Kennedy and the Cold War Unit 11.2

Election of 1960 Democrat: Republican: John F. Kennedy Republican: Richard Nixon Kennedy barely won the election.

Kennedy was Unique Kennedy was Youngest President ever elected First and only Catholic President

Kennedy and King While campaigning against Nixon, Martin Luther King Jr. gets arrested and sentenced 4 months of hard labor for a traffic violation Kennedy intervenes and convinces the judge to suspend the sentence until there was an appeal

Kennedy Focuses on Cold War With the launch of Sputnik it appeared like the Soviet Union was winning the Cold War Kennedy had criticized Eisenhower for this, so when Kennedy gets into office his primary goal was to win the Cold War. Weird for the time because in general Republicans were known to be hard on Communism and Democrats soft on Communism McCarthy & Murrow

Critical Thinking Question Republicans had a reputation for being “tough on communism” during this time period. The war on communism has shifted to a “war on terrorism.” Is there a political party that is better known for being “tough on terrorism?” Now that Bin Laden is dead, do you think the “war on terrorism” will end? If not, when will the “war on terrorism” end?

Flexible Response Prior to now, the United States had only developed its Nuclear weapons and not the rest of its military Kennedy poured money into the other parts of the American military Created the Special Forces Triple the amount of Nukes America had

Limited War The US now, instead of threatening to use Nuclear weapons anytime there was a Communist takeover of a small country, could engage in non-nuclear warfare. Limited War – fighting a war but setting guidelines about what weapons can or cannot be used (ie. weapons of mass destruction). Gave the US more of a chance to intervene

Cuban Dilemma Fidel Castro A Communist Revolutionary leader who took control of Cuba Cuba seized American sugar farms and oil refineries America put an embargo on Cuba Cuba relied on aid from Russia to run their country

Bay of Pigs The CIA had trained 1,400 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and to spread propaganda against Castro and to overthrow the Communist government The US sent in an air strike to take out the Cuban Air Force The US sent in a commando team to escort the exiles

Bay of Pigs Air Force failed, but the CIA thought otherwise. Commandos got lost in the fast tides and the dark night, did not land with the exiles Cuba was laying ready – supplied by Russia Invasion failed Cuba captured and killed the exiles and the American Commandos Kennedy took responsibility The US paid a 53 million dollar ransom to get the surviving Commando POWs returned.

Cuban Missile Crisis Castro was allied with Russia leader Krushchev. Russia was shipping military weapons, including nuclear missiles to Cuba. Kennedy said that he would not tolerate Missiles in Cuba American U-2 Spy planes discovered missile silos in Cuba

Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis America’s Navy set up a blockade around Cuba to stop Soviet shipments The Soviet Union sent a military fleet to escort its supplies to Cuba US gathered a 200,000 man army in Florida, preparing to invade Cuba Soviet and American ships stared at one another in the water Stalemate – neither side brave enough to start a war Krushchev calls Kennedy and agrees to remove the missiles out of Cuba, if Kennedy agrees not to invade Cuba

Results of Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy is blamed for losing Cuba Blamed Kennedy for practicing Brinkmanship Thought he should have used diplomacy instead of threatening nuclear war Others blamed him for not taking Cuba when he had the chance Khrushchev also gets criticized Shows weakness to the US Gave in to US demands

Critical Thinking Question 1960’s, both the United States and Russia had long-range ballistic missiles that could be used to destroy one another. Why would it matter if the US or Russia had short range or medium range missiles in place to do the same job as the long range missiles?

Berlin Crisis The city of Berlin was split in half when WWII ended. The US controlled one half and Russia controlled the other. Germans in East Berlin were fleeing to West Berlin. US refused to help Russia stop this migration Berlin Wall Russia surprises the world and in a few days builds a concrete wall that separated Western Berlin from Eastern Berlin

Easing Tensions Kennedy had taken a hard-line stance against Russia and he started to tone it down when he realized the enormous consequences of nuclear war Installed a “Hot-Line” between the White House and the Kremlin Both countries signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty Prevented Nuclear weapons from being tested in the atmosphere