The New Frontier

1. The New Frontier

2. The Election of 1960 • First televised debates-voting tool • Kennedy-Catholic, wealthy, influential family • Nixon-Quaker, financially struggling family • $$$ on financial ads • Issues: Economy and Cold War • Cuba and Castro? “missile gap”

6. JFK and the Cold War • Bay of Pigs • Berlin War • Cuban Missile Crisis

7. Cuba

8. What is going on in Cuba before the Cold War? • Spanish-American War • Teller Amendment- prohibited annexation of Cuba • Platt Amendment-US can intervene in Cuban affairs • 1926- U.S companies owned 60% of the Cuban sugar industry and imported 95% of the total Cuban crop • Havana

9. Bay of Pigs InvasionApril 17, 1961

10. 1959, Fidel Castro overthrows Battista (US-backed dictator), establishing Communist government. • Seized US oil refineries • Broke up commercial farms • Relied on Soviet aid • Politically repressed those who didn’t agree with him

11. Nikita Khrushchev- • Expressing intent to strengthen Cuba militarily

12. March 1960 Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba

13. Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba on January 3, 1961 (about 2 weeks before Kennedy came into office)

14. JFK learned of the plot only 9 days after his election but still approved it

16. April 17, 1961: 1300-1500 exiles, supported by US military, landed on Bay of Pigs

17. April 17, 1961: 1300-1500 exiles, supported by US military, landed on Bay of Pigs • Airstrike failed to knock out Cuban air force • A small advance group never reached shore • Exiles faced 25,000 Cuban troops backed by Soviet tanks and jet aircraft

18. Result • Troops surrounded, some killed others taken as prisoners Cuban counter-revolutionaries, members of Assault Brigade 2506, after their capture at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, in April 1961

19. Result • Castro turned event into public relations triumph • Kennedy looked embarrassed, took blame • Negotiated for surviving commandos – paid $52 million in food and medical supplies • Kennedy said no more communist expansion in W. Hemisphere • Castro welcomed USSR aid.

20. The Berlin Wall Goes Up • From 1949-1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled East Germany to West Germany • Skilled workers, professionals, intellectuals • Destroyed economy of East Germany • Barrier needed

21. Berlin Wall goes up cont. • The original wall built of barbed wire and cinder blocks, was subsequently replaced by a series of concrete walls (up to 15 feet [5 metres] high) that were topped with barbed wire and guarded with watchtowers, gun emplacements, and mines. By the 1980s this system of walls, electrified fences, and fortifications extended 28 miles (45 km) through Berlin, dividing the two parts of the city, and extended a further 75 miles (120 km) around West Berlin, separating it from the rest of East Germany.

22. Cuban Missile Crisis • Autumn 1962, Cuba has received 1000s of USSR missiles, jets, boats & personnel • Cuba was a new Communist state • Cuba provided a launch base for USSR inter-continental missiles (ICMs) • Khrushchev wanted to test strength of new US president, JFK • Khrushchev wanted to force JFK into bargaining over US missile in Europe

23. What happened during the October Crisis? • Soviet technicians and equipment arrives in Cuba • 14 October 1962, US U2 spy plane takes photos of suspected USSR long-range missile sites on Cuba

24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W50RNAbmy3M

25. What should Kennedy do?

26. Kennedy’s Decisions • Naval blockade • Ordered Soviets from dismantle existing missile sites • Secret negotiations • Outcome- • USSR Removes weapons if…. US removes missiles from Turkey and promises not to invade Cuba • Limited Test Ban Treaty

27. “New Frontier” • Lacked a popular mandate– a clear indication that the voters approved his plans • Peace Corps • Alliance for Progress • Race to the Moon • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JlSdRCg7g

29. LBJ’s “Great Society”