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NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian resort town in the Crimea from February 4-11, 1945, during World War Two. At Yalta, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world.

World Leaders at the Yalta Conference

The Allied leaders came to Yalta knowing that an Allied victory in Europe was practically inevitable but less convinced that the Pacific war was nearing an end. Recognizing that a victory over Japan might require a protracted fight, the United States and Great Britain saw a major strategic advantage to Soviet participation in the Pacific theater. At Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and all three agreed that, in exchange for potentially crucial Soviet participation in the Pacific theater, the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria following Japan's surrender. This included the southern portion of Sakhalin, a lease at Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou), a share in the operation of the Manchurian railroads, and the Kurile Islands. This agreement was the major concrete accomplishment of the Yalta Conference.

The Allied leaders also discussed the future of Germany, Eastern Europe and the United Nations. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed not only to include France in the postwar governing of Germany, but also that Germany should assume some, but not all, responsibility for reparations following the war. The Americans and the British generally agreed that future governments of the Eastern European nations bordering the Soviet Union should be "friendly" to the Soviet regime while the Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from Nazi Germany. Negotiators also released a declaration on Poland, providing for the inclusion of Communists in the postwar national government. In discussions regarding the future of the United Nations, all parties agreed to an American plan concerning voting procedures in the Security Council, which had been expanded to five permanent members following the inclusion of France. Each of these permanent members was to hold a veto on decisions before the Security Council.

Initial reaction to the Yalta agreements was celebratory. Roosevelt and many other Americans viewed it as proof that the spirit of U.S.-Soviet wartime cooperation would carry over into the postwar period. This sentiment, however, was short lived. With the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States. By the end of April, the new administration clashed with the Soviets over their influence in Eastern Europe, and over the United Nations. Alarmed at the perceived lack of cooperation on the part of the Soviets, many Americans began to criticize Roosevelt's handling of the Yalta negotiations. To this day, many of Roosevelt's most vehement detractors accuse him of "handing over" Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia to the Soviet Union at Yalta despite the fact that the Soviets did make many substantial concessions.

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Milestones: 1937-1945 - Office of the Historian

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NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts.

The Truman Doctrine arose from a speech delivered by President Truman before a joint session of Congress on . The immediate cause for the speech was a recent announcement by the British Government that, as of March 31, it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party. Truman asked Congress to support the Greek Government against the Communists. He also asked Congress to provide assistance for Turkey, since that nation, too, had previously been dependent on British aid.

At the time, the U.S. Government believed that the Soviet Union supported the Greek Communist war effort and worried that if the Communists prevailed in the Greek civil war, the Soviets would ultimately influence Greek policy. In fact, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had deliberately refrained from providing any support to the Greek Communists and had forced Yugoslav Prime Minister Josip Tito to follow suit, much to the detriment of Soviet-Yugoslav relations. However, a number of other foreign policy problems also influenced President Truman's decision to actively aid Greece and Turkey. In 1946, four setbacks, in particular, had served to effectively torpedo any chance of achieving a durable post-war rapprochement with the Soviet Union: the Soviets' failure to withdraw their troops from northern Iran in early 1946 (as per the terms of the Tehran Declaration of 1943); Soviet attempts to pressure the Iranian Government into granting them oil concessions while supposedly fomenting irredentism by Azerbaijani separatists in northern Iran; Soviet efforts to force the Turkish Government into granting them base and transit rights through the Turkish Straits; and, the Soviet Government's rejection of the Baruch plan for international control over nuclear energy and weapons in June 1946.

In light of the deteriorating relationship with the Soviet Union and the appearance of Soviet meddling in Greek and Turkish affairs, the withdrawal of British assistance to Greece provided the necessary catalyst for the Truman Administration to reorient American foreign policy. Accordingly, in his speech, President Truman requested that Congress provide $400,000,000 worth of aid to both the Greek and Turkish Governments and support the dispatch of American civilian and military personnel and equipment to the region.

Truman justified his request on two grounds. He argued that a Communist victory in the Greek Civil War would endanger the political stability of Turkey, which would undermine the political stability of the Middle East. This could not be allowed in light of the region's immense strategic importance to U.S. national security. Truman also argued that the United States was compelled to assist "free peoples" in their struggles against "totalitarian regimes," because the spread of authoritarianism would "undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States." In the words of the Truman Doctrine, it became "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

Truman argued that the United States could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations, because American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory. Rather, in a sharp break with its traditional avoidance of extensive foreign commitments beyond the Western Hemisphere during peacetime, the Truman Doctrine committed the United States to actively offering assistance to preserve the political integrity of democratic nations when such an offer was deemed to be in the best interest of the United States.

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Milestones: 1945-1952 - Office of the Historian

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U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the Netherlands

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"Churchill's words won the war, Marshall's words won the peace."
Dirk Stikker, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1948-1952

The Need

Europe was devastated by years of conflict during World War II. Millions of people had been killed or wounded. Industrial and residential centers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere lay in ruins. Much of Europe was on the brink of famine as agricultural production had been disrupted by war. Transportation infrastructure was in shambles. The only major power in the world that was not significantly damaged was the United States.

Aid to Europe

From 1945 through 1947, the United States was already assisting European economic recovery with direct financial aid. Military assistance to Greece and Turkey was being given. The newly formed United Nations was providing humanitarian assistance. In January 1947, U. S. President Harry Truman appointed George Marshall, the architect of victory during WWII, to be Secretary of State. Writing in his diary on January 8, 1947, Truman said, "Marshall is the greatest man of World War II. He managed to get along with Roosevelt, the Congress, Churchill, the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and he made a grand record in China. When I asked him to [be] my special envoy to China, he merely said, 'Yes, Mr. President I'll go.' No argument only patriotic action. And if any man was entitled to balk and ask for a rest, he was. We'll have a real State Department now."

In just a few months, State Department leadership under Marshall with expertise provided by George Kennan, William Clayton and others crafted the Marshall Plan concept, which George Marshall shared with the world in a speech on June 5, 1947 at Harvard. Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of western Europe, primarily. Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political stability lay in the revitalization of national economies. Further he saw political stability in Western Europe as a key to blunting the advances of communism in that region.

The European Recovery Program

Sixteen nations, including Germany, became part of the program and shaped the assistance they required, state by state, with administrative and technical assistance provided through the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) of the United States. European nations received nearly $13 billion in aid, which initially resulted in shipments of food, staples, fuel and machinery from the United States and later resulted in investment in industrial capacity in Europe. Marshall Plan funding ended in 1951.

Results

Marshall Plan nations were assisted greatly in their economic recovery. From 1948 through 1952 European economies grew at an unprecedented rate. Trade relations led to the formation of the North Atlantic alliance. Economic prosperity led by coal and steel industries helped to shape what we know now as the European Union.
Source: George C. Marshall Foundation
The Netherlands and the Marshall Plan

The Netherlands received $ 1.127 billion in Marshall Aid. With $ 109 per capita, the Netherlands belonged to the group of countries in Western Europe that received the most Marshall aid.

