Johnson's 1964 election ad shows how the fear of nuclear war was never far from the publics' mind.
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Bay of Pigs-Hoping to overthrow the regime of Cuba’s communist leader Fidel Castro, Kennedy supported a CIA operation to overthrow the dictator. However, complications to the original plan resulted in the failure for the operation. The operation was carried out by Cuban freedom fighters that had come to the US with the express desire of overthrowing Castro. During the course of invasion, Kennedy became indecisive and pulled the scheduled air reinforcements out of the area, but he was unable to notify the rebels of the change due to radio silence. As a result, the rebels were quickly defeated and captured by the Cuban government. Although the event led to further deterioration of US-Cuban relations and pushed Castro closer to his communist ally Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union, the American public provided overall support for the plan. During the incident, Kennedy's indecisiveness greatly contributed to the failure of the operation and made him seem weak in the eyes of other nations, especially communist ones.
Cuban Missile Crisis- In 1962, US spy planes discovered nuclear missile sites in Cuba, leading to an immediate naval blockade of the island by the US navy. Fearing that the placement of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba would result in an attack on America, Kennedy issued a warning to the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to remove all nuclear weapons from the island. After a week of tense waiting, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles on the condition that the US remove its nuclear weapons from Turkey in return. Berlin Wall- Following WWII, Germany was split into two parts, East and West. West Germany was controlled by the Allied powers while East was under the domain of the Soviet Union and communist forces. Also split following the war was Berlin, which was partitioned into similar East and West halves. During Kennedy’s term, USSR premier Nikita Khrushchev constructed the Berlin Wall. This massive structure served to stop the flow of East Berliners to the Western portion controlled by the democracies. The wall stood for nearly three decades before being destroyed in 1989 when East Berliners were finally granted the right to travel freely between the two sections. Kennedy’s Speech at University of Washington D.C., June 1963- Kennedy urged Americans to move past the familiar view of Soviets as dangerous reds out to destroy the US and to accept them as they were. With this speech, Kennedy attempted to reduce the tension among citizens and to institute a period of peaceful coexistence with the USSR. Nuclear Test Ban Treaty- Following the events of the Cuban Missile crisis, Kennedy worked hard to secure a treaty with the Soviets that would ban the trial detonation of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. After long negotiations, the pact was signed in late 1963. |