Eisenhower & Kennedy The Cold War Reaches The Brink

President Truman Increases in Tension Under the Truman Administration 1.The Berlin Blockade 2.The Fall of China 3.The Korean War What is next? Office of the President 1945 to Presidential Election

Eisenhower & Nixon Elected to Office 1952 Presidential Election Dwight Eisenhower v. Adlai Stevenson

Eisenhower & Nixon Re-Elected to Office 1956 Presidential Election Dwight Eisenhower v. Adlai Stevenson

President Eisenhower Increases in Tension Under the Eisenhower Administration 4. Sputnik (ICBM Creation) 5. The U2 Incident What is next? Office of the President 1953 to Presidential Election

Episode 7: Hail to the Chief Eisenhower 20:00

1960 Presidential Election John Fitzgerald Kennedy (D)Richard Nixon (R) Senator from MassachusettsVice President under Eisenhower

The Debate That Changed the World Nixon Kennedy Debate

Question. What won John F. Kennedy the 1960 Presidential Election?

Question. What were three problems that John F. Kennedy faced while running for President in 1960? 1. Religion 2. Name/Father 3. Age

Kennedy & Johnson Elected to Office 1960 Presidential Election John F. Kennedy v. Richard Nixon

Presidential Inauguration of JFK

President Kennedy Increases in Tension Under the Kennedy Administration 6. Bay of Pigs Incident 7. The Berlin Wall 8. The Cuban Missile Crisis What is next? Office of the President 1961 to 1963 The Cuba Problem

Bahia de Cuchinos The Bay of Pigs Incident

Fidel Castro “By the beginning of 1960, Cuba was for all practical purposes a Communist dictatorship and, in military perspective, a Soviet satellite.”

“When Kennedy took over early in 1961, he found a proposal… for [1,200] armed Cuban exiles… to be landed in an area called the Bay of Pigs to detonate a popular uprising… the operation was a total disaster from the start, primarily because Castro was able to read all about it, in advance, in the US media… Castro’s troops, well prepared for the incursion, killed 114 of the invaders and took the rest, 1,189, nearly all of whom were executed or later died in Castro’s prisons.”

“Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan.” John F. Kennedy

The Berlin Wall “That same year, Kennedy played a role in another major event of the decade and the Cold War—the Soviet construction of the Berlin Wall, which divided the German city into East and West Berlin. Khrushchev… constructed the Berlin Wall to divide the east and west sides of the city, tearing apart families and preventing economic exchange. This move demonstrated the Soviet's might and willingness to go toe-to-toe with the United States. To Kennedy's credit, he did not back down. He visited Berlin in 1962 and paid tribute to the spirit of Berliners and to their quest for freedom when he declared to the crowds ‘All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner.’ He also offered this commentary on the Soviet regime: ‘For those who say communism is a better system, let them come to Berlin.’ His popularity soared.”

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Thirteen Days in October 1962: Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev worried by US nuclear missiles in Turkey, sends more than 42 medium range nuclear-capable missiles, 24 long range nuclear-capable missiles (never arrived), 24 SAMs, and 42,000 Soviet troops and technicians to Cuba.

Thirteen Days in October October 14th: US U2 spy planes take the first clear pictures of the missiles. Moscow denies deployment.

Thirteen Days in October October 22nd: President Kennedy imposes a sea blockade of Cuba and puts armed forces on heightened alert, ready to order a strike on Cuba. President Kennedy - Cuban Missile Crisis Speech

Thirteen Days in October October 26th: Moscow announces it will remove missiles in return for guarantees US will not invade Cuba and, under a secret deal, remove US missiles from Turkey.

Very. How Close Was Nuclear War? “There is no doubt the world came close to nuclear war, probable closer than at any other time, before or since. On October 22 nd all American missile crews were placed on maximum alert. Some 800 B47s, 550 B52s, and 70 B58s were prepared with their bomb-bays closed for immediate take off… Over the Atlantic were 90 B52s carrying multi-megaton bombs. Nuclear warheads were made active on 100 Atlas, 50 Titan, and 12 Minuteman missiles, and on American carriers, submarines, and overseas bases. All commands were in a state of Defcon-2, the highest state of readiness next to war itself.

“Then and for some years afterwards, [The Cuban Missile Crisis] was considered the finest hour of the Kennedy Presidency.”

Kennedy & The USSR Plans for Peace

November 22 nd, 1963 Peter Jennings - The Kennedy Conspiracy

“In his inaugural address, Kennedy said that the torch had been passed to a new generation. With Kennedy’s death, the torch was passed back to an old generation – the generation of Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan – leaders who, though not much older, would systematically destroy the promise of the Kennedy years as they returned the country to war and repression.”

“If he had lived, the world would have been different. I feel quite confident of that.” Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara