Kennedy & the Cold War

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5.2 U.S. History

Kennedy & the Cold War

Evaluate President Kennedy cold war policy successes & Failures with Cuba & the USSR

Soviets & Space

New Frontier

Cuban Missile Crisis

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Domino Theory

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Triumph & Tragedy

The important to people to our story today

Apollo 11 Crew

Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, & Michael Collins - Would they be first to the moon?

Nikita Krushchev

Leader of Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 - takes over for Stalin. What kind of leader would he be?

Fidel Castro

Dictator of Cuba beginning in 1959 - How would the U.S. react to a new leader in Cuba - who promised change?

John F. Kennedy

President of the United States 1961-1963. The rise of a new generation of leaders in the U.S.

The Key Characters in this Episode

WWII Hero and Veteran Father was U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain until WWII. Senator in the 1950s. Runs for President in 1960. Tough on communism. Seen as inexperienced. Defeats Richard Nixon in 1960 election. Message of people doing for their country. Serves from 1961-1963. Killed in Dallas, TX on Nov. 22, 1963.

Triumph & Tragedy

Introduction to John F. Kennedy

Cuba & The U.S.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion

Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959 after a successful revolution to overthrow the U.S. backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro is young and believes in removing foreign influence from Cuba- Socialist with communist leanings at the beginning of his administration. - Limited foreign land ownership (i.e. American) - Nationalized oil refining (U.S. oil companies lost their refineries in Cuba). U.S. responded by cancelling imports of all sugar from Cuba. U.S. President Eisenhower directed the CIA to plan a overthrow of the Castro government in Cuba inspried by the successful CIA coup in 1954 of Guatemala.- President Kennedy learned of the operation 9 days after taking office. As a young president, he trusted his advisors and despite his doubts approved the plan. The Result: The Bay of Pigs invasion was a total disaster and an embarrassment for the United States and President Kennedy. 1189 CIA backed rebels were captured and forced on TV for the world to see. - Presdient Kennedy will be lesss likely to take the advice of his military and CIA advisors in the future. - Castro and Cuba will become closer to the Soviet Union and communism. The Soviets will look to Cuba to even the balance of power......

Trouble in Cuba

After the Bay of Pigs and Cuba becoming closer to the Soviet Union. Castro agreed to allow the Soviet Union to place 12 medium range nuclear missiles in Cuba. A U.S. aerial reconnaissance flight of Cuba in October of 1962 photographed nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis began. 13 days of a tense back and forth between the United States and the Soviet Union. Kennedy tightened up his close circle of advisors and rejected invasion and air strike plans by the military because he knew that would lead to nuclear war. The U.S. implemented a naval blockade of Cuba that gave both sides time to negotiate. - Negotiations averted a disaster. - The U.S. agreed to remove missiles from Turkey and Italy in exchange for the Soviet withdraw of nuclear missiles from Cuba. Learn more here:

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Bigger Trouble in Cuba - Tensions are High

• New Frontier (his campaign platform): Kennedy's approach to domestic policy included ideas for:
• housing
• ending discrimination
• federal funding for education
• increasing the federal minimum wage
• Kennedy faced opposition from Republicans and Southern Democrats in Congress.
• His proposed civil rights legislation was not passed until 1964 after his assassination.
• Unemployment benefits were expanded, the continued construction of the national highway system that started under Eisenhower was given more funding, an agricultural act was passed to raise farmers' income, along with a host of anti-poverty legislation.

Kennedy's Policies

New Deal Like Policies - Modernize America

The Space race stemmed from the nuclear arms race, where advancements in rocket technology for missiles also paved the way for space exploration.

• As part of the New Frontier, Kennedy called on Americans to be "new pioneers" and explore "uncharted areas of science and space..."
• The space race began to heat up in the late 1950s when the Soviets put a satellite into orbit and then Cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human to journey into outer space and orbit the earth.
• The U.S. gov't believed that if the Soviet Union reached the moon first, then they would build a military base on the moon.
• Kennedy declared that the U.S. will reach the moon by the end of the decade.
• On July 20, 1969, the U.S. achieved this goal with NASA's APOLLO 11 mission
• Successfully landed two astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the moon.

Kennedy did not live to witness this historic achievement he challenged the nation to meet.

Does Getting to the Moon first make Democracy better than Communism?

Space - The Final Frontier

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Failed U.S. backed invasion of Cuba in 1961 to overthrow Fidel Castro. Pushed Castro to seek more assistance from the Soviet Union.

In 1962, the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, discovered by the U.S., leading to 13 days of tension and a nuclear threat, ending with negotiations and the removal of the missiles in Cuba.

Which country put a man on the moon first?

The name of the domestic policy of President Kennedy that aimed to help the poor, create civil rights legislation, and raise the minimum wage

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missile Crisis

The United States.

The U.S. won the space race by landing on the moon in 1969, showcasing a decade of rocket advancements and national pride.

The New Frontier

Some of these elements were successful and were passed by Congress. Others were not. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would not be passed until after President Kennedy's death.

Extra Practice - End Credits

To Learn More about these 13 days in October - Click Here

Kennedy Annotation of Missile Sites in Cuba

This is a cool piece of history. The x's on the map denote where the missile sites were in Cuba and these markings were made by President Kennedy in his notes.

Cuban Missile Crisis - The world was on the brink of nuclear war. President Kennedy learned to not just trust the CIA and military officials and worked with a close group of advisers - one being his brother Robert Kennedy.

The Bay of Pigs was a major mess up for a young President Kennedy and his administration. He was a young president and this was seen as him being inexperienced and unfit for the job. He would learn from it and it would help him with a future issue with Cuba- an even bigger problem.

The space race was about scientific supremcy but also the ability to develop rockets that could be used in nuclear war.

U.S. wins the space race and it was a global event to watch these astronauts land on the moon!