The Marshall Plan enabled the receiving countries to import goods. The largest contributions for industry went to food production (for example, the flour factories of Koopmans in Leeuwarden), textile (TenCate in Nijverdal, Spanjaard in Borne and Van Heek in Enschede) and the aviation industry (KLM, Fokker). Steel producer Hoogovens in IJmuiden could purchase special equipment. In Geertruidenberg, Noord Brabant, the new Amer power plant was built to supply the nation with energy. ENCI (Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie) in Maastricht, was able to expand in order to keep up with increasing demands in the building industry. In total, half a million dollars were invested in the cement industry. Therefore, the production level could rise with 70 %. The Dutch State Mines were enabled to expand their chemical industries. The electrification of the Dutch railway system could grow rapidly.

Marshall funds were used for the reconstruction of houses in Limburg, Walcheren, de Betuwe, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Rotterdam (400 million guilders). A large number of smaller projects was also financed by the Marshall Plan, for example the repair of the port of Rotterdam, the construction of the Velsertunnel and other infrastructural works, and the expansion of the Delft Technical Hogeschool (now University), the Bouwcentrum Rotterdam and the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam. Also, the the damaged Grand Hotel in Scheveningen was repaired with Marshall Aid. was In total, about 4,100 predominantly smaller companies, benefited from the Marshall Plan.

The Marshall Plan also had a major impact on Dutch agriculture. In the early years, the Marshall Plan was needed for the purchase of wheat and agricultural equipment. Marshall funds were spent on the repair of agricultural soil, the reclamation of land in the IJsselmeer and the mechanization and rationalization of agriculture. The showcase villages of Rottevalle (Friesland) and Kerkhoven Oisterwijk (Noord Brabant) were modernized with Marshall aid.

In order to stimulate tourism to the Netherlands, hotels were renovated with Marshall Aid, for instance four hotels in Arnhem and the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam, which opened in 1952.

About one percent of the money was used for Technical Assistance. Although that is not a lot financially, the activities that aimed to improve productivity in the Netherlands have been of great importance in the longer term. In the center of the Dutch productivity actions stood the "Contactgroep Opvoering Productiviteit" (COP), a cooperation between employers, employees, the Dutch government and specialized advisory and research organizations. The COP coordinated and stimulated the productivity actions in the Netherlands. Within that framework, more than 150 Dutch delegations, with more than 1,200 participants of various backgrounds in society, went on study tours to the United States.

The studies varied from a study on company organization, packaging methods and supermarkets, to technical education, improving the fruit production and artificial insemination in cattle. More than 100 study reports gave insights for those who stayed at home. Based on these studies, follow-up activities were organized such as conventions, courses and the founding of productivity centers for various branches of industry. Many American consultants also visited the Netherlands. This resulted in the development of a new industrial mentality in 1950s Netherlands, based on increase of productivity, efficiency and management.

A good example of "Marshall Plan in action" are Piet and Reinier Dobbelmann from a soap and toothpaste company in Nijmegen, who completed a study tour to the U.S. in 1948. Whilst in the U.S., they became enthusiastic about American machines, that they purchased with the aid of the Marshall Plan. This led to an enormous increase in productivity.

Source: De Marshall-hulp: Studiebrief 25 van de Atlantische Commissie, januari 1997; Het Marshallplan - NAIL Newsletter Special, 1997 - translation: U.S. Embassy, The Hague

Prime Minister Willem Drees wrote in 1954: "It has rarely occurred in history that an entirely new experiment in the way of international relations has enjoyed such demonstrable success as the Marshall Plan...
"Let us not forget the Marshall Plan, because it is a symbol of what the effect of real co-operation can be for peaceful purposes in the world."

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Europe was devastated by years of conflict during World War II. Millions of people had been killed or wounded. Industrial and residential centers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere lay in ruins. Much of Europe was on the brink of famine as agricultural production had been disrupted by war.

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Table of Contents

1. Postwar Division of Germany

2. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

3. Soviets Blockade Berlin

4. Impact of the Blockade and the Allied Response

The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of the United States, Great Britain and France to travel to their respective sectors of the city of Berlin, which lay entirely inside Russian-occupied East Germany. Alarmed by the new U.S. policy of giving economic aid to Germany and other struggling European nations, as well as efforts by the Western Allies to introduce a single currency to the zones they occupied in Germany and Berlin, the Soviets blocked all rail, road and canal access to the western zones of Berlin. Suddenly, some 2.5 million civilians had no access to food, medicine, fuel, electricity and other basic goods. Western powers began an airlift that lasted nearly a year and delivered vital supplies and relief to West Berlin.

Postwar Division of Germany

At the end of World War II, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union divided defeated Germany into four occupation zones, as outlined at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and formalized at Potsdam later that year.

Berlin, though located entirely within the Soviet-occupied zone, was divided as well, with the western part of the city in Allied hands and the east under Soviet control.

But if the agendas of the Soviet Union and its western Allies had aligned in time of war, they quickly began to diverge, particularly over the future of Germany. Led by Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union wanted to punish Germany economically, forcing the country to pay war reparations and contribute its industrial technology to help postwar Soviet recovery.

On the other hand, the Allies saw Germany's economic recovery as crucial to preserving it as a democratic buffer against the spread of communism from Eastern Europe, over which Stalin had consolidated into the Soviet sphere of influence.

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

In March 1947, after communist rebellions arose in Greece and Turkey, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced in a speech to Congress that the United States would henceforth "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures," by giving them military aid. This policy, which became known as the Truman Doctrine, introduced a new era of global engagement for the United States and helped articulate the growing divide between Western democracies and the Soviet Union.

That June, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced the European Recovery Program, known as the Marshall Plan. This economic extension of the Truman Doctrine aimed to help Germany and other European nations rebuild after the ravages of war, foster loyalty among participating states to the United States and make them less vulnerable to the attraction of communism.

Implemented in April 1948, the Marshall Plan directly opposed Stalin's vision of the postwar world: He had hoped the United States would withdraw from Europe entirely, leaving the U.S.S.R. as the dominant influence in the region.

Soviets Blockade Berlin

Over the first half of 1948, representatives from the United States, Britain and France met in London to discuss the future of Germany. As a result, the United States and Britain agreed to combine their occupied zones to create Bizonia, with the ultimate goal being a single, unified West German state incorporating the U.S., British and French-occupied zones of Germany and Berlin, with a single, stable currency.

When the Soviets learned of these plans in March 1948, they withdrew from the Allied Control Council, which had met since the end of the war to coordinate occupation policy between zones.

In June, U.S. and British officials introduced the new currency, the Deutschmark, into Bizonia and West Berlin, without informing their Soviet counterparts. Viewing this as a violation of their postwar agreements, the Soviets immediately issued their own currency, the Ostmark, into Berlin and eastern Germany.

That same day-June 24, 1948-they blocked all road, railway and canal access to the Allied-occupied zones of Berlin, announcing that the four-way administration of the city had come to an end.

HISTORY Vault: Declassified: Rise and Fall of the Wall

Impact of the Blockade and the Allied Response

With their blockade, the Soviets cut some 2.5 million civilians in the three western sectors of Berlin off from access to electricity, as well as food, coal and other crucial supplies. Though the Red Army far outnumbered Allied military forces in and around Berlin, the United States and Britain retained control of three 20-mile-wide air corridors from West Germany into West Berlin, according to written agreements with the Soviet Union from 1945.

