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U2 Incident
Francis Gary, CIA pilot, was shot down by Soviet missiles, while he was flying over Russia to photograph secret territory. Eisenhower ordered spy planes to fly over Russia because he was nervous about the missiles and nuclear weaponry that Russia possessed. U2 Plane was a new technology and one of the first spy planes created which underwent satellites and were capable of achieving breakneck speeds--it took almost 10 years to perfect in top secret. This event greatly raised tensions. -
“Spy vs. Spy” (political cartoon)
It was created by Cuban-American Antonio Prohias, mimicking the cold war espionage. He had escaped from Cuba around two months before Fidel Castro, a communist, took power. Fidel created Cuba as the first communist state in Western Hemisphere. White spy represented America, and the Black spy represented Russia; they are both spies who try to get info from each other and fight violently but aimlessly. This cartoon showed that the Cold war was affecting all parts of American social life. -
USSR is Ahead of the USA in the Space Race
USSR sends Yuri Gagarin into space, making him the first man in space and to orbit the moon. However, the (in the US opinion) more important achievement in this race, the harder feat, is yet to be accomplished. That event would come to be known as the moon landing. This event was important because it sparked a rush in American scientific achievements. -
The Bay of Pigs
America launched a secret invasion on Cuba in order to overthrow the communist Fidel Castro. The CIA and and about 1300 exiles fought in the Bay of Pigs, southern Cuba. Kennedy ordered it in response to how Castro took over all US companies in Cuba. This was done in reaction to how the US stopped buying Cuban sugar. -
John F. Kennedy address at Rice Univeristy
He spoke about the nation's new frontier: Space. JFK knew that America had to outsmart the USSR who had put a man on the moon the preceeding year.
Some of his speech is included:
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." -
Cuban Missile Crises
During this time, the US and USSR were in a tense political and military standoff: Fidel Castro supported the USSR and so the USSR installed nuclear missiles in Cuba near the American coastline because America put missiles in Turkey. People thought nuclear war was coming--Armageddon, they called it. It finally ended when both superpowers agreed to remove their missiles and America promised to stay out of Cuba. This was important because it improved communication between Moscow and DC. -
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty--Atmosphere, Space, and Underwater
US, UK, and USSR signed this treaty three months before JFK was assassinated. It was directly done in response to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs that were dropped. Radioactive deposits were being found as far as Northern USA! To add, the fallout included horrible mutations and genetic diseases in the surrounding areas. People were beginning to realize the effects of nuclear weaponry.
Castro and Kennedy wanted to relieve tensions in the recent missile crisis. -
Youth protests in Europe--included the Hippie Ideology
This Youth International Party, called Yippie, was the base of these ideologies. No one took them seriously because they were “too young” and they were “under the influence”. Most of their activities were pranks, and like “levitating” The Pentagon. They joined at the Chicago Democratic Convention, where they joked around to put LSD (drug) in the water supply. They said they wouldn’t stop any of their protests unless the US and the USSR stopped fighting. This included the war in Vietnam. -
USSR Invades Prague (Prague Spring)
Czechoslovakia wanted to become more democratic, and the USSR feared this simple belief. Prague spring was the brief period of liberalism in this country.They wanted the USSR out of their nation’s affairs. Largest deployment of military force in Europe since the end of World War II (200,000 Warsaw Pact Troops). This event was important because the USSR scared Eastern Europe, and calmed down the smaller countries' revolts. Primary Source Video -
U.S. Moon Landing
Space race, race between US and USSR, was a term coined to see which country was better in science **Recall: USSR: April 12, 1961--first man in space and to orbit Earth was Yuri Gagarin USA: July 20, 1969--first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong. This event was important because it essentially "won" the space race for America. Moon Landing
