Cold War tensions increased during the 1960s due to escalating conflicts between the US and Soviet Union, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion, Berlin Wall, and Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the two superpowers closest to nuclear war. President Kennedy worked to contain communism through policies like the Peace Corps but also faced challenges from the USSR, most dangerously when Soviet missiles were placed in Cuba. These events heightened fears of communism and nuclear conflict between the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

1. Aim: How did Cold War tensions increase
during the 1960s?
Do Now: Read President’s JFK inaugural address and
answer the following;
1.How did President John F. Kennedy describe
the “new generation of Americans”?
2.What warning does JFK offer to America’s
foes?
3.What promises does Kennedy make in his
speech?
4.What does JFK asks of Americans? Explain in
your own words.

3. John F. Kennedy
• 35th president
• Wealthy Family.
• 43 years old
• Roman Catholic
• Charismatic and highly
appealing to American
Public.
• Lacked political
experience

4. Nixon v. Kennedy Televised Debates
• 1st ever
televised
debate
• Million
viewers
• Kennedy
appeared
confident
and at
ease.

5. JFK & Civil
Rights
• MLK Jr. arrested at a sit-
in and sentenced to hard
labor.
• Kennedy and his brother,
Robert, persuaded judge
to release MLK.
• Captured the attention of
many African Americans
and won their vote

6. Kennedy’s New Frontier GOALS:
• Provide medical care for elderly
• Rebuild urban areas
• Education
• Increase national defense spending
• Expand space program
• Increase international aid (*PEACE
CORPS)

7. Peace Corps
• On March 1961, Kennedy issued an executive order establishing the
Peace Corps as a new humanitarian “army” made up of civilian
volunteers who travelled to underdeveloped nations to help them in
any way they could.
• During the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of Americans—especially
young people—served in dozens of nations, particularly in Latin
America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Working side by side with
the people of these nations, Peace Corps volunteers helped build
sewer and water systems; constructed and taught in schools; assisted
in developing new crops and agricultural methods to increase
productivity; and participated in numerous other projects.
• Volunteers sometimes faced danger, and they were not always
welcomed by foreign people suspicious of American motives. Overall,
however, the program was judged a success in terms of helping to
“win the hearts and minds” of people in the underdeveloped world.

8. Nikita Khrushchev John F. Kennedy
In the 1960s….

9. Cuban Revolution
•In 1959 Fidel Castro, came to power in Cuba when he
overthrew American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Castro instituted a Cuban Revolution to turn Cuba
communist. He further alienated the United States when
he began confiscating property owned by American
businesses and accepting aid from the Soviet Union.

10. •Beginning under
President Eisenhower and
continuing through the
Kennedy administration,
the CIA attempted to
weaken Cuba. In addition
to several failed plots to
assassinate Castro, the CIA
helped finance and
implement an attack on
Cuba by angry Cuban
exiles.

11. •The Bay of Pigs Invasion began on April 17, 1961
when 1,300 armed exiles landed at Cuba's Bay of Pigs. The
CIA had assumed that Castro was unpopular with the Cuban
people, and that this invasion would spark a rebellion against
him.
•Castro responded quickly killing or capturing the
invaders.
•Trying to conceal American involvement, Kennedy refused to
provide air support for the Cuban exiles. Later Kennedy was
forced to admit responsibility publicly.

12. The Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA)
Prevents threats and further US
national security objectives by
collecting information, conducting
effective covert action as directed by
the President, and safeguarding the
secrets that help keep our Nation
safe.
•In the USSR, the KGB was the
intelligence agency.

13. 13
• May 1, 1960: CIA agent Francis Gary Powers’ U-2
plane, was shot down by Soviet missile.
• Powers was unable to activate plane's self-destruct
mechanism before he parachuted to the ground, right
into the hands of the KGB.
– Plane crashed intact,
– Soviets recovered its photography equipment
– Captured Powers, whom they interrogated
extensively for months before he made a
"voluntary confession" and public apology for
his part in US espionage 30
U-2 Incident

14. Berlin Wall
• In the dark on August 13, 1961, a low, barbed-wire
barrier rose between East and West Berlin. Within days,
Soviet workers cemented concrete blocks into a low wall,
dividing neighborhoods and families.
• The USSR called the wall a barrier to Western
imperialism, but it also was meant to keep its people
going to the West where the standard of living was much
higher and freedoms greater.
• The West Germans called it
the "Wall of Shame.” Towers
and guards with machine
guns and dogs stood watch
over no man's land. Anyone
trying to escape was shot on
sight.

16. The Cold War really gets HOT

17. Cuban Missile Crisis
On October 14, 1962, an American U-2 spy plane
flying over Cuba took photographs that revealed the
construction of missile launch sites capable
of delivering nuclear warheads to targets throughout
the U.S.
•It was clear that the Soviet Union was behind this.
•Kennedy immediately called a meeting of several
key advisors and cabinet members. The group,
which came to be called EXCOMM, immediately
began to brainstorm possible responses to the
Cuban missiles. The group outlined four possible
alternatives

19. The result of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy’s Response to Khrushchev’s Proposal October 27, 1962
Dear Mr. Chairman (Krushchev):
I have read your letter of October 26th with great care and welcomed the
statement of your desire to seek a prompt solution to the problem. The first
thing that needs to be done, however, is for work to cease on offensive
missile bases in Cuba and for all weapons systems in Cuba capable of
offensive use to be rendered inoperable, under effective United Nations
arrangements.
… As I read your letter, the key elements of your proposals--which seem
generally acceptable as I understand them--are as follows:
1) You would agree to remove these weapons systems from Cuba…
2) We, on our part, would agree—(a) to remove promptly the quarantine
measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against an invasion
of Cuba. […]
What did JFK chose to do? Do you agree with his decision?
Why or why not?

20. The result of the Cuban Missile Crisis
1.Withdrawal of
USSR’s nuclear
missiles from Cuba
2.Withdrawal of US
nuclear missiles
from Turkey & Italy
3.Agreement that the
US would never
invade Cuba
4.Creation of nuclear
hotline between the
US & USSR.

21. Washington-Moscow “Hotline”

22. The Cold War gets COLD again

23. oHow did Cold War
tensions increase during
the 1960s?