Beginning June 26, 1948, two days after the blockade was announced, U.S. and British planes carried out the largest air relief operation in history, transporting some 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin on more than 270,000 flights over 11 months.

The Berlin Blockade, and the Allied response in the form of the Berlin Airlift, represented the first major conflict of the Cold War.

Did you know? Nearly 700 aircraft were used during the Berlin Airlift, more than 100 of which belonged to civilian operators.

While Stalin had hoped the Berlin Blockade would force the Allies to abandon their efforts to create a West German state, the success of the Berlin Airlift confirmed such hopes were in vain. By May 1949, when the Soviets lifted the blockade, the crisis in Berlin had hardened the East/West division of Germany and all of Europe, ushering in the Cold War in earnest.

Sources

The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949, U.S. Department State: Office of the Historian.
The Berlin blockade and airlift, BBC Bitesize Guide.
Berlin Blockade, PBS: American Experience.
Benn Steil, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War (Simon & Schuster, 2018).
Barry Turner, The Berlin Airlift: The Relief Operation that Defined the Cold War (Icon Books, 2017).

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Berlin Blockade: Definition, Date & Airlift - HISTORY

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The Berlin Blockade was a 1948 attempt by Soviets to prevent U.S., British and French travel to their respective sectors of Berlin, which lay in East Germany.

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What motivated the United States to participate in the creation of a transatlantic alliance in 1949? Who were some of the Americans who had an impact on NATO during the Cold War? Find out what an American Nobel Prize winner, a historian and Orson Welles had to do with NATO.

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On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's. The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The "fall" of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.

The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921 in Shanghai, originally existed as a study group working within the confines of the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. Chinese Communists joined with the Nationalist Army in the Northern Expedition of 1926-27 to rid the nation of the warlords that prevented the formation of a strong central government. This collaboration lasted until the "White Terror" of 1927, when the Nationalists turned on the Communists, killing them or purging them from the party.

After the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) faced the triple threat of Japanese invasion, Communist uprising, and warlord insurrections. Frustrated by the focus of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek on internal threats instead of the Japanese assault, a group of generals abducted Chiang in 1937 and forced him to reconsider cooperation with the Communist army. As with the first effort at cooperation between the Nationalist government and the CCP, this Second United Front was short-lived. The Nationalists expended needed resources on containing the Communists, rather than focusing entirely on Japan, while the Communists worked to strengthen their influence in rural society.

During World War II, popular support for the Communists increased. U.S. officials in China reported a dictatorial suppression of dissent in Nationalist-controlled areas. These undemocratic polices combined with wartime corruption made the Republic of China Government vulnerable to the Communist threat. The CCP, for its part, experienced success in its early efforts at land reform and was lauded by peasants for its unflagging efforts to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Japanese surrender set the stage for the resurgence of civil war in China. Though only nominally democratic, the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek continued to receive U.S. support both as its former war ally and as the sole option for preventing Communist control of China. U.S. forces flew tens of thousands of Nationalist Chinese troops into Japanese-controlled territory and allowed them to accept the Japanese surrender. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, occupied Manchuria and only pulled out when Chinese Communist forces were in place to claim that territory.

In 1945, the leaders of the Nationalist and Communist parties, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, met for a series of talks on the formation of a post-war government. Both agreed on the importance of democracy, a unified military, and equality for all Chinese political parties. The truce was tenuous, however, and, in spite of repeated efforts by U.S. General George Marshall to broker an agreement, by 1946 the two sides were fighting an all-out civil war. Years of mistrust between the two sides thwarted efforts to form a coalition government.

As the civil war gained strength from 1947 to 1949, eventual Communist victory seemed more and more likely. Although the Communists did not hold any major cities after World War II, they had strong grassroots support, superior military organization and morale, and large stocks of weapons seized from Japanese supplies in Manchuria. Years of corruption and mismanagement had eroded popular support for the Nationalist Government. Early in 1947, the ROC Government was already looking to the island province of Taiwan, off the coast of Fujian Province, as a potential point of retreat. Although officials in the Truman Administration were not convinced of the strategic importance to the United States of maintaining relations with Nationalist China, no one in the U.S. Government wanted to be charged with facilitating the "loss" of China to communism. Military and financial aid to the floundering Nationalists continued, though not at the level that Chiang Kai-shek would have liked. In October of 1949, after a string of military victories, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC; Chiang and his forces fled to Taiwan to regroup and plan for their efforts to retake the mainland.

The ability of the PRC and the United States to find common ground in the wake of the establishment of the new Chinese state was hampered by both domestic politics and global tensions. In August of 1949, the Truman administration published the "China White Paper," which explained past U.S. policy toward China based upon the principle that only Chinese forces could determine the outcome of their civil war. Unfortunately for Truman, this step failed to protect his administration from charges of having "lost" China. The unfinished nature of the revolution, leaving a broken and exiled but still vocal Nationalist Government and Army on Taiwan, only heightened the sense among U.S. anti-communists that the outcome of the struggle could be reversed. The outbreak of the Korean War, which pitted the PRC and the United States on opposite sides of an international conflict, ended any opportunity for accommodation between the PRC and the United States. Truman's desire to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south led to the U.S. policy of protecting the Chiang Kai-shek government on Taiwan.

For more than twenty years after the Chinese revolution of 1949, there were few contacts, limited trade and no diplomatic ties between the two countries. Until the 1970s, the United States continued to recognize the Republic of China, located on Taiwan, as China's true government and supported that government's holding the Chinese seat in the United Nations.

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Milestones: 1945-1952 - Office of the Historian

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On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's.

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Table of Contents

1. First Red Scare: 1917-1920

2. Cold War Concerns About Communism

3. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee

4. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI

5. Hysteria and Growing Conservatism

6. Red Scare Impact

The Red Scare was hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, which intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s. (Communists were often referred to as "Reds" for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag.) The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, as well as U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the government and the Hollywood film industry. The climate of fear and repression linked to the Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s.

First Red Scare: 1917-1920

In the United States, labor strikes were on the rise, and the press sensationalized them as being caused by immigrants bent on bringing down the American way of life. The Sedition Act of 1918 targeted people who criticized the government, monitoring radicals and labor union leaders with the threat of deportation.

The fear turned to violence with the 1919 anarchist bombings, a series of bombs targeting law enforcement and government officials. Bombs went off in a wide number of cities including Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, D.C., and New York City.

The first Red Scare climaxed in 1919 and 1920, when United States Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer ordered the Palmer raids, a series of violent law-enforcement raids targeting leftist radicals and anarchists. They kicked off a period of unrest that became known as the "Red Summer."

Cold War Concerns About Communism

Did you know? FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was quick to equate any kind of protest with communist subversion, including the civil rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr. Hoover labeled King a communist and covertly worked to intimidate and discredit the civil rights leader.

Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee

J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI

The information obtained by the FBI proved essential in high-profile legal cases, including the 1949 conviction of 12 prominent leaders of the American Communist Party on charges that they had advocated the overthrow of the government. Moreover, Hoover's agents helped build the case against Julius Rosenberg (1918-53) and his wife, Ethel Rosenberg (1915-53), who were convicted of espionage in 1951. The Rosenbergs were executed two years later.

