20.1

20.1

Kennedy and the Cold War

The Election of 1960

• As the 1960 election approached voters became very restless as the U.S. economy was in a recession.

• The Soviet Union had launched Sputnik I as well as developed long range missiles, the U2 incident, and the alignment of Cuba with the Soviet Union had Americans questioning whether the United States was losing the Cold War 

The Election of 1960 Pt 2

• The Democratic nominee for President, John Kennedy, promised active leadership “to get America moving again” 

• His Republican opponent, Vice President Richard Nixon, hoped to win by riding the coattails of President Eisenhower’s popularity 

• Both candidates had similar position on policy issues but two factors that helped put Kennedy over the top: television and the civil rights issue 

The Televised Debate Affects Votes

• The Kennedy campaign was a well organized undertaking with the backing of his wealthy family 

• Kennedy himself was young, very handsome and charismatic 

• His detractors felt he was too young, 43, was Catholic, and was too inexperienced in political matters

• One particular event would determine the course of the election for Nixon and Kennedy

The Televised Debate Affects Votes 2

• Kennedy and Nixon would take part in the first televised debate between Presidential candidates in 1960 

• 70 million TV viewers would tune in to watch two articulate and knowledgeable candidates debating issues 

• Nixon agreed to the forum in hopes of exposing Kennedy's inexperience, especially when it came to foreign policy

• However, Kennedy had been coached by television producers, and he looked and spoke better than Nixon 

Kennedy and Civil Rights

• A second major event that occurred during the campaign took place in October: as police in Atlanta arrested the Rev. Martin Luther King and 33 other African American demonstrators for sitting at a segregated lunch counter 

• King was sentenced two months of hard labor-officially for a minor traffic violation 

• The Eisenhower administration refused to intervene, and Nixon took no public position 

Kennedy & Civil Rights 2

• When Kennedy heard of the arrest he immediately called Dr. King’s wife and expressed his sympathy while his brother Robert Kennedy persuaded the judge to release the civil rights leader on bail 

• News of the incident captured immediate attention of the African-American community, whose votes would help Kennedy carry key states in the Midwest & South 

The Camelot Years

• In November, Kennedy would defeat Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections in American history 

• During his term, the President and his family would invite many artists and celebrities to the White House 

• Kennedy often appeared on television as the press and the media loved his charm and wit which helped to bolster his image 

The Kennedy Mystique

• Critics of Kennedy's Presidency argued that his smooth style lacked substance 

• The nation became fascinated with every aspect of the Kennedys 

• Everything from learning that the President could read 1,600 words a minute to the fashion of the First Lady 

• Newspapers and magazines would fill their pages with pictures and stories about the president’s young daughter Caroline & his infant son John 

• With the President’s youthful glamour & his talented advisers, the Kennedy White House reminded many of a modern day Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur 

The Best & the Brightest

• Kennedy surrounded himself with the team of advisers that one journalist called “ the best and the brightest.” 

• These men included McGeorge Bundy as National Security Adviser; Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense; and Dean Rusk as Secretary of State 

• Of all the advisers will fill Kennedy's inner circle, he relied most heavily on his brother Robert, who he appointed Attorney General 

A New Military Policy

• From the beginning, Kennedy focused on the Cold War 

• He felt that the Eisenhower administration had not done enough about the Soviet threat 

• The Soviets, he concluded, were gaining loyalties in the economically less developed third-world countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America 

• He would blast the Republicans for allowing communism to develop in Cuba, at America’s doorstep 

Defining a Military Strategy

• Kennedy believed his most urgent task was redefining the nation’s nuclear strategy 

• The Eisenhower administration had relied on the policy of mass retaliation to deter Soviet aggression and imperialism 

• Kennedy felt that the threat of nuclear arms over a minor conflict was not worth the risk 

• Instead, his team developed a policy of flexible response or the use of traditional means of war 

Defining a Military Strategy 2

• Kennedy increased defense spending in order to boost conventional military forces—non nuclear forces such as troops, ships, and artillery

• Monies were also used to create an elite branch of the army called the Special Forces, or Green Berets.

