THE JFK YEARS

1960-1963

Nixon DebatesBay of Pigs Invasion

Berlin WallThe Thirteen Days

Assassination

1. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

• Elected President in 1960 (Democrat)

• First ever televised Presidential debates: JFK vs. Nixon

• JFK youngest President ever elected: 42

• Barely defeats Vice-President Richard M. Nixon

• Nixon wanted to charge fraud in the election

The Kennedys • Politically Prominent family – very wealthy

• Father Joseph Kennedy one of the participants of 1938 Munich Conference (appeasement)

• Reputation a problem for JFK (weakness)

• Appoints brother Bobby (RFK) to Attorney-General

• Kennedys not well liked or respected in the White house by old Eisenhower Gov’t people

2. Containing Communism• “NEW FRONTIER”• Cuba is the thorn in the

side of the USA• 90 miles off the coast of

Florida• Castro’s radical

Communist Gov’t a threat to the USA

• CIA plan to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro in the works from Eisenhower years

• Plan presented to JFK with full support from Joint Chiefs

• JFK agrees to the plan

2. Bay of Pigs InvasionApril 19, 1961 • 1,500 anti-Castro Cuban

exiles land at Bay of Pigs, Cuba

• CIA and JFK advisors sure a Cuban uprising would occur

• Poorly planned and executed scheme fails miserably

• Invasion force wiped out in 3 days – 1,200 captured

• No such uprising – bad CIA Info

• Castro solidifies power and popularity in the face of USA aggression

“The USA looked like fools to our friends, like rascals to our enemies, and incompetents to everyone else”

-New York Times on Bay of Pigs Invasion

• JFK publicly accepts blame for the fiasco

• JFK privately claims the CIA manipulated and lied to him

• JFK cleans house at CIA but still is forming Cuba invasion plans

• Tensions run high for JFK & Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev meeting 2 months later in Austria

• JFK gets bullied by Khrushchev

3. Berlin Wall • Khrushchev wary of

USA aggression• Berlin is hot spot for

Soviets• E. Berlin is poor and

under strict rule• W. Berlin is wealthy

and free• By 1961, 3 million had

fled to the West• Khrushchev (USSR)

closes the border and erects a 12 foot, 96 mile wall - closes off East Berlin from West B.

• Becomes ultimate symbol of harsh Communist rule and of the Cold War

4. Beginning of a Crisis

• USSR and Cuba challenge American Containment policy

• Cuba secretly imports Nuclear missiles from Russia to resist another USA invasion

• USA U-2 spy planes discover missiles Oct. 12, 1962

• USA already has Jupiter Missiles in Italy, England, & Turkey – which has angered Russia

U-2 Pictures

Range of the SS-4 Sandal Missile

USA Reaction • JFK assembles a team to weigh options and solutions

• Determine missiles will be operational in 13 Days

• Military wants to strike Cuban Missile Sites

• JFK staff afraid Joint Chiefs setting up for a war (redeem for Pigs)

• JFK decides to blockade (quarantine) Cuba to stop missile shipments

• Can still bomb missile sites if have to

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Horrible psychological effect on American public

• Russia tries to run the blockade

• USA running out of time, prepares to strike the missile sites

• US U-2 spy plane shot down over Cuba

4. At the Last Minute…

• Russian ambassador cuts a secret deal with RFK to end crisis

• 1. USSR removes missiles from Cuba

• 2. USA pledges not to invade Cuba

• 3. USA pledges to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey in 6 months

• The “Hot-Line” phone installed between USA and USSR