common-sense and political consciousness to prioritize the security of the United States, especially when there is evidence to suggest that the Soviet Union has ICBMs that the United …show more content…
An imbalance can set the stage for vulnerability to a surprise attack and weakness in the eyes of the Soviet Union, that could be taken advantage of. This would cause the Soviet Union to have the upper hand globally and that would risk the security of all, not just the United States. For this reason, he proposes a new military based on deterrence. Deterrence is a military strategy that calls for “an approximate balance of destructive capability between the two power blocs which will make the deliberate choice of general atomic war unthinkable to either”. If both the United States and the Soviet Union are equally powerful military-wise, then the United States will successfully affirm its prestige providing security, peace, and becoming an adequately prepared