JFK at UN Assembly, 1961

This 1961 CBS film captures President John F. Kennedy’s address to the 16th UN General Assembly on September 25 in New York City. In black-and-white with sound, Kennedy mourns Dag Hammarskjöld’s recent death, pushes six disarmament proposals, and warns of Cold War threats in Berlin, Laos, and South Vietnam. Delivered a week after the UN Secretary-General’s plane crash, it urges a “peace race” over nuclear peril, blending grief with a bold vision for global cooperation amid escalating tensions.