This resolution may be cited as the NPT at 50 Resolution . Whereas the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons has been a bedrock principle of United States foreign policy since 1945; Whereas the United States and the former Soviet Union averted a catastrophic nuclear exchange during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which led to a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements to reduce the chances of nuclear war and prevent the spread of nuclear weapons; Whereas President John F. Kennedy predicted in 1963 that as many as 25 countries would acquire nuclear weapons by 1970 absent a treaty to control nuclear weapons; Whereas the nuclear nonproliferation regime, led by the United States, has been strengthened by a complex network of complementary treaties, and agreements, the cornerstone of which is the NPT; Whereas the NPT was signed by the United States, alongside the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, on its first day of opening for signature, July 1, 1968; Whereas the United States ratified the treaty on March 13, 1969, with a vote on ratification of 83 to 15; Whereas the NPT entered into force on March 5, 1970; Whereas the NPT provides important stability for United States and international security, and its success has and will continue to depend upon the full implementation by all State Parties of the treaty’s three mutually reinforcing pillars: nonproliferation, access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and disarmament; Whereas United States leadership has been and will contribute to be indispensable to the development and success of the nuclear nonproliferation regime; Whereas, on May 11, 1995, the NPT was extended indefinitely; Whereas the NPT has grown to include 191 State Parties, making an irreplaceable contribution to international security by preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; Whereas only one nonnuclear weapon state that was a party to the treaty has acquired nuclear weapons