Background

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During World War II, despite mutual suspicion and distrust, the United States and Great Britain joined the Soviet Union in an effort to defeat their common enemy, Nazi Germany. The alliance began to crumble immediately after the surrender of the Hitler government in May 1945. Tensions were apparent during the Potsdam Conference in July, where the victorious Allies created the joint occupation of Germany. Determined to have a buffer zone between the borders and Western Europe, the Soviet Union set up pr-communist regimes in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania and eventually in Eastern Germany. Recognizing that it would not be possible to force the Soviets out of Eastern Europe, the United States developed the policy of containment to prevent the spread of Soviet and communist influence and power in Western European nations such as France, Italy and Greece.=====

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These events and decisions marked the beginning of the Cold War, a struggle between communism and the free market systems of Europe and the United States, fought with propaganda, rising military budgets, wars by proxy, covert activities and the political use of military and economic aid. During the decade of the 1940s, the United States reversed its traditional reluctance to become involved in European affairs. The Truman Doctrine (1947) pledged aid to governments threatened by communist subversion. The Marshall Plan (1947) provided billions of dollars in economic assistance to eliminate the political instability that could result in communist takeovers of democratically elected governments. When the Soviets cut off all road and rail traffic to Berlin (1948), the United States and Great Britain responded with a massive airlift that supplied the besieged city for 231 days until the blockade was lifted. In 1949, the United States joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the first mutual security/military alliance in American history.=====

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During the next decade, with the European situation essentially frozen in place, the conflict between East and West took place mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The struggle to overthrow colonial regimes frequently became entangled in Cold War tensions as the superpowers competed to influence and control anti-colonial movements. In 1949, the communists triumphed in the Chinese civil war, setting of a bitter political debate in the United States concerning “who lost China.” In 1950, after North Korea invaded South Korea, the United Nations and the United States sent military forces. When Communist China also intervened, several years of boldly campaigns were fought until a truce was signed in 1953 ending the Korean War.=====

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Closer to home, the Cuban resistance movement, led by Fidel Castro deposed the pro-American military dictatorship in 1959. Castro’s Cuba quickly became militarily and economically dependent on the Soviet Union. In early 1961, the Eisenhower administration broke diplomatic relations with Cuba, tacitly acknowledging the presence of a Soviet foothold in the Western Hemisphere. =====

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Following John F. Kennedy's election and inauguration, hewas made aware of a plan Eisenhower had to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. The plan anticipated that support from the Cuban people and perhaps even from elements of the Cuban military would lead to the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. Kennedy approved the operation and some 1,400 exiles landed at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs on April 17. The entire force was either killed or captured. Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure of the operation. =====

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In June 1961, Kennedy met with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna. Khrushchev threatened to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany, effectively cutting off Allied access to Berlin. Kennedy was surprised by Khrushchev’s combative tone. At one point, when the Soviet leader identified the Lenin Peace Medals he was wearing, Kennedy retorted, “I hope you keep them.” In August, in order to stop the flood of East Germans fleeing to West Germany, Khrushchev ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall, a massive structure of concrete blocks dividing the two parts of Berlin. =====

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As a result of these threatening developments, Kennedy ordered substantial increases in American intercontinental ballistic forces. He also added five new army divisions and increased the nation’s air power and military reserves. The Soviets meanwhile resumed nuclear testing and President Kennedy responded by reluctantly reactivating American tests in early 1962. In May 1961, JFK authorized sending 500 Special Forces troops and military advisers, supplementing the 2,000 Americans already sent by the Eisenhower administration to assist the pro-Western government of South Vietnam. In February, 1962, the president approved sending an additional 12,000 military advisers to support the South Vietnamese army. These forces arrived in the small southeast Asian nation by June. =====

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In the summer of 1962, Khrushchev reached a secret agreement with representatives of the Castro regime in Cuba to supply nuclear missiles capable of protecting the island against another American sponsored invasion. In October 1962, a U.S. U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. These nuclear weapons were just 90 miles off the coast of the Florida Keys, and were seen as an unacceptable threat to national security. Because he did not want Cuba and the Soviet Union to know that he knew about the missiles, Kennedy met in secret with his advisors, inclusing Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, for several days to discuss the problem. His advisors agreed that any solution must have as its central aim the removal of the nuclear threat now posed by Cuba. The US Air Force called for surgical air strikes to destroy the nukes, but were unable to guarantee, "getting all the missiles". The US Army recommended an amphibous invasion of the island, and although this would have taken care of the missiles and of Castro, it could have easily led to WWIII if the Soviets decided to defend their ally Cuba. The Navy recommended a blockade of the island, but this seemed too timid to many advisors who felt it left too many options open to our enemy the communists. =====

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For thirteen days, the world waited, hoping for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. No one was sure how the Soviet leader would respond to the naval blockade and U.S. demands. Recognizing the devastating possibility of a nuclear war, Khrushchev turned his ships back. The Soviets agreed to dismantle the weapon sites and, in exchange, the United States agreed not to invade Cuba. In a separate, unpublicized deal, the U.S. agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. =====

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In 1963 there were signs of a lessening of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. In June 1963, President Kennedy gave a commencement address at American University in which he urged Americans to reexamine Cold War stereotypes and myths and called for a strategy of peace that would make the world safe for diversity. Two actions also signaled a warming in relations between the superpowers: the establishment of a Hotline between the Kremlin and the White House, and the signing of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In language very different from his inaugural address, President Kennedy told Americans in June 1963, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” =====

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In June 1963, JFK spoke at the American University commencement in Washington, D.C. He urged Americans to critically reexamine Cold War stereotypes and myths and called for a strategy of peace which would make the world safe for diversity. In the final months of the Kennedy presidency Cold War tensions seemed to soften as the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was negotiated and signed. In addition, the “Hotline,” a direct line of communication between Washington and Moscow, was established to help reduce the possibility of war by miscalculation.=====

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