Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. Public Domain

Words in President John F. Kennedy’s speech, “A Strategy of Peace”: 3,449

Degrees on the day of the 49th Commencement, where Kennedy's speech was held on the athletic field: 95

Students who graduated from American University in the Class of 1963: 991

United States presidents that have visited American University: 11 (Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama)

Days the Cuban Missile Crisis lasted: 13

Age of Kennedy’s speechwriter and advisor Ted Sorenson when he wrote “A Strategy of Peace”: 35

Percent of Americans that fully expected the Soviets to use a hydrogen bomb against the United States, according to a 1963 poll: 60

Times the word “peace” appeared in Kennedy’s nearly 27-minute speech: 49

Countries, including the principle state authors United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, that have ratified the Test Ban Treaty of 1963: 126 (The treaty has not been signed by France or China.)

Miles Kennedy flew returning from Hawaii on the day of the speech: 5,563

MORE: JFK's AU Speech Legacy Today

Kennedy’s age when he delivered “A Strategy of Peace”: 46

Months between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s letter to Kennedy urging an end to nuclear tests and Kennedy’s nuclear test ban treaty proposal: 7

Days in between Kennedy’s AU speech and his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963: 165

Year Kennedy first visited American University: 1960

Countries that have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere, as of April 9, 2012: 159

Countries yet to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: 8 (China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States)

Undergraduate degrees offered at AU in 1963: 11

Presidents who were honorary members of the Board of Trustees in 1963: 3 (Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower)

Tickets each graduating senior received for Kennedy's speech: 5

MEDIA: Recommended Books, Movies About JFK's Era

Honorary degree recipients at the 49th Commencement in 1963, including Kennedy: 5

Size of Reeves Field, where Kennedy delivered his commencement speech, in square feet: 25,974

People who attended a memorial service at the Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Church after Kennedy was assassinated: 1,000+

Originally published on March 5, 2013.