Kennedy and the Cold War

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The Great Debates

1st Televised Debate

Presidential CampaignKennedy: Came from politically powerful Massachusetts familyWar heroRepresented the future

Nixon:Self-made man from a small townTies Eisenhower tied him to the past

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Election of 1960• JFK capitalized on their differences• Adopted the term “New Frontier”• Played on Nation’s Cold War fears• Showed concern for poor

Election of 1960• Defended Eisenhower’s record• Made him appear tied to the past

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Catholic Candidate

• Some Protestant voters concerned• Fears that JFK might put views of Catholic Church over those of American public

Election Day• One of the closest in history• JFK became youngest (43 years) President in history• Popular vote separated by 120,000 votes• Electoral 303-219

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Kennedy and MLK

JFK’s support for Martin LutherKing won him the support ofblack voters

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JFK takes Office

• Inaugural address focused on theme of change

• Also strong anti-Communist tone

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“The Best and the Brightest”

• Young, well educated experts in their fields

• Closest advisor RFK, brother and youngest ever Attorney General (36)

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Bay of Pigs Invasion

• CIA had been training 1,500 Cuban exiles in Central America to invade Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro

• Many had been recruited in south Florida

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Background of Invasion

• Came to power in 1959 after a 2 year guerilla war against Fulgencio Batista

• Batista was a U.S. backed dictator

• Castro promised to restore rights and freedoms

• Once in power he seized private businesses

• Began making anti-American speeches

• Eisenhower cut economic and diplomatic ties

10Fidel Castro

Invasion of Cuba• Plan hatched by CIA under Eisenhower

• JFK• Considered Castro’s Communism a threat to all Latin America

• Had criticized IKE for inaction during presidential campaign

• Felt he would look weak if he backed down

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Disaster• Plans leaked to New York Times a week before, JFK denied story

• April 15, 1961• Unmarked US bombers failed to take out Cuban air force

• JFK cancelled airstrikes scheduled for next two days

• Land invasion April 17th

• Castro’s troops were waiting for invaders

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Result of Bay of Pigs

• Total failure

• Castro viewed as hero in Cuba

• 1,200 invaders captured

• Strengthened ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union

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Cuban Missile Crisis

President John F. Kennedy

• Kennedy looked for other ways to unseat Castro

• interrupted Cuban trade, ordered more raids by exiles, plotted Castro’s assassination- (all through the CIA)

• Castro and Khrushchev were furious

• in October of 1962 a U.S. spy plane took photos of crews installing Soviet missiles in Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis• Kennedy’s advisors met for a week to decide a course of action

• negotiations were ruled out since it would allow time for more missiles to be put in place

• invasion might start nuclear war

• Kennedy decided on blockade of Cuba to stop further delivery of nuclear weapons….then quietly push Khrushchev to remove the weapons

Cuban Missile Crisis• Kennedy sent 180 warships sailing to Cuba, deployed B-52 bombers with nuclear weapons, military forces worldwide on alert

• Soviets sent ships toward Cuba and world held its breath, U-2 shot down

• Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if U.S. vowed to never attack Cuba

• Khrushchev demanded that the U.S. remove missiles from Turkey (we ignored this)

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Kennedy agreed to the first demand but ignored the second

• He also ordered Khrushchev to get the missiles out of Cuba – or the United States would take them out

• Khrushchev finally backed down - the crisis ended

After the Crisis• the standoff changed the character of the Cold War

• both accepted each other’s power and admitted the importance of negotiation

• installed a hotline for communication in event of future crisis

• did nothing to slow the arms race, the Soviets felt humiliated

• stockpile of nuclear weapons continued

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Kennedy’s New Frontier• America struck by Kennedy youth and vitality

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Jackie Kennedy

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Kennedy and Congress• New Frontier: name given to his plans for change

• Conservative Congress (didn’t favor change)

• Narrow victory, no mandate (authorization to act)

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The Space Program• Direct result of Cold War Crises

• Soviets 1st man in space 1961

• May, 1961 proposal to Congress:

“ This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth…”

• John Glenn 1962

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The Warren Court• Series of controversial rulings which greatly extended individual rights and freedoms

• Brown v Board (1954)• Baker v Carr (1962)• Engel v Vitale (1962)• Abington School District v Schempp (1963)• Gideon v Wainwright (1963)• Miranda v Arizona (1966)

• Roe v Wade (1973) not technically a “Warren Court” decision

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The Kennedy Assassination• 1964 campaign approaching

• JFK flew to Dallas to win support of southern Democrats

• November 22, 1963

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• Texas Schoolbook Depository

• Three Shots fired

• President Kennedy and Texas Governor Connolly hit

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Lee Harvey Oswald

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Jack Ruby

Tried and convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald

34 Warren Commission

Computer Generated Simulation