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2,000 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The US government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. Kennedy permitted navy jets, with their markings blacked out to fly cover but it was too late. Within two days the entire mission failed.

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JFK meets with Khrushchev after the failure of Bay of Pigs. During this meeting they do little in helping deescalate the tensions, as there was still the crisis in Cuba, and the situation with West Berlin. After the meeting, Kennedy felt beaten by Khrushchev and that he "savaged me", as JFK said. This meeting also raised JFK worries, and he continued to raise the budget for US defense. He also agreed that the US needed to confront them, in the only possible way: Vietnam

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The Berlin Wall was built. This was created by the Soviets instructing Eastern Germany to build the wall around West Berlin, as they were products of West Germany. This wall would continue to stand for the next 30 years, and stayed as a symbol for how intense the Cold War had become. While this was an obvious blow to the US, there was really little they could do because of the Soviet's persistence and the fact that West Berlin was imbedded in East Germany. The Wall did not help American moral in wishing well for the Cold War.

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Americans received reconnaissance photos from Cuba that showed the Soviets were putting nuclear weapons there. JFK saw this as a huge threat and the US as a whole started to become nervous. The USSR nuclear threat seemed a lot more dangerous when the missile were actually so close to American land. This would start the Cuban Missile Crisis and would take the US into the hight of the Cold War.

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Kennedy ordered a naval and air blockade surround Cuba essentially quarantining them from obtaining offensive weapons. USSR ships heading toward the island ended up stopping before reaching it.

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Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy claiming the USSR would get rid of missile bases if the US agrees to not invade Cuba. Kennedy agreed to the terms and removed missiles from Turkey ending the crisis.

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Kennedy spoke at American University in Washington D.C to offer hope for peace with the USSR. He wanted to make the world safer for diversity. The US and the USSR agreed to a treaty banning nuclear weapon testing ultimately de-escalating the arms race.

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Khrushchev fell from power and Brezhnev rose as an orthodox figure less open to reform. The USSR was militarily inferior leading to a soviet arms build up over the span of 20 years undermining policies of rapprochement supported by the US.