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1960s. This was the most dangerous decade. A summit was planned for May 1960 to discuss Berlin and nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower wanted an 'open skies' agreement Khrushchev refused - but Eisenhower did so anyway. The U-2 Incident. May 1, 1960. U-2 spy plane. Gary Powers.
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1960s This was the most dangerous decade.
A summit was planned for May 1960 to discuss Berlin and nuclear weapons. • President Eisenhower wanted an 'open skies' agreement • Khrushchev refused - but Eisenhower did so anyway.
The U-2 Incident May 1, 1960
U-2 spy plane Gary Powers
The Paris Summit between Dwight Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev collapsed. • Eisenhower refused to make apologies over the incident, demanded by Khrushchev.
Effects of the U2 incident • 1. The Paris meeting collapsed, and there was no Test Ban Treaty. • 2. There was no discussion of the problem of Berlin - which led ultimately to the Berlin Wall. • 3. The incident was seen as a defeat for the US – • so US elected John F Kennedy as President because he promised to get much tougher on the Russians.
The Cuban Revolution Castro!
China China breaks relations off with the Soviet Union!1960
Let every nation know that we shall pay any price, bear and burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, for the survival and success of freedom. • Now the trumpet calls again . . . against the enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war. Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country. Inaugural speech of President Kennedy, 1961
President Kennedy receives the Brigade 2506 flag in Miami in Dec. 29, 1962 and declares: "I promise to return this flag in a free Havana."
Causes • 1. Growing tension • Kennedy tried to get tough on Communism. • He financed the forces fighting the Communists in Vietnam and Laos • In 1961 he helped an invasion of Cuba
Causes • 2. Refugees • West Berlin was wealthy and free. • Many East Germans worked in West Berlin, and saw this. • By 1961, 3 million had fled to the west through Berlin. • by August 1961, the flow was 1,800 a day.
Causes • 3. Sabotage • The Russians claimed that the Americans used West Berlin for spying and sabotage
Results of Berlin Wall • 1. Berlin was split in two. Hundreds of East Berliners died trying to cross it • 2. America complained, but did not try to take it down – it was not worth a war.
Cuban Missile Crisis October 14 – November 20, 1962 Nuclear catastrophe was hanging by a thread ... and we weren't counting days or hours, but minutes." -Soviet General and Army Chief of Operations, Anatoly Gribkov
Causes • 1. Superpower Tension • 2.Fidel Castro’s Cuba • 3.The Bay of Pigs
October 14th – U2 spy plane took pictures of missile bases in Cuba • Kennedy told ten days before operational
What to do? • 1. Nuclear Strike? It would cause a nuclear war. • 2. Conventional attack? There were Russian troops in Cuba, and it would probably lead to a war with Russia. • 3. Use the UN? Too slow.
What to do? • 4. Do nothing? The missile bases were too dangerous. • 5. Blockade? This would stop the missiles getting to the missile bases, but it was not a direct act of war.