Communist Threats: 1960-63

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Communist Threats 1960-63

• Chapter 29 Section 1

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Kennedy Elected in 1960

• Democrat John F. Kennedy won a close election
  against Republican VP Richard Nixon
• A televised debate prior to the election helped
  him
• Kennedy won the African American vote by calling
  Martin Luther Kings wife following his arrest
  and by sending his brother Bobby Kennedy to
  Georgia to arrange for Kings release

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Kennedys Inauguration

• In his inauguration address Kennedy said Ask not
  what your country can do for you, but what you
  can do for your country, which encouraged young
  people to get more involved in public activities
  and politics
• Young people would play an enormous role in the
  civil rights movement

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Kennedys Presidency

• New Frontier Kennedys name for his proposals
  to Congress
• Higher minimum wage
• Tax cut to stimulate economic growth
• New spending on the military and the space
  program
• New programs to help the poor
• Kennedy was unable to pass many laws due to a
  block of Republican and Southern Democratic
  Congressmen who opposed him
• Support for civil rights laws delayed

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• President John F. Kennedys inaugural address
  1961 "Let every nation know, whether it wishes
  us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear
  any burden, meet any hardship, support any
  friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and
  success of liberty

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U2 Crisis of 1960

• American U-2 Spy plane was flying a mission over
  the Soviet Union in May 1960 taking photographs
  of missile sites
• Plane was shot down deep in Soviet territory
• U.S. claimed that a NASA weather aircraft was
  missing
• Soviets uncovered the wreckage
• Pilot was still alive
• Plane was intact (pictures were developed)
• Soviets knew America was spying and lying
• President Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet Premier
  Nikita Khrushchev scheduled to hold a summit in
  Paris
• Khrushchev walks out when Eisenhower doesnt
  apologize

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Kennedy and Communism

• 3 months into office Kennedy orders the Bay of
  Pigs Invasion April 1961
• Failed attempt to use Cuban exiles to overthrow
  Fidel Castros Communist government in Cuba
  (Humiliated U.S.)
• Many thought the young president was not fit for
  major leadership

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Result of the Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sees opportunity
  to act in Berlin
• Soviets wanted to close access to West Berlin
• Built the Berlin Wall (1961) to prevent people in
  East Berlin from fleeing to West Berlin
• U.S. government outraged in public, yet
  somewhat pleased in private

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Kennedy meeting Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev
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Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 1962 American U2 Spy planes
  photographed Soviet ballistic missile sites being
  constructed in Cuba
• Missiles had the capabilities of sending nuclear
  warheads into the U.S. in minutes

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Kennedys Dilemma

• If the U.S. attacked the sites it would be seen
  as aggression and could lead to nuclear war
• If the U.S. did nothing, Russia would be stronger
  than the U.S. in the region AND it could prevent
  the U.S. from retaliating IF war occurred

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Cuban Missile Crisis Short Answer Questions

• 1. List President Kennedys military and/or
  diplomatic options during the Cuban Missile
  Crisis
• 2. Which course of action did Kennedy take and
  why?
• 3. What would you perceive as the outcomes of the
  Cuban Missile Crisis?
• 4. Which country (the US or Soviet Union) had a
  greater claim to victory in the Cuban Missile
  Crisis? Why?