Kennedy’s Thousand Days
Mr. Williams
10th Grade U.S. History
•What was Truman’s Cold
War Strategy?
•What was Eisenhower’s
Cold War Strategy?
• “Let the word go forth from this time
and place, to friend and foe alike,
that the torch has been passed to a
new generation of Americans—born
in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined by a hard and bitter
peace…Let every nation know,
whether it wishes us well or ill, that
we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe, in order
to assure the survival of liberty.”
Flexible Response
• Strengthening conventional
American forces so the nation
would have other options than
nuclear weapons in time of crisis
• This can be seen as a combination
of Eisenhower’s military buildup
and Truman’s containment
• Peace Corps-Trains and sends
volunteers to Africa, Asia, and
Latin America to serve for two
years as educators, health care
workers, and agricultural advisers
• Alliance for Progress-Offered
billions of dollars in aid to build
schools, hospitals, roads, low-cost
housing, and power plants in Latin
America
•Describe Kennedy’s
“Flexible Response”. Why
can we see this as a
combination of Eisenhower
and Truman’s Cold War
policies?
Fidel Castro and Cuban Revolution
• Castro took power in Cuba in 1959
• Gained power by promising to restore
people’s rights and freedom
• Government seized businesses, he
began making anti-American
speeches: Eisenhower responded
with an economic and diplomatic
embargo against the Cuba
Bay of Pigs Incident
• Kennedy considered Castro’s
communism a threat to all of Latin
America even attacking
Eisenhower for not being tougher
on Castro during campaign
• Since the 1950s CIA had secretly
been training 1,500 Cuban exiles
in order to invade Cuba
• April 15, 1961 an air strike failed to
destroy Cuban’s air force
• Land invasion on April 17
• Castro’s troops, warned by air attacks,
rushed to the scene and after 3 days
of fighting nearly 1,200 survivors
were captured and put in prison
• Kennedy paid $52 million in food and
medical aid to Cuba in exchange
Operation Mongoose
• Covert CIA operation program of
propaganda, psychological
warfare, and sabotage against
Cuba to remove Castro and
communism from the country
• Exploding Cigars, poisoning cigars,
exploding seashells, poisoning his
wetsuit or breathing apparatus
Berlin Crisis
• June 1961, Kennedy and
Khrushchev meet in Vienna
• Khrushchev demanded that U.S.
withdraw from West Berlin
• 200,000 East Germans in this year
alone escaped to West
Berlin Wall
• April 13, 1961 25,000 East German
soldiers put in place to close
crossing points between East and
West Berlin
• This became a high concrete wall
with barbed wire, soldiers, dogs,
etc. on either side spanning 100
miles around West Berlin
• “There are many people in the world
who really don’t understand…the
great issue between the free world
and the communist world. Let them
come to Berlin. There are some who
say that communism is the wave of
the future. Let them come to Berlin.
And there are some who say in
Europe and elsewhere we can work
with the communists. Let them come
to Berlin.” –Kennedy June 26,1963