Kennedy and the Cold War (Lecture Notes #8)

Lecture Notes # 8 – KENNEDY 1960

Kennedy Defeats Nixon in 1960  A number of issues were to be debated as the 1960 election unfolded o Space race (Sputnik I) between SU and US o Cold War tensions in general o Race relations (Montgomery Bus Boycott)  These were deep, embedded problems that could not be resolved easily.

The Candidates Democrat Candidate: John F. Kennedy Republican Candidate: Richard Nixon Similarities:  Both born in the 20th century (1st time)  Both served in the navy  Both served in Congress and Senate  Both supported the Cold War  Both big on foreign policy  Both were energetic and fairly young Differences:  JFK was the product of an extremely wealthy, prestigious family  Nixon was the product of a struggling, poor family  Nixon worked to help support the family  JFK was Catholic – this was something new and different

Televised Debates Make the Difference  Remember: television made itself known in the 1950s and by 1960 it was the hot new medium.  Because of the influence and power television had, Nixon and JFK agreed to four televised debates (1st time in history)  Nixon had been injured on his campaign trail – he looked rough, rundown, tired, and his make-up ran  JFK on the other hand looked relaxed, confident, tan from campaigning in CA, and used humor to add to his appeal  So the debates came down to who looked better and who spoke more eloquently o Does this still happen? Is it right?  Although many people felt JFK was too young, the debates lessened the gap between the two. (Nixon originally had the advantage because of his experience under Eisenhower)

Kennedy Wins a Close Election (thanks to the debates)  JFK looked more comfortable  JFK had a better reaction time to questions  JFK engaged in “behind the scenes” measures to aid the civil rights movement  Results: closest election since 1888  JFK won by less than 120,000 votes (out of some 68 million votes cast)  Electoral Votes were a different story because of Illinois and Texas

Kennedy Launches New Cold War Strategies First Goal of JFK’s crew: to build up the nation’s armed forces  Pointed out that we had lost ground in the Cold War  There was a new containment crisis in Cuba (Fidel Castro)  We were on the verge of nuclear inferiority to SU  Eisenhower’s farewell address: “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist”  Kennedy’s inaugural address: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price…to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country)

Building the Nation’s Military  JFK wanted to be sure we were prepared for any type of conflict, nuclear or otherwise  So he engaged in a Flexible Response policy – a policy that prepared the US to fight any size or any type of conflict o Increased funding for Army, Navy, and Special Forces such as the Green Berets

Pursuing New Initiatives in the “Third World” What is this Third World?  Developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that did not align themselves with either the SU or the US  So both the US and SU worked hard to try and get the Third World countries on their side – SU told them how democracy led to inequalities and US told them how bad communism was  So JFK initiated programs to try and strengthen the Third World o Peace Corps – sent American volunteers on “missions of freedom” to assist developing countries. (provided services) o Alliance for Progress – a documented promise to revive America’s Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America . Many Latin Americans were starting to resent US  Not really successful

Confronting Communism in Cuba  1959 – Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista  At first, we tried to establish good relations with Castro  However, it soon became clear that Castro was going to side with SU and had no interest in bonding with us.  Many lands owned by private US citizens were being nationalize by Castro so that the Cubans could profit  Thousands of Cubans were upset by Castro’s chaos and they fled Cuba and came to Florida

Bay of Pigs Invasion  1961 – two years after Castro took over, we authorized the CIA to plan an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro – we wanted him out  We trained Cuban exiles in other lands  This was originally Eisenhower’s plan  Although JFK didn’t know a lot about the plan, he began to feel pressures from the CIA and his own advisors to go through with the plan  So on April 17, 1961, CIA-led Cuban exiles attacked Cuba at the Bay of Pigs o Invasion was badly mismanaged o They were poorly equipped and were not protected o 1,100 of the 1,400 invaders were killed or captured o The Bay of Pigs invasion was a FAILURE and it strengthened Castro because he had “beat the US” (when in reality we beat ourselves)  On a positive note, JFK did own up and took full responsibility for the failed invasion  Despite the defeat, JFK warned that we would continue to resist communist penetration in the Western Hemisphere

The Cuban Missile Crisis  1962 – JFK’s efforts to contain communism were severely threatened  US Intelligence discovered that the Soviets were building nuclear missile sites in Cuba apparently to “protect” Castro from another US invasion  We determined that if this building continued, by the time it was all said and done, US cities on the East Coast would be in range of the missiles.  October 22, 1962 – JFK blamed Nikita Khrushchev – Soviet premier – for causing all of these problems  In this same speech, JFK announced a naval quarantine (a blockade) of Cuba to prevent the Soviets from completing the bases  We said that we would remove our missiles in Turkey and Italy if they would remove their missiles in Cuba  For six days, Americans waited with tension and fear  Then Khrushchev agreed to honor the blockade and remove the missiles  Sec. of State Dean Rusk, “Remember, when you report this, that, eyeball to eyeball, they blinked first.” o Was this necessary?

The Results of the Crisis  Both Khrushchev and Kennedy stood on the brink of nuclear war and then backed off  Khrushchev took a lot of heat from his own people for “backing down”  Kennedy emerged as a poised, thoughtful leader who remained calm during such a crisis  The crisis led both SU and US to come to a détente o They installed a “hot line” telephone system between Moscow and Washington D.C.  1963 – Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed between US, BR, and SU o This was the first nuclear weapons agreement – ended above ground nuclear tests o 36 other nations followed suits

The Berlin Crisis  Berlin, Germany had been split into 4 zones after WWII – FR, US, and BR merged their zones together and the SU had the other fourth.  West Germany was US controlled  East Germany was SU controlled  At a conference in Vienna in 1961 – Kennedy and Khrushchev focused on Berlin o Khrushchev wanted to make the western zones of Berlin part of East Germany o Kennedy said no and wanted to unite East and West Germany into one nation altogether o Khrushchev demanded change o Kennedy said no  Some feisty words were exchanged  Nothing was really accomplished, except tensions increased rather than relaxed  Kennedy got home and increased defense spending  Khrushchev got home and ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin  Berlin Wall – a visible symbol of the reality of the two Germanys