Hysteria and Growing Conservatism

Public concerns about communism were heightened by international events. In 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear bomb and communist forces led by Mao Zedong (1893-1976) took control of China. The following year saw the start of the Korean War (1950-53), which engaged U.S. troops in combat against the communist-supported forces of North Korea. The advances of communism around the world convinced many U.S. citizens that there was a real danger of "Reds" taking over their own country. Figures such as McCarthy and Hoover fanned the flames of fear by wildly exaggerating that possibility.

As the Red Scare intensified, its political climate turned increasingly conservative. Elected officials from both major parties sought to portray themselves as staunch anticommunists, and few people dared to criticize the questionable tactics used to persecute suspected radicals. Membership in leftist groups dropped as it became clear that such associations could lead to serious consequences, and dissenting voices from the left side of the political spectrum fell silent on a range of important issues. In judicial affairs, for example, support for free speech and other civil liberties eroded significantly. This trend was symbolized by the 1951 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dennis v. United States, which said that the free-speech rights of accused Communists could be restricted because their actions presented a clear and present danger to the government.

Red Scare Impact

Americans also felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level, and thousands of alleged communist sympathizers saw their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family and fired from their jobs. While a small number of the accused may have been aspiring revolutionaries, most others were the victims of false allegations or had done nothing more than exercise their democratic right to join a political party.

Though the climate of fear and repression began to ease in the late 1950s, the Red Scare has continued to influence political debate in the decades since. It is often cited as an example of how unfounded fears can compromise civil liberties.

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Red Scare: Cold War, McCarthyism & Facts | HISTORY

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The Red Scare was hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War era.

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NOTE TO READERS
"Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice.

The Warsaw Treaty Organization (also known as the Warsaw Pact) was a political and military alliance established on May 14, 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective security alliance concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949.

Presidential Palace in Warsaw where the Warsaw Pact was signed

The Warsaw Pact supplemented existing agreements. Following World War II, the Soviet Union had concluded bilateral treaties with each of the East European states except for East Germany, which was still part of the Soviet occupied-territory of Germany. When the Federal Republic of Germany entered NATO in early May 1955, the Soviets feared the consequences of a strengthened NATO and a rearmed West Germany and hoped that the Warsaw Treaty Organization could both contain West Germany and negotiate with NATO as an equal partner. Soviet leadership also noted that civil unrest was on the rise in Eastern European countries and determined that a unified, multilateral political and military alliance would tie Eastern European capitals more closely to Moscow.

The original signatories to the Warsaw Treaty Organization were the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and the German Democratic Republic. Although the members of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if one or more of them came under attack, emphasized non-interference in the internal affairs of its members, and supposedly organized itself around collective decision-making, the Soviet Union ultimately controlled most of the Pact's decisions. The Soviet Union also used the Pact to contain popular dissent in its European satellites, for example in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and in Poland in 1981.

By the 1980s, the Warsaw Treaty Organization was beset by problems related to the economic slowdown in all Eastern European countries. By the late 1980s political changes in most of the member states made the Pact virtually ineffectual. In September 1990, East Germany left the Pact in preparation for reunification with West Germany. By October, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland had withdrawn from all Warsaw Pact military exercises. The Warsaw Pact officially disbanded in March and July of 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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Milestones: 1953-1960 - Office of the Historian

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NOTE TO READERS "Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations" has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice. The Warsaw Treaty Organization (also known as the Warsaw Pact) was a political and military alliance established on May 14, 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries.

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Cuban Revolution, armed uprising in Cuba that overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The revolution's leader, Fidel Castro, went on to rule Cuba from 1959 to 2008.

Prelude to the revolution

U.S. rule and the creation of the Cuban Republic

As a result of the Spanish-American War, control of Cuba passed from Spain to the United States on January 1, 1899, and it was governed by direct U.S. military administration until May 20, 1902. During these years, Cubans filled more public offices than they had under Spanish rule, and much was done for public works, sanitation, and education. Most notable of all, yellow fever was eradicated where it had been endemic for centuries.

A constitutional convention met at Havana from November 5, 1900, to February 21, 1901. The constitution that was adopted contained certain provisions known as the Platt Amendment; these were imposed by the U.S. as a condition for accepting the constitution and were approved by Cuba on June 12, 1901. By these provisions Cuba promised not to incur debts its current revenues could not bear, to continue the sanitary administration undertaken by the U.S. military government, to lease naval stations to the U.S., and, if necessary, to permit the U.S. to intervene in order to preserve Cuban independence and a government adequate to protect life and property.

In May 1902 Tomás Estrada Palma became the first president of the new republic, and material prosperity came to certain segments of the Cuban population. This was due to a reciprocal trade treaty, requested by the outgoing U.S. authorities, that permitted more Cuban sugar to enter the U.S. Sugar exports would dominate the Cuban economy throughout the first half of the 20th century, and the U.S. was Cuba's chief trading partner.

Independence, instability, and continued U.S. intervention

Estrada Palma's administration attempted to implement progressive measures, but it was plagued by instability. His party, the Conservatives (later known as the Moderates), emerged victorious in the elections of December 1905, but the opposition Liberals accused the government of rigging the vote. This charge, along with widespread pension fraud and the failure to bring about proposed governmental reforms, triggered a revolution in July 1906. The insurrection spread rapidly, and Estrada Palma requested intervention by the U.S., which sent commissioners to mediate. The mediation failed, Estrada Palma resigned, and on September 29, 1906, U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt named his secretary of war, William Howard Taft, governor of Cuba. Taft proclaimed that he would lead a provisional government to last "long enough to restore order and peace and public confidence." Government was maintained under the Cuban flag, regular constitutional forms remained outwardly unchanged, and the insurrectionists promptly disbanded. U.S. administration ceased on January 28, 1909, and the republic was inaugurated a second time. U.S. troops were withdrawn on April 1, 1909.

Three presidents governed Cuba from 1909 to 1925 with little distinction and much corruption. They were José Miguel Gómez (1909-13), Mario García Menocal (1913-21), and Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso (1921-25). During this period the U.S. interfered twice in Cuba and threatened to intervene several more times. During the Gómez administration the country prospered, but charges of corruption in the government rose. The government was accused of giving few offices to Afro-Cubans and also of favouring those who had supported the Spanish cause in the war for independence. Protests by Afro-Cubans against a law prohibiting political organization by race or religion led to a bloody government crackdown that claimed the lives of thousands. The Liberal party split, and in the election of 1912 the Conservative candidate, Menocal, won.

Menocal's administration oversaw much material progress, but with prosperity came new charges of government corruption, including accusations of nepotism. Menocal won reelection in 1916 by employing fraud and violence, and, as a result, war broke out against him in February 1917. The rebels had hoped for intervention by the U.S., but it was too occupied with the situation in Europe, and Menocal was able to put down the rebellion. Menocal's government declared war on Germany on April 7, 1917, the day after the U.S. entered World War I.

Until 1919 Cuba enjoyed phenomenal prosperity, thanks to the high price of sugar. By 1920, however, a severe financial crisis had struck the country, and, despite a moratorium, many banks and other business concerns went bankrupt. Zayas introduced financial reforms and was given a $50 million loan by the U.S. in January 1923. The economic situation rapidly improved, but charges of corruption against Zayas intensified, and revolts broke out against him, led in part by war veterans. When Zayas tried to get himself renominated, he ran into stiff opposition from his own party. He therefore made a pact with the Liberal candidate, Gen. Gerardo Machado y Morales, against Menocal, who ran as the Conservative candidate in the election of 1924.

