Crisis Over Berlin and Bay Of Pigs

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On March 1960, President Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba. Since the planning was done in secrecy, Kennedy was unaware of the plans until nine days after his election. The CIA had hope this would trigger a mass uprising that would overthrow Castro. On April 17, 1961, around 1,500 Cuban exiles, which were supported by the US military, landed on the island’s southern coast at Bahia de Cochinos, also known as The Bay of Pigs. The event was chaotic and did not go as planned. When the main unit landed, it faced 25,000 Cuban troops backed up by Soviet Tanks and jet aircraft. Invading exiles were killed or imprisoned. Kennedy was embarrassed by how wrong the CIA was about this plan succeeding. He negotiated with Castro for the release of surviving commanders and paid $53 million for ransom in food and medical supplies. Kennedy warned that he would resist future communism expansion in the Western Hemisphere.


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Kennedy wanted to prove to Khrushchev his determination to contain communism. In 1962 the city of Berlin was in great turmoil. In eleven years since the Berlin Airlift, three million people from East Germany fled to West Berlin because it was free of Communist rule. Khrushchev was determined to solve this problem by threatening to sign a treaty with East Germany enabling the country to close all access roads to West Berlin. Kennedy refused to give up US access to West Berlin and would not permit communists to drive the US out. Kennedy’s determination and America’s superior nuclear striking power prevented Khrushchev from closing the air and land routes between West Berlin and West Germany. On August 13, 1961, East German troops unloaded concrete posts along the border and created the Berlin wall within days, separating East and West Germany. The Berlin wall ended the Berlin Crisis but aggravated Cold War tensions.