The United States and Cuba

Essential Questions

• Why did the Communist Revolution happen in Cuba?

• What was the Bay of Pigs?• What prompted the Cuban Missile Crisis?• What was the outcome of this event?

I. Cuban Revolution

A. Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S. backed dictator in Cuba in 1959

B. Represented the poorC. Castro aligns with the Soviet Union

II. Background Information

A. John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States in 1961

B. Nikita Khrushchev became the Premier of the Soviet Union on March 22, 1958

C. Kennedy had grown up wealthy and Khrushchev very poor

III. Bay of Pigs

A. Group of Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow Castro

B. Failed miserablyC. Many of them funded by CIAD. Planning had begun during Eisenhower

IV. Cuban Missile Crisis

A. Nuclear missiles were discovered in CubaB. Could have been placed in Cuba in response

to nuclear missiles in TurkeyC. Scare tactic used by both sidesD. On October 14, 1962, a spy plan reported

that missiles in Cuba were pointed at the United States

E. The Executive Committee of the National Security Council, also known as ExCom helped Kennedy with his decisions

F. Naval Quarantine was decided as the solutionG. Kennedy then addressed the American

people to inform them of what had taken place in Cuba

H. Robert Kennedy met numerous times with the USSR ambassador

G. Khrushchev knew that nuclear war would end life on earth

I. He wanted the U.S. to remove missiles in Turkey and agree not to invade Cuba in exchange they would remove their missiles in Cuba

J. The missiles in Turkey were a pledge to NATOK. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in

Cuba in exchange the U.S. would not attack Cuba

L. Shortly after, the U.S. and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to remove the missiles in Turkey

M. Khrushchev’s popularity declined