Machado was elected overwhelmingly and assumed office on May 20, 1925. He was to become Cuba's first full-fledged dictator. Pledged to a program of reform, he made good only a few of his promises during his first term. With the beginning of his second term, in 1928, a rule of terror began. Martial law was proclaimed, and Congress allowed him to suspend freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Political opposition, allayed by an adroit distribution of patronage in 1928, revived against Machado as the economic depression of the early 1930s hit Cuba. An attempt to stabilize the price of sugar, always the mainstay of Cuba's economy, failed, and no substantial relief came from a public-works program. As the opposition increased, Machado adopted increasingly harsher methods against it. Cuban exiles fled to the U.S., and, as violence intensified, the U.S. offered to mediate. An amnesty was declared, and constitutional and political reforms were promised. With the economic crisis deepening and with Machado apparently determined to stay in office in spite of promises to resign, the army forced him to flee the country in August 1933.

Cuba had many presidents in the following years, but they were usually made and unmade by Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar, a sergeant who gained control of the army at the time of Machado's downfall. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, son of Cuban revolutionary leader Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, was the first president to serve on a provisional basis. He set aside the constitution and tried to bring about modest reforms, but critics feared that he was too closely allied to the U.S. He was overthrown after just a few months, and Ramón Grau San Martín was installed in his place. Grau San Martín's attempts at reform were also short-lived, and his four months in office were characterized by bloody strife. A military junta, headed by Batista, then conferred the presidency on Col. Carlos Mendieta, who seemed to have the approval of most factions. The U.S. and other countries granted him prompt recognition.

Under the auspices of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy, a treaty was concluded in June 1934 that abrogated the Platt Amendment. That document, which had been issued to preserve peace, had had the opposite effect, as discontented factions had frequently risen against Cuban governments in order to bring about U.S. intervention. It also had been used by such leaders as Zayas to get the people to support them as champions of Cuban liberty against U.S. aggression.

Disorder and strikes continued, but Mendieta and his chief of staff, Batista, used dictatorial measures and postponed elections until December 1935. Batista continued to rule Cuba through two presidents-Jose Barnet y Vinageras (December 1935-May 1936) and Federico Laredo Brú (December 1936-October 1940). Miguel Mariano Gómez y Arias was elected in May 1936 but served only to December.

In 1940, Batista, then a colonel, undertook his own candidacy and defeated Grau San Martín. During his presidential term, 1940-44, Cuba entered World War II on the side of the Allies and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Batista's candidate, Carlos Saladrigas y Zayas, ran in 1944 but was defeated by Grau San Martín, and Batista soon left the country. Grau San Martín's administration began with much emphasis on "political house cleaning" but failed to achieve any kind of concrete reform.

Carlos Prío Socarrás became president in 1948, but his ambitious domestic agenda stalled in the face of economic troubles and government corruption. Batista, a candidate for the June 1952 election, anticipating his defeat, overthrew the government in March without bloodshed. He closed Congress and called for elections in 1954. He was elected president without opposition for a four-year term beginning February 24, 1955. He reinstated the 1940 constitution, which contained many liberal pro-labour reforms, and tried to return the country to normalcy, but strong opposition developed against him. Among the primary concerns of large landowners was the Sugar Act of 1956, U.S. legislation that sharply curtailed Cuban sugar imports to the benefit of domestic producers. With Cuban sugar exports facing an uncertain future, support for Batista within both the government and the influential agriculture industry virtually collapsed. Militant anti-Batista elements denied the validity of the 1955 election and organized a campaign of harassment and sabotage in the provinces. Chief among these groups was the 26th of July Movement under the leadership of the charismatic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

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Cuban Revolution | Summary, Facts, Causes, Effects, & Significance

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Cuban Revolution, armed uprising in Cuba that overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The revolution had as its genesis a failed assault on the Santiago de Cuba army barracks on July 26, 1953. That attack's leader, Fidel Castro, went on to rule Cuba from 1959 to 2008.

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The Kitchen Debate ( Russian: Кухонные дебаты, Kukhonnye debaty) was a series of impromptu exchanges through interpreters between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, then 46, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikita Khrushchev, 65, at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959.

An entire house was built for the exhibition which the American exhibitors claimed that anyone in the United States could afford. It was filled with labor-saving and recreational devices meant to represent the fruits of the capitalist American consumer market. The debate was recorded on color videotape, and Nixon made reference to this fact; it was subsequently broadcast in both countries.

In 1959, the Soviets and Americans agreed to hold exhibits in each other's countries as a cultural exchange to promote understanding. This was a result of the 1958 U.S.-Soviet Cultural Agreement. The Soviet exhibit in New York City opened in June 1959, and Vice President Nixon was on hand the following month to open the U.S. exhibit in Moscow. Nixon took Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev on a tour of the exhibit. There were multiple displays and consumer goods provided by more than 450 American companies. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a geodesic dome that housed scientific and technical experiments in a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m ²) facility. The Soviets purchased the dome at the end of the Moscow exhibition.

William Safire was the exhibitor's press agent, and he recounted that the Kitchen Debate took place in a number of locations at the exhibition, but primarily in the kitchen of a suburban model house that was cut in half for easy viewing. This was only one of a series of four meetings that occurred between Nixon and Khrushchev during the 1959 exhibition. Nixon was accompanied by President Eisenhower's younger brother Milton S. Eisenhower, former president of Johns Hopkins University.

Khrushchev surprised Nixon during the first meeting in the Kremlin when he protested the Captive Nations Resolution passed by the US Congress, which condemned the Soviet Union for its "control" over the "captive" peoples of Eastern Europe and called upon Americans to pray for those people. After protesting the actions of the U.S. Congress, he dismissed the new technology of the U.S. and declared that the Soviets would have all of the same things in a few years and then say "Bye bye" as they surpassed the U.S.

Khrushchev criticised the large range of American gadgets. In particular, Khrushchev saw that some of the gadgets were harder to use than the traditional way. One of these devices was a handheld lemon juicer for tea. He criticized the device, saying that it was much easier to squeeze the juice out by hand and the appliance was unnecessary. Khrushchev asked Nixon if this device was standard in American kitchens. Nixon admitted some of the products had not hit the U.S. market, and were prototypes. Khrushchev satirically asked "Don't you have a machine that puts food into the mouth and pushes it down?", a reference to Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times. Nixon responded that at least the competition was technological rather than military. Both men agreed that the United States and the Soviet Union should seek areas of agreement.

The second visit occurred in a television studio inside the American exhibit. In the end, Khrushchev stated that everything that he had said in their debate should be translated into English and broadcast in the U.S. Nixon responded, "Certainly it will, and everything I say is to be translated into Russian and broadcast across the Soviet Union. That's a fair bargain." Khrushchev vigorously shook hands to this proposal.

