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The Election of 1960 5) Despite the success of the Eisenhower Administration, youthful Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts was rapidly gaining momentum in the polls and represented a significant Democratic challenger. To many voters Kennedy symbolized youth and progressive change from the more traditional approaches of Republican rule in the conformist 1950s. The Election of 1960 9) The election was extremely close and tense. Kennedy won with only a 100,000 vote margin in the popular vote out of 68 million total votes cast. The Election of 1960 10) Kennedy’s stirring and optimistic inaugural address directly spoke to the American youth with a famous call to service that stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Cuban Revolution 4) The U.S. had treated Cuba as an unofficial colony since the end of the Spanish American War in 1898 and had supported business-friendly leaders with little concern for how they treated the Cuban people. Cuban Revolution 5) In 1959, Fidel Castro led a popular revolution that toppled the Batista regime. Castro established a Communist dictatorship and moved to confiscate all U.S.-owned businesses and properties in Cuba. Cuban Revolution 6) Thousands of anti-Castro Cuban refugees fled the island and set sail across ninety miles of ocean and sought asylum in the United States. Cuban Revolution 7) Before the U.S. could intervene, the new Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev eagerly recognized Castro’s regime in Cuba. The U.S. government threatened to invoke the Monroe Doctrine, but Khrushchev declared it a dead policy and indicated that he would shower the U.S. with missiles if Cuba was attacked. The Bay of Pigs (1961) 1) Shortly after taking office, Kennedy was persuaded to back a CIA plan to use Cuban refugees to topple the Castro regime. The Bay of Pigs (1961) 2) Over 1200 Cuban refugees were trained and armed by the United States and were hastily sent to Cuba to invade the Bay of Pigs and lead a popular uprising against Castro in mid-April 1961 The Bay of Pigs (1961) 8) CIA officials knew that the initial invasion would be a disaster, but believed that Kennedy would order a full-scale invasion of U.S. air and ground forces once he realized that the rebels were surrounded. The Bay of Pigs (1961) 9) The ground invasion commenced on the early morning of April 17th as the 1200 Cuban rebels landed at the Bay of Pigs. Castro’s forces responded quickly and completely surrounded the rebels within three days. The Bay of Pigs (1961) 11) President Kennedy assumed full responsibility for the failure, admitted to U.S. involvement in the invasion, and fired the head of the CIA. The embarrassing fiasco led Kennedy to remark that, “victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” Berlin Wall (1961) 1) U.S. presence in West Berlin was a continual source of frustration for the Soviet Union since the failed blockade of 1947-48. Nikita Khrushchev continually un-nerved U.S. leaders by threatening to use military force to occupy Western Berlin. Berlin Wall (1961) 2) Hundreds of East Germans used U.S.-controlled West Berlin as a means to escape to noncommunist countries in Western Europe. This defiance of Soviet authority became too strong to ignore and Khrushchev moved to restrict the drain of refugees. Berlin Wall (1961) 3) Obvious U.S. involvement in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion had also severely strained U.S.-Soviet relations in April 1961. Berlin Wall (1961) 4) In August 1961 the Soviets began construction of the Berlin Wall to prevent access to the western sector of the city. A massive wall of concrete and barbed wire was erected around the U.S. sector and was patrolled by armed guards. Berlin Wall (1961) 5) The Wall became a symbol of the tyranny that was typically associated with the communist world. The wall also served as a literal representation of what Winston Churchill had ominously referred to as “the iron curtain” in 1946. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 1) The failed Bay of Pigs invasion and several assassination attempts on Fidel Castro only strengthened Cuban relations with the Soviet Union. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 2) On October 16th 1962, aerial photographs taken by American spy planes revealed that the Soviets had secretly constructed several nuclear weapons sites within Cuba. Only ninety miles off the coast of Florida, the nuclear missiles could quickly and easily strike most targets in the continental United States. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 3) For the next thirteen days the two superpowers stared each other down, waiting for the other side to blink first. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 5) In a televised address on October 22nd, Kennedy announced the disturbing discovery to the nation. He ordered a massive naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent Soviet reinforcement and demanded that Soviets immediately dismantle the nuclear sites. Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 8) In response to the U.S. naval quarantine, Khrushchev authorized his Soviet field commanders in Cuba to launch their nuclear weapons if the island was invaded by U.S. forces. The world held its collective breath for close to a week as a fleet to Soviet ships sailed across the Atlantic towards Cuba. ? Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 9) Khrushchev blinked first and offered a series of compromises to prevent further escalation of the crisis. In exchange for the Soviet promise to dismantle their nuclear sites in Cuba, Kennedy agreed on October 28th to end the naval quarantine of Cuba and pledged never to invade the island.