Lesson Objectives:
Lesson Objectives 1. The students will be able to identify the factors that contributed to Kennedy’s election in 1960 with 80% accuracy.
2. The students will be able to describe the new military policy of the Kennedy administration with 80% accuracy.
3. The students will be able to summarize the crisis that developed over Cuba with 80% accuracy.
4. The students will be able to explain the Cold War symbolism of Berlin in the early 1960’s with 80% accuracy.
Crisis Over Cuba:
Crisis Over Cuba Fidel Castro openly declared himself a communist and welcomed aid from the Soviet Union.
Fidel Castro :
Fidel Castro Gained power with the promise of democracy.
Seized three American and British refineries, which made relations between Cuba and the United States worse.
Broke up commercial farms into communes that would be worked by formerly landless peasants.
Many Cubans saw Castro as a tyrant and went into exile, mostly in the United States.
Invasion :
Invasion March of 1960, President Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba.
The CIA and exiles hoped that the invasion would trigger a mass uprising and overthrow Castro.
Kennedy learned of the plan only nine days after his election.
He had doubts but approved it.
Bay of Pigs:
Bay of Pigs April 17, 1961, some 1,300 to 1,500 Cuban exiles supported the U.S. military and landed on the island’s southern coast at Bahia de Cochinos, the Bay of Pigs.
Nothing went as planned.
Air strike failed to knock out the Cuban air force
A small advance group sent to distract Castro’s forces never reached shore.
Many exiles were killed, others imprisoned
Berlin Wall :
Berlin Wall One goal that had guided Kennedy through the Cuban missile crisis was that of proving to Khrushchev his determination to contain communism.
Kennedy was continually thinking over their recent confrontation over Berlin, which had led to the construction of the Berlin Wall.
This link provides brief view of the construction of the Berlin Wall : http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide20/video/his005itn0830.ram