Nixon argued that the Americans built to take advantage of new techniques, while Khrushchev advocated for Communism by arguing that the Soviets built for future generations. Khrushchev stated, "This is what America is capable of, and how long has she existed? 300 years? 150 years of independence and this is her level. We haven't quite reached 42 years, and in another 7 years, we'll be at the level of America, and after that we'll go farther." Safire reported that Leonid Brezhnev was present and attempted to obstruct his photos.

The third visit occurred inside the kitchen on a cutaway model home that was furnished with a dishwasher, refrigerator, and range. It was designed to represent a $14,000 home that a typical American worker could afford (equivalent to $130,000 in 2021).

The three major American television networks broadcast the Kitchen Debate on July 25, 1959. The Soviets subsequently protested, as Nixon and Khrushchev had agreed that the debate should be broadcast simultaneously in America and the Soviet Union, with the Soviets threatening to withhold the tape until they were ready to broadcast. The American networks, however, had felt that the delay would cause the news to lose its immediacy. The debate was broadcast on Moscow television on July 27, albeit late at night and with Nixon's remarks only partially translated.

American reaction was mixed. The New York Times called it "an exchange that emphasized the gulf between east and west but had little bearing on the substantive issue" and portrayed it as a political stunt. The paper also declared that public opinion seemed divided after the debates. Time magazine, on the other hand, praised Nixon, saying that he "managed in a unique way to personify a national character proud of peaceful accomplishment, sure of its way of life, confident of its power under threat."

Nixon gained popularity because of the informal nature of the exchange, improving upon the lukewarm reception that he previously had with the American public. According to William Safire, he also impressed Khrushchev: "The shrewd Khrushchev came away from his personal duel of words with Nixon persuaded that the advocate of capitalism was not just tough-minded but strong-willed."

The trip raised Nixon's profile as a public statesman, greatly improving his chances of receiving the Republican presidential nomination the following year. Khrushchev in a 1961 meeting with Nixon's opponent in the ensuing election, John F. Kennedy, would joke that he had voted for Kennedy.

In the Kitchen Debate, Khrushchev claimed that Nixon's grandchildren would live under communism and Nixon claimed that Khrushchev's grandchildren would live in freedom. In a 1992 interview, Nixon commented that at the time of the debate, he was sure Khrushchev's claim was wrong, but Nixon was not sure that his own assertion was correct. Nixon said that events had proven that he was indeed right because Khrushchev's grandchildren (Khrushchev's son Sergei Khrushchev was a naturalized American citizen) now lived in freedom, referring to then recent collapse of the Soviet Union.

Secret Service records declassified by the National Security Archive (Washington D.C.) on September 22, 2022 reveal that the Soviets exposed Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, to ionizing radiation during their visit to Moscow in July 1959. The Nixon couple was slightly exposed when residing in the Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador's residence in Moscow. The U.S. Secret Service special agent James O. Golden and another agent John T. Sherwood accidentally detected the radiations when checking their instruments in the Spaso House near the Vice President room for preparing a visit at an "atomic city" near Sverdlovsk, foreseen later in the Nixon tour of industrial cities. After denouncing the fact[by whom? ], the radiations stopped. Two teenager students, Michael Gill and Richard Berke, family friends of James Golden, rapidly published the story to a limited audience in their school newspaper called "Black & White" at the Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1976, The Washington Post confirmed the story in a document declassified later in 2012.

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The Kitchen Debate ( Russian: Кухонные дебаты, Kukhonnye debaty) was a series of impromptu exchanges through interpreters between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, then 46, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikita Khrushchev, 65, at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959.

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In April 1961, more than a thousand Cuban exiles stormed the beaches at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, intending to ignite an uprising that would overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.

Many people know the story of the failed Bay of Pigs operation, but you might not know all the details. Let's take a closer look at the events that unfolded and at the key players whose covert performances played out for all the world to see.

Descent from the Mountains

In the 1950s, a young, charismatic Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro led a guerrilla army against the forces of General Fulgencio Batista from a base camp deep within the Sierra Maestra Mountains, the largest mountain range in Cuba. Castro's goal was to overthrow Batista, the US-backed leader of Cuba.

After three years of guerrilla warfare, Castro and his ragtag army descended from the mountains and entered Havana on January 1, 1959, forcing Batista to flee the country. Castro took control of the Cuban Government's 30,000-man army and declared himself Prime Minister.

For nearly 50 years, Cuba had been America's playground and agricultural center. Many wealthy Americans lived in Cuba and had established thriving businesses there. In fact, a significant portion of Cuba's sugar plantations were owned by North Americans. With Castro's self-appointment to Prime Minister, that changed.

In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the Soviet Union. When the US-owned refineries in the country refused to process the oil, Castro seized the firms, and the US broke off diplomatic relations with the Cuban regime. To the chagrin of the Eisenhower administration, Castro established increasingly close ties with the Soviet Union while delivering fiery condemnations of the US.

The American-Cuban relationship deteriorated further when Castro established diplomatic relations with our Cold War rival, the Soviet Union. Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev signed a series of pacts that resulted in large deliveries of economic and military aid in 1960. Within a year, Castro proclaimed himself a communist, formally allied his country with the Soviet Union, and seized remaining American and foreign-owned assets.

The establishment of a Communist state 90 miles off the coast of Florida raised obvious security concerns in Washington and did not sit well with President Eisenhower.

Eisenhower authorized the CIA to conduct a covert operation to rid the island of its self-appointed leader. The CIA formulated a plan to recruit Cuban exiles living in the Miami area. It would train and equip the exiles to infiltrate Cuba and start a revolution to ignite an uprising across the island and overthrow Castro.

At least that was the intended outcome.

Top US Government officials watched as their decisions led to an entirely different outcome: one that would leave a covert operation exposed, embarrass the new Kennedy administration, end the career of the longest serving Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles, and, ultimately, leave Fidel Castro in power for decades to come.

The Recruits

In April 1960, several CIA officers traveled to Miami, Florida. They were searching for members of the Frente Revolucionario Democratico (FRD), an active group of Cuban exiles who had fled Cuba when Castro took power. These revolutionaries were the ideal individuals to lead an uprising in Cuba, and the CIA, operating with a $13 million budget, recruited 1,400 of them to form Brigade 2506.

The Brigade was taken to Useppa Island, a private island off the coast of Florida that was secretly leased by the CIA.

Once there, they received training in weapons, infantry tactics, land navigation, amphibious assault tactics, team guerrilla operations, and paratrooping. Their instructors were from the Army Special Forces, Air Force, Air National Guard, and the CIA. Thirty-nine of the recruits were pilots who had flown in Cuba's military or as commercial pilots. The pilots were trained at an air training base in Guatemala.

Unbeknownst to the trainers, although likely suspected, sprinkled amongst the recruits were double-agents, working in tandem for Castro, sharing the intelligence that they collected on the upcoming invasion.

The Plan

For simplicity, the Bay of Pigs invasion plan can be broken down into three phases:

Phase One: Destroy as many of Castro's combat aircraft as possible so that when the Brigade invaded the beach, Castro's air force would have no retaliatory capabilities. To do this, pilots of Brigade 2506 planned to bomb three of Castro's air force bases. The cover story for these bombings was simple. Pilots in the Brigade would pose as pilots in the Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria (FAR), Castro's Air Force. Allegedly, they would become disgruntled, take their aircrafts, shoot up their own air force bases, and then fly to the US to defect. This first airstrike was supposed to take place two days prior to the invasion (phase three).

