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Cold War Conflicts
Cuban Missile Crisis

During the JFK administration, the Cold War will begin
to reach frightening levels

In 1959 Cuban Revolutionairy overthrows Cuban dictator
Fulgencio Batista to set up a totalitarian regime in Cuba
->

Supported by the USSR

Direct threat to the United States

Socialist regime with Communist contacts

90 miles off coast of Florida
Stalemate

President Kennedy fears that if he moves against Castro
-> Soviets retaliate in Berlin

Potential stage set for nuclear war

Kennedy and the CIA put together the Bay of Pigs
operation


Exiled Cuban fighters would invade Cuba

Plan was to cause a revolt against Castro
Sunday, April 16, 1961 -> becomes a complete disaster
by Wednesday
Soviet Response

After the Bay of Pigs, Soviets send advisors to Cuba

Nikita Kruschev begins to ship nuclear weapons into
Cuba in 1962

In October 1962, Kennedy finds Soviet ships carrying
these missiles

Orders blockaide around Cuba

Gave both sides an opportunity to reach a peaceful
solution

Krushchev agrees to pull weapons out of Cuba ->
Kennedy agrees not invade Cuba
Key Players
Vietnam War
Vietnam War

By 1963, the United States had been drawn into the
Vietnam War

By this time, many nations in southeast Asia gained
independence

France refuses to let go of Indochina -> Leads to war

Leader of this struggle with French colonial rule is
the local Communist party led by Ho Chi Minh.
Division of Vietnam




China and the USSR wanted to avoid ANOTHER
conflict with the United States
Pressure Vietnam to agree to a temporary partition
-> Vietnam is divided into two parts
 North Vietnam -> Communist
 South Vietnam -> non - Communist
Both sides had agreed to hold an election within 2
years to create one state
Conflict spirals out of control
President Johnson's Decision

Viet-Cong on verge of seizing South Vietnam by 1965

March of 1965, LBJ sends U.S. Troops into Vietnam
to stop spread of Communism

Revisited fear of a Domino Theory in Southeast Asia
Public Opinion

Despite superior in equipment and firepower, U.S.
troops fail to defeat North Vietnamese

Anti-War movement begins to take flight in the
United States
 Television
 Draft
age

President Johnson is pardoned, does not run for reelection

Nixon takes office & removes troops from Vietnam
in 1973
Theory Disproved

Despite communist success in Vietnam-> domino
theory proves to be false

Split between USSR and Communist China

Ends western thought process that one form of
communism exists
 Directed

by Moscow
By the end of Vietnam -> U.S. and Soviet relations
begin to emerge.