Crises of the Cold War Hour of Maximum Danger

The Berlin Wall Kennedy met with Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria. Khrushchev wanted the U.S. to withdraw from West Berlin since it was still in the Soviet zone and East Germans kept escaping to the West Kennedy obviously refused Russia built a wall around West Berlin and guarded it heavily

Cuba 1959 -Fidel Castro overthrew the American imposed government in Cuba and took control of the country with the support of the Soviets Eisenhower authorized the CIA to train a group of men who escaped Cuba, they were known as LA Brigada Eisenhower left office and Kennedy took over this operation His advisors told him it was a good plan and Kennedy signed off on it

The Bay of Pigs Invasion Kennedy approved the La Brigada’s invasion of Cuba believing that it would spark an uprising among Cuba citizens On April 17, 1961, La Brigada attacked Cuba through the bay of Pigs The U.S. didn’t send in the air support they promised because they wanted to keep their involvement a secret, there also was not a popular uprising and all of the 1,400 men were killed or captured

The Cuban Missile Crisis Shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, The Soviets started building nuclear missiles on Cuba This was a clear threat to the U.S. because Cuba is only 90 miles off our coast The U.S. set up a “quarantine” around Cuba so that the Soviets couldn’t get to it and demanded that they stop construction on the missiles This didn’t stop construction though and nuclear war seemed inevitable

So why didn’t we blow each other up? Neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev wanted to go to war, they knew it would result in “Mutually assured destruction” Through a series of secret negotiations, tensions were defused Khrushchev told the Kennedy if he removed the missiles in turkey and Italy, Russia would remove the missiles from Cuba Very few people in the government knew about the missiles the U.S. had in Europe surrounding Russia Kennedy made the secret agreement and Russia backed out of Cuba

Everything Calmed down just a little We avoided all out Nuclear War but just barely “Only lunatics or suicides, who themselves want to perish and to destroy the whole world before they die, could do this…” –Khrushchev to Kennedy American and Russia agreed to a treaty to ban the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere Unfortunately the Soviet leadership saw Khrushchev as weak for the deal he had made and he lost power in 1964

Kennedy’s Assassination Kennedy was visiting Texas with his wife, Jackie Kennedy They were driving through the street when Kennedy was shot twice Kennedy was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU83R7rpXQY

Lee Harvey Oswald A few hours after JFk was assassinated, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested He was a former marine who defected for a time to the soviet Union While He was being taken to jail two days later, a man named Jack Ruby shot and killed him https://youtu.be/4FDDuRSgzFk?t=50s