Phase Two: Destroy any remaining combat planes in Castro's fleet that weren't taken out during phase one. Pilots in Brigade 2506 planned to drop bombs on Castro's air force bases in the morning hours prior to the main invasion (phase three) to destroy any remaining combat planes in Castro's fleet. This would ensure the Brigade members invading the beach would not have to contend with Castro's aircraft dropping bombs and firing mercilessly on them from above during the actual invasion.

Phase Three: The invasion. The Brigade would invade Cuba by sea and air. Some members would invade Cuba on the beaches of Trinidad; others would parachute in farther inland. The Brigade pilots would fly air cover missions over the beach. The old colonial city of Trinidad was chosen as the invasion site because it offered many significant features. It was an anti-Castro town with existing counter-revolutionary groups. It had good port facilities. The beachhead was easily defensible and, should the Brigade need to execute their escape plan, the Escambray Mountains were there to offer solitude.

Location, Location, Location

As the number of days till the invasion shortened, Kennedy's concern that the operation would not remain covert grew. He was adamant the hand of the US Government remain hidden at all costs. Kennedy thought changing the invasion site from Trinidad would make future deniability of US involvement more plausible, so he gave the CIA four days to come up with a new one.

And so, a month before the operation was set to get underway, the landing location changed from Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs.

This presented an array of problems, namely, the Bay of Pigs was one of Castro's favorite fishing holes. He knew the land like the back of his hand. He vacationed there frequently and invested in the Cuban peasants surrounding the bay, garnering their loyalty and admiration.

Additionally, the Escambray Mountains, the designated escape site, was 50 miles away through hostile territory. The bay was also far from large groups of civilians, a necessary commodity for instigating an uprising, which may be a moot point, as the bay was surrounded by the largest swamp in Cuba, making it physically impossible for any Cubans wanting to join the revolt to actually do so.

The Operation Begins

Phase One, April 15: Early on the morning of April 15, phase one was deployed. Six Cuban-piloted B-26 bombers struck two airfields, three military bases, and Antonio Maceo Airport in an attempt to destroy the Cuban air force. Their planes had been refurbished to match those of the FAR; each equipped with bombs, rockets and machine guns.

About 90 minutes later a "defecting" pilot, a member of Brigade 2506, took off in his American-made getaway plane, also disguised as a FAR aircraft. His plane, however, received extra attention. Dirt was rubbed on the markings to make it look worn. A phony flight log was in the cockpit along with various other items typically found in Cuban military aircraft. Finally, because a defector shooting up his own base would most likely encounter resistance, his plane was shot full of bullet holes.

The "defector's" destination was the Miami International Airport. He radioed a "may day" distress signal from off the coast of Florida and informed US authorities that he was defecting from the Cuban Air Force, having engine trouble, and requested permission to land. Upon landing, he was taken into custody by US Customs and Immigration and Naturalization.

Reciting his cover story, he explained that he was defecting from Cuba, but before doing so had attacked his own air base and that two colleagues had also defected and had attacked other Cuban air bases.

Damage assessments of the airstrikes vary, but it is believed that 80 percent of Castro's combat aircraft were disabled. Assuming Castro had an inventory of as many as 30 combat aircraft, that left six functioning aircraft available at his disposal on the day of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Castro vehemently denied that the attacks on his airfields had been by rebellious members of the FAR and immediately blamed the US. He also quickly concluded that these strikes were an indication of something larger brewing. He preemptively rounded up thousands of potential dissidents and herded them into theatres, stadiums and military bases to squelch the possibility of a spontaneous uprising to overthrow his regime.

Following Castro's orders, Raul Roa, the Cuban Foreign Minister, called an emergency session of the United Nations Political and Security Committee in New York on the afternoon of April 15. The session was attended by US Ambassador to the UN, Adlai Stevenson.

Stevenson held up pictures of the planes as he adamantly stated the US had nothing to do with the airstrikes. He insisted that the attacks were conducted by defectors from Castro's own air force. The pictures, however, proved to be the unraveling of the cover story.

On close inspection, one could make out a metal nose on the plane flown by the defector; FAR aircraft noses were plastic. Ambassador Stevenson, who was unaware of the covert operation, was furious when the truth was revealed.

Cancel the Strikes!

Phase Two, April 16: This was bad news for President Kennedy whose number one priority was hiding the hand of the US Government, which was becoming more exposed as the operation proceeded. Lying to the UN had serious consequences and a second strike would put the United States in an awkward position internationally. Political considerations trumped the military importance of a "D-Day" air strike.

Late in the evening of April 16, Kennedy made the decision to cancel the air strikes set to destroy the remaining fleet of Cuban bombers. The decision was so last minute that the Brigade pilots were sitting on the runway, taxied in position for takeoff when they were told to stand down.

Ironically, however, the air support scheduled to provide cover to the invading Brigade on the beach could proceed as planned. This last minute cancellation forced leadership to work furiously through the midnight hours, reworking and revising their plans, racing the sun as it climbed into a cloudless sky the morning of April 17, 1961: D-Day.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Phase Three, April 17: The Bay of Pigs invasion began with the launch of eight pairs of aircraft flown by Brigade pilots over the Bay of Pigs. But, like all else, that number too had been scaled back at the last minute, which left large patches of time when no aircraft would be providing air support for the invading Brigade.

The FAR had read the remnants of the April 15 strikes like tea leaves and correctly predicted a second attack. This time, they were prepared.

As the sun's orange rays stretched across the Caribbean Sea, the members of Brigade 2506 prepared to return home. Not as citizens, not as vacationers, but as invaders. As their vessels drew ever nearer to shore, they saw their island as never before: not as a warm, welcoming place, but as a hostile, yet, strangely familiar territory.

They had been training for this moment, anticipating it and envisioning it for the past year. Now it was upon them. This was their opportunity to make a difference in the country in which they had lived, the country which they had loved, the country from which they had fled. This was their chance to turn the tide.

Yet, it was an ocean tide and unforeseen coral reefs that made it increasingly difficult for the Brigade to even reach the shore. Most of the men lost their weapons and equipment to the turquoise waters.

Once ashore, they were met instantly by Cuban armed forces who outnumbered them. The salvaged and undamaged Cuban planes that had survived the April 15 strikes, the very planes that should have been destroyed that morning had Kennedy not canceled the planned strike, were now flying overhead wreaking mayhem on the Brigade.

The invasion did not go as planned, and the exiles soon found themselves outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned by Castro's troops.

Castro's first priority was sinking the ships that invaded Cuban waters. The USS Houston, an American troop and supply vessel, was damaged by several FAR rockets, its captain then intentionally beached it on the western side of the bay. The FAR also machine gunned the two landing craft and other supply vessels that had brought the Brigade into the Bay of Pigs. They hit the USS Rio Escondido, which was loaded with aviation fuel, causing a terrific explosion before it sank like a stone.

Meanwhile, the paratroopers dropped in. One set missed their target and lost most of their equipment, and two other men were injured when their static line cable broke. A portion of the equipment that was airdropped sank in the swamps.

The Brigade did have some successes. Several paratroopers hit their targets and were able to hold their positions and block roads for two days. The Brigade pilots providing air cover support successfully destroyed tanks and other armor and halted an advancement of Cuban militia cadets.

