Kennedy and the Cold War

• President John F. Kennedy takes over the Cold War in the 1960’s– The 1960 election changes politics

• First Roman Catholic president• First televised presidential debate

– Kennedy’s first challenges occur in Cuba• Cuba was an American protectorate from 1898-1959• A revolution, led by Fidel Castro, put a new government in place that drew

increasingly closer to the Soviets• The Bay of Pigs: April of 1960

– The CIA began secretly training Cuban refugees at the end of the Eisenhower administration

– Kennedy authorizes a US backed invasion of Cuba by the refugees– Due to poor planning, the unwillingness of the US to risk its own troops, and popular

support for Castro, the invasion failed

• Cuban Missile Crisis: October of 1962– The Soviets begin sending nuclear missiles to Cuba in the summer of 1962– The US discovers this and imposes a blockade on Cuba to prevent weapons from being

shipped there– Standoff occurs when Russian ships appear ready to run the blockade– The Soviet Union blinks and stops its ships– The Soviets agree to remove missiles, in exchange the US pledges to not invade Cuba and

remove missiles from Turkey

Cuban missile crisis map

Guiding Question: How did the Cold War proceed during the Kennedy administration?

• Summarize what Source A has to say about the guiding question

• The Berlin Wall is built in 1961– Since the Berlin Airlift, 3 million refugees had fled

from East Germany to West Germany• This was embarrassing to East Germany and harmed

the East German economy

– In order to prevent more refugees from leaving, Khrushchev and East German officials had a wall built on the border of East and West Berlin

Berlin wall map

Guiding Question: How did the Cold War proceed during the Kennedy administration?

• Summarize what Source B has to say about the guiding question

Berlin wall primary source

Guiding Question: How did the Cold War proceed during the Kennedy administration?

• Summarize what Source C has to say about the guiding question

Nuclear war notes

• As a response to how close the US and the USSR came to nuclear war, Kennedy and Khrushchev attempted to reduce tensions– Set up a “hot line,” a dedicated phone line

between the two leaders– Agreed to a limited test ban treaty that ended

nuclear testing in the atmosphere

Nuclear war cartoon

Guiding Question: How did the Cold War proceed during the Kennedy administration?

• Summarize what Source D has to say about the guiding question