• He also tripled the overall nuclear capabilities of the United States which allowed the U.S. to fight limited wars around the world while maintaining a balance of nuclear power with the Soviet Union 

Crisis Over Cuba

• The first test of Kennedy’s foreign policy came in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida 

• About two weeks before Kennedy took office, on January 3, 1961, President Eisenhower had cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba because of a revolutionary leader named Fidel Castro 

• Castro openly declared himself a communist and welcomed aid from the Soviet Union 

The Cuban Delimma

• Castro would come to power by revolution & with the promise of democracy 

• The United States was suspicious of Castro’s intentions but nevertheless recognized the new government 

• However, when Castro seized three American and British oil refineries, relations between United States and Cuba worsened 

• Castro also broke up commercial farms into communes that would be worked by formally landless peasants 

The Cuban Dilemma 2

• American sugar companies, which controlled 75% of the crop land in Cuba, appealed to the U.S. government for help 

• In response, Congress erected trade barriers against Cuban sugar 

• Castro relied increasingly on Soviet aid-and on the political repression of those who did not agree with him 

• Many began to see Castro as a tyrant who had replaced one dictatorship for another 

The Bay of Pigs

• In March 1960, President Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba 

• The CIA and the exiles hoped it would trigger a mass uprising that would overthrow Castro 

• Kennedy learned of the plan only nine days after his election and although we had doubts he approved it on the advice of his military leaders 

• On the night of April 17, 1961 some 1500 Cuban exiles supported by the United States military landed at the Bay of Pigs

The Bay of Pigs 2

• The mission was a complete disaster and failure 

• The disaster left Kennedy embarrassed 

• Kennedy would negotiate with Castro for the release of surviving commandos and paid a ransom of $53 million in food and medical supplies 

• Kennedy continued to warn that he would resist further communist expansion in the western hemisphere, Castro defiantly welcomed further Soviet aid 

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Castro had a powerful ally in Moscow: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who promised to defend Cuba with Soviet arms 

• During the summer of 1962, the flow to Cuba of Soviet weapons-including nuclear missiles-increase greatly 

• Kennedy responded with a warning that America would not tolerate offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba 

• Then, on October 14, photographs taken by American planes revealed Soviet missile bases in Cuba-and some contained missiles ready to launch 

• On October 22, Kennedy informed the nation of the existence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba & his plans to have them removed 

The Cuban Missile Crisis 2

• He made it clear that any missile attack from Cuba would trigger an all out attack on the Soviet Union 

• For the next six days the world would hold its breath waiting for total destruction 

• During those six dates Soviet ships continued supplying Cuba with presumably more missiles 

• The U.S. responded by enacting a quarantine of Cuba 

• Under this quarantine United States navy would prevent any ships from coming within 500 miles of Cuba In Florida 100,000 troops were assembled for a possible land invasion 

The Cuban Missile Crisis 3

• The first break in the crisis occurred when the Soviet ships stop suddenly to avoid a confrontation at sea 

• A few days later, Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles in return for an American pledge not to invade Cuba 

• The United States also secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey 

• The leaders agreed, and the crisis ended

• “ for a moment, the world had stood still,” Robert Kennedy wrote years later,” and now it was going around again” 

Kennedy & Khrushchev Take the Heat

• The crisis severely damaged Khrushchev’s prestige in the Soviet Union and the world 

• Kennedy also received criticism for practicing brinkmanship when private talks might have resolved the crisis without the threat of nuclear war 

• Others believed he had passed up an ideal chance to invade Cuba and oust Castro

Crisis Over Berlin

• What guided Kennedy through the Cuban missile crisis was that of proving to Khrushchev his determination to contain communism 

• All the while, Kennedy was thinking of their recent confrontations over Berlin, which had led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, a concrete wall topped with barbed wire that severed the city in two 

The Berlin Crisis

• In 1961, Berlin was a city in great turmoil as more than three million Germans had fled into West Berlin in an attempt to escape communism 

• Khrushchev realized that this problem had to be solved as it was severely weakening the East German economy 

• In 1961 he threatened to sign a treaty with East Germany that would enable that country to close all the access roads to West Berlin 

• When Kennedy refused to give up U.S. access to West Berlin Khrushchev was furious 

The Berlin Crisis 2

• Khrushchev’s response was a construction of the Berlin Wall 

• Kennedy viewed Berlin as the testing place of democracy vs. communism

• Kennedy himself would travel to West Berlin to reassure the West Germans that the U.S. would not abandon them 

• Kennedy’s determination and America's superior nuclear striking power prevented Khrushchev from closing the air and land routes between West Berlin and West Germany 

Searching for Ways to Ease Tensions

• Showdowns between Kennedy and Khrushchev made both leaders aware of the gravity of split-second decisions that separated Cold War peace from nuclear disaster

• In 1963, the two nations establish a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin 

• This dedicated phone enabled the leaders of the two countries to communicate at once should another crisis arise 

• Later that year, the United States and the Soviet Union also agreed to a Limited Test Ban Treaty that barred nuclear testing in the atmosphere