The Kennedy Years

APUSH Unit 12 Part 3

Only 120,000 votes apart!!!! – Role of Illinois?

1960 Election

JFK

Paris, 1961Paris, 1961

Khrushchev & JFK meet to discuss Berlin and Khrushchev & JFK meet to discuss Berlin and nuclear proliferation. Khrushchev thinks nuclear proliferation. Khrushchev thinks

that JFK is that JFK is young, inexperiencedyoung, inexperienced, and , and can be can be controlledcontrolled..

JFK – “One of theworst days of mylife”

Khruschev Embraces Khruschev Embraces Castro,Castro,19611961

The Berlin Wall Goes Up The Berlin Wall Goes Up (1961)(1961)

CheckpoinCheckpointt

CharlieCharlie

Bay of Pigs Debacle Bay of Pigs Debacle (1961)(1961)

Castro versus 1500 CIA trained exiles

CASTRO

Bay of Pigs

Outcomes

• On December 1962, the Cuban government exchanged the 1,113 captured mercenaries for 53 million dollars worth of baby food and medicine

• US Cost = $42 million for training and supplies + $53 million for ransom

• End result = Castro remains in power and Soviet Union strengthens Cuban relationship

Cuban Missile Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)(1962)

Cuban Missile Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)(1962)

Listed as the 13 most dangerous days in recenthistory!

JFK – Speech to the Nation

KHRUSHCHEV RespondsDear Mr. President,

Imagine, Mr. President, what if we were to present to you such an ultimatum as you have presented to us by your actions. How would you react to it? I think you would be outraged at such a move on our part. And this we would understand. Having presented these conditions to us, Mr. President, you have thrown down the gauntlet. Who asked you to do this? By what right have you done this? Our ties with the Republic of Cuba, as well as our relations with other nations, regardless of their political system, concern only the two countries between which these relations exist.

The End of the Letter?• The Soviet government considers the violation of

the freedom of navigation in international waters and air space to constitute an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.

• We will then be forced on our part to take those measures we deem necessary and sufficient to defend our rights. To this end we have all that is necessary.

Cuban Missile Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)(1962)

We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!Russians, and the other man blinked!

13 Days13 Days

Outcomes of the Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Creation of a “hot line” for instant communication between Moscow and Washington

2. Limited Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty – prohibited above ground, outer space, and underwater nuclear testing (more symbolic than substantive)

3. Kennedy’s popularity soars!!!

Assassination of JFK

• Lee Harvey Oswald

November 22, 1963

Dallas, Texas

Interview after arrest

Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

Warren Commission’s Report

• It is apparent, however, that Oswald was moved by an overriding hostility to his environment. He does not appear to have been able to establish meaningful relationships with other people. He was perpetually discontented with the world around him. Long before the assassination he expressed his hatred for American society and acted in protest against it. Out of these and the many other factors which may have molded the character of Lee Harvey Oswald there emerged a man capable of assassinating President Kennedy.