1. Section 3: Foreign Policy in the Early 1960’s

2.  Objectives  Describe the United States’ role in the Bay of Pigs invasion  Analyze the events leading to the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis  Outline the goals of Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps  Summarize Johnson’s foreign policy  Main Idea  President Kennedy acted boldly in response to a series of dramatic cold war crises in Cuba and Berlin. Johnson continued many of Kennedy’s foreign policies.

3.  Kennedy’s first foreign crisis occurred in Cuba (approx. 90 miles off Florida coast)  U.S. broke diplomatic ties with Cuba after Fidel Castro developed ties w/ U.S.S.R.  During D. Eisenhower’s presidency a plan was created to use CIA to train Cuban opponents of Castro in Guatemala  When training was completed the Cuban opponents would lead a revolution against Castro

4.  After Kennedy’s inauguration he soon learned of the plan and began to implement it, against severe opposition from U.S. political officials  On April 17 th, 1961 the Bay of Pigs Invasion took place  It was totally unsuccessful:  U.S. lost a great deal of prestige, it was clumsily executed and exposed an effort to overthrow a rival government  U.S. faced anger from many foreign nations in South America  Disappointed European leaders, who had high hopes for Kennedy’ s leadership

5.  After Bay of Pigs disaster, Kennedy resolved to handle Berlin crisis firmly  The Soviets push for a treaty to permanently divide Berlin, to stop the flow of East Germans to the west  This was believed to be the beginning of a plan by the Soviets to take over the rest of Europe.  Kennedy’s first meeting with Khrushchev in Austria went poorly with Kennedy feeling bullied

6.  Upon his return Kennedy did the following:  Asked Congress for $3 billion to bolster defense  Doubled the number of men being drafted and called up reserves for active duty  Sought over $200 million for program to build fallout shelters  Kennedy appeared on television and expressed the gravity of the situation to the American people

7.  The Soviets responded by building a wall in Berlin in August of 1961.  The Berlin Wall became the physical manifestation of the Cold War  Although the immediate crisis was over, tensions still remained  In June of 1963, Kennedy spoke at the wall proclaiming the U.S. “will risk its cities to defend yours because we need your freedom to protect ours.”

8.  Kennedy had one more chance to restore his prestige in Cuba.  After the Bay of Pigs, the Soviets pledged their support of Cuba  On October 16,1962 photographs from a spy plane revealed the building of missile bases in Cuba.  This was viewed as a direct challenge to the U.S.

9.  Kennedy quickly convened secret meetings with his top officials  Kennedy ordered U.S. forces on full alert  Bombers and missiles were armed with nuclear weapons  The Naval fleet was prepared to mobilize  Soldiers were prepared to invade Cuba in a moments notice

10.  Simultaneously the Soviets were preparing their nuclear weapons.  Throughout the crisis both sides had their nuclear weapons poised and ready for use.  After mobilizing for war Kennedy went on public television and told the public about the missiles  During the speech Kennedy demanded Soviets remove the missiles  Also said that U.S. would not shrink from nuclear war

11.  Then announced he had authorized a “quarantine” around Cuba which would prevent the Soviets from transporting missiles to Cuba  Action could not be called a “blockade” which is an act of war  For the next two days the two most powerful nations teetered on nuclear war  On October 25 th a Soviet ship crossed the line and was stopped but allowed to cross  Khrushchev called the ships that followed the first back though work continued on the missile site

12.  On October 26 th Khrushchev sent Kennedy a letter that pledged to remove the missiles if Kennedy would end the quarantine and stay out of Cuba  A second letter delivered the next day demanded that the U.S. remove the missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removed missiles from Cuba  The U.S. accepted the terms of the first letter and ignored the second.  With that the Cuban Missile Crisis was averted

13.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis the world was closer than ever before to nuclear war  Kennedy emerged a hero  He had stood up against the Soviets  His favor amongst the Democratic party improved and so did his popular support  The Cuban Missile Crisis also led to a number of efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war

14.  Kennedy and Khruschev established a “hot line” for immediate discussion for future crisis  In 1963 they also signed the first nuclear weapon treaty, Limited Test Ban Treaty  Banned nuclear testing above ground which eliminated the threat of fallout but still permitted testing

15.  Kennedy tried to promote “peaceful revolution” in other words to encourage developing nations to ally themselves with democratic countries of the West rather than the Soviets  The administration pledged $20 billion from the U.S.  It would be spent to promote economic development and social reform to sidetrack revolution

16.  Established in 1961, the program would send volunteers abroad as educators, health workers, and technicians to help developing nations  Today Peace Corps volunteers throughout the world continue to work for Kennedy’s vision of a peaceful world

17.  In 1963 Johnson becomes president  1965 Johnson involves the U.S. in a rebel conflict in the Dominican, a nation close to Cuba. Johnson feared Communist involvement and sent 22,000 marines to the Dominican.  There presence tipped the balance away from the rebels and soon a provisional government was established  Johnson’s administration was deeply involved in the ongoing conflict between Communist North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam  By 1963 16,000 military advisers were already in Vietnam and the U.S. was contributing economic aid, the commitment would only deepen.