Kennedy’s Cold War

1. Kennedy’s Cold War 1961-1963

2. Communism Spreads to Cuba • 1953-1959 = Cuban Revolution • overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista • 59’ - Fidel Castro – new leader • many reforms • Land reform – 75% foreign owned • "Our revolution is endangering all American possessions in Latin America. We are telling these countries to make their own revolution." • — Che Guevara, October 1962 Raul Castro & Che Guevara

3. The Plot to Get Rid of Castro • Eisenhower administration plan to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland • March of 1960 - Camps in Guatemala were established • Jose Miro Cardona, leader of the anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the United States = would lead afterwards • It became common knowledge in Miami

4. Kennedy Becomes Involved • Kennedy was briefed during lame duck period • February 1961 authorized BUT USA support had to be sufficiently disguised • Moved location to “Bay of Pigs” • Very cautious – why?

5. Bay of Pigs • Assumption: 2 strikes, surprise, set up new government, people Cuba join in • April 15, 1961 - Only 1 airstrike • did not wipe out air force – WWII bombers • April 17 – land on beach & heavy fire • Castro waiting with over 20,000 • Kennedy tried to send more support but got there too late • 1200 surrendered – 100 killed • 53 million dollars worth of baby food and drugs given to Castro for release of prisoners • Dec 62’ first released • “tear CIA to pieces and scatter to the wind” “too large to be clandestine and too small to be successful.”

6. Why Bay of Pigs Mattered? • Your Kennedy, what now? • Kennedy took a MUCH more aggressive stance • retired General Maxwell Taylor made its report. "There can be no long-term living with Castro,“ • "We will take action against Castro," Bobby wrote. "It might be tomorrow, it might be in five days or ten days, or not for months. But it will come." • Operation Mongoose--a plan to sabotage and destabilize the Cuban government and economy, including the possible assassination of Castro himself • Castro "the top priority of the U.S. government -- all else is secondary -- no time, money, effort, or manpower is to be spared, “ JFK • ORTSAC – 62’ – mock invasion

7. The Cold War Continued… • June 1961, Vienna summit - President Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev • “son older than you” – Khrushchev to Kennedy • increased tensions between the two superpowers- • discussions regarding the divided city of Berlin. • Khrushchev threatened blocking access to west Berlin • Kennedy, “we seek peace, but we shall not surrender”

8. The Berlin Wall http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall/videos • By 1961, East lost nearly 2.5 million to the “economic miracle”/West Berlin. • Losing workers • August 13, 1961, the people of Berlin were awakened by the rumbling of heavy machinery barreling down their street toward the line that divided the eastern and western parts of the city – wood barbed wire fence • Morning, a ring of Soviet troops surrounded the city. In one night, the freedom to pass between the two sections of Berlin had been abruptly halted.

9. Less than nine months later, Khrushchev’s little fence turned into a 90 mile wide concrete wall with watch towers, machine gun posts and even minefields.

11. Shot if tried to cross without a permit • Checkpoint Charlie, located on the border between East and West Berlin • main access point for Allied personnel and Westerners to cross the border

12. What options does Kennedy have?

13. Kennedy sent 1500 troops to West Berlin • 27 October 1961 Soviet and American troops pulled up on their respective sides of the Berlin Wall Khrushchev said, “It’s [the wall] not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than war.”

14. What does this tell you? • After Berlin - "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have a strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He also told his son that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree" • Eisenhower to Kennedy "the failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do.“ • one Soviet adviser wrote about Kennedy, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations ... too intelligent and too weak."[

15. U-2 Photograph of a truck convoy approaching a deployment of Soviet Medium Range Ballistic Missiles near Los Palacios at San Cristobal

16. Why this mattered and happened? • Reports of trucks carrying cylinders at night • U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet-made medium-range nuclear missiles on Cuba • Oct 14 – clear pictures of construction • Cuba = ninety miles from the coast of Florida • Why would the Soviets do this? • counter threat to US missiles in Turkey; balance of power; Berlin; Deterrent against US invasion of Cuba

20. 13 Days • Oct 15 – images processed/presented • President consults with EXCOMM • NSC & top advisors • October 22 =U.S. warships began stopping Soviet vessels bound for Cuban shores • "quarantine" rather than a blockade • a blockade[of "navigation in international waters and air space" constituted "an act of aggression propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war • Negotiations , but still tense • Finally, on October 27 a deal was struck • Soviets agreed to remove their missiles from Cuba • the United States promised not to invade Cuba • Secretly, agree to withdraw missiles from Turkey • Nov 20 – quarantine officially over!

21. Mr. President, we and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter that knot will be tied. And a moment may come when that knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it, and then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you, because you yourself understand perfectly of what terrible forces our countries dispose. Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten that knot and thereby to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this. Letter From Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, October 26,

22. Why it mattered? • Those 13 days were the closest to nuclear war • MAD discussed

23. So far, how does Kennedy compare to the other Cold War Presidents?

24. EASING TENSIONS • Both Khrushchev and Kennedy began searching for ways to ease the enormous tension between the two superpowers • In 1963 they established a hot line between the White House and the Kremlin • Later that year, the superpowers signed a Limited Test Ban Treaty that served to ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere

25. What is Flexible Response?

26. -Kennedy felt that Eisenhower had relied too heavily on nuclear weapons, which could only be used in extreme situations. • -To allow for a “flexible response” if nations needed help against Communist movements, the president pushed for a buildup of conventional troops and weapons • Try different things besides just nukes!!