Neither side made any significant advances as the invasion and fighting continued into the third day.

The Situation Falters:

The deteriorating operation convinced President Kennedy to authorize six unmarked fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Essex to provide combat air patrol for the Brigade's aircraft for one hour on April 19. But not without strict limitations; they could not instigate air combat or attack ground targets. Limitations, however, wasn't the biggest problem: timing was.

Somewhere, among the last minute changes and cables going back and forth, there was a miscommunication. As the six jets sat on deck awaiting their scheduled departure time, the Brigade's aircraft flew over them an hour ahead of schedule. The jets immediately launched after them, but they were unable to reach the invasion area in time to protect the Brigade's aircraft.

Brigade 2506's pleas for air and naval support were refused at the highest US Government levels, although several CIA contract pilots dropped munitions and supplies, resulting in the deaths of four of them: Pete Ray, Leo Baker, Riley Shamburger, and Wade Gray.

Kennedy refused to authorize any extension beyond the hour granted. To this day, there has been no resolution as to what caused this discrepancy in timing.

Without direct air support-no artillery and no weapons-and completely outnumbered by Castro's forces, members of the Brigade either surrendered or returned to the turquoise water from which they had come.

Two American destroyers attempted to move into the Bay of Pigs to evacuate these members, but gunfire from Cuban forces made that impossible.

In the following days, US entities continued to monitor the waters surrounding the bay in search of survivors, with only a handful being rescued. A few members of the Brigade managed to escape and went into hiding, but soon surrendered due to a lack of food and water. When all was said and done, more than seventy-five percent of Brigade 2506 ended up in Cuban prisons.

Wondering what became of the imprisoned members of Brigade 2506? Read The Negotiator, part two of our Bay of Pigs series, to find out how American attorney James Donovan spent months in one-on-one negotiations with Fidel Castro over the fate of those 1,113 Brigade members.

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In April 1961, more than a thousand Cuban exiles stormed the beaches at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, intending to ignite an uprising that would overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Many people know the story of the failed Bay of Pigs operation, but you might not know all the details.

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“Missile Crisis” redirects here. For the missile crisis in Cyprus, see Cypriot S-300 crisis.

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Table of Contents

1. Lee Harvey Oswald's Earlier Life

2. President and Governor Shot in Motorcade

3. Lyndon B. Johnson Sworn In

4. Lee Harvey Oswald Shot

5. JFK Funeral

6. Investigation Ends, Conspiracy Theories Begin

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. Shots rang out as Kennedy's motorcade turned past the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza, with crowds lining the streets. The driver of the president's Lincoln limousine, with its top off, raced to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital, but after being shot in the neck and head, Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. He was 46 years old. A generation of Americans would forever remember where they were when they heard about the president's assassination, as it would have a profound political and cultural impact on the nation.

By 2:15 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald, a new employee at the Book Depository, was arrested for JFK's assassination, as well as for the fatal 1:15 p.m. shooting of Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippit. Two days later, on Nov. 24, Oswald would be murdered by local nightclub owner and police informant Jack Ruby at point-blank range and on live TV.

Lee Harvey Oswald's Earlier Life

Oswald was born in New Orleans in 1939. His father died of a heart attack two months before he was born. After living off and on in orphanages as a boy, he moved with his mother to New York at age 12, where he was sent to a youth detention center for truancy. It was during this time that he became interested in socialism. After moving back to New Orleans, Oswald joined the Marines in 1956, where he earned a sharpshooter qualification, and discovered Marxism.

Upon receiving an early honorable discharge from the Marines in 1959, he defected to the Soviet Union for two and a half years, where he was denied citizenship, but allowed to stay in the country-and was monitored by the KGB. Upon learning that Oswald had wanted to defect, the Marines downgraded his 1959 discharge from "honorable" to "undesirable" in 1962. Later that year, Oswald returned to Texas with his Soviet wife and young daughter.

Kennedy

Watch the three-episode documentary event, Kennedy. Available to stream now.

One year later, Oswald would purchase, by mail, a rifle with telescopic sight and a .38 revolver. That year, he attempted to shoot retired United States Major General Edwin A. Walker who had been a staunch critic of communism. Later in 1963, Oswald was denied passage to Cuba and the U.S.S.R. during a trip to Mexico City. He returned to Texas and started a job at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas.

In an interview with " Frontline," investigative journalist Gerald Posner said Oswald's hatred wasn't for Kennedy. "What he did hate was the system and what Kennedy stood for," Posner tells the PBS show. "He despised America. He despised capitalism. When he eventually had the opportunity to strike against Kennedy, it was that symbol of the system that he was going after."

President and Governor Shot in Motorcade

According to the official investigation, Oswald acted alone, firing three bullets from a sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Book Depository. Kennedy was struck once in the upper back and once in the head and slumped over onto his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr., who was also in the limo with his wife, was shot once in the back. He later recovered from his injuries. After killing Tippit, Oswald was arrested a few minutes later in the back of a movie theater.

"The man is 24-year-old Lee Oswald, espouser of leftist causes, an active member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, an avowed admirer of Russia and of Cuba's Fidel Castro, a man who once lived in Russia," Dan Rather reported on CBS News at the time.

During his interrogation, Oswald denied any guilt. "I didn't shoot anybody, no sir ... I'm just a patsy," he told reporters.

Lyndon B. Johnson Sworn In

The first lady and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been three cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade, returned to Air Force One at Dallas Love Field with Kennedy's body, in a bronze casket.

Johnson was sworn in at 2:38 p.m. as the 36th president of the United States while aboard the airplane prior to takeoff. Jacqueline Kennedy, still in a pink suit splattered with blood, stood at Johnson's side. An autopsy on Kennedy's body was performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

"This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed," Johnson said in his first public statement as president. "For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help-and God's,"

On November 23, 1963, Johnson declared November 25 a national day of mourning.

Lee Harvey Oswald Shot

On Sunday morning, November 24, in front of the press, Oswald was being led to be transferred to the county jail from Dallas Police Headquarters. "The Dallas police were extremely worried for the safety of their prisoner," KRLD radio reporter Bob Huffaker, who was there, told CBS News. "We knew that Oswald was the most hated suspect of the 20th century."

Ruby shot Oswald point-blank in the stomach with a small-caliber pistol. Oswald died at Parkland Hospital, where Kennedy had died two days earlier.

Ruby was indicted on November 26 and convicted of murdering Oswald and sentenced to death by electric chair. The ruling was overturned on appeal, but Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism stemming from lung cancer in 1967 before a new trial could take place.

JFK Funeral

On November 25, a horse-drawn caisson carried Kennedy's flag-draped coffin to St. Matthew's Catholic Cathedral from the Capitol Rotunda. More than 800,000 people lined Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the procession, according to the Washington Post.

"The president's caisson was drawn by four horses, including the riderless horse named Black Jack, a 'magnificent black gelding,' according to the JFK Library, which carried an empty saddle and saber," the newspaper reported. "Boots were reversed in the stirrups. 'The riderless horse,' the JFK Library explained, 'is one of the highest military honors bestowed upon the fallen.' "

Kennedy was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, following the requiem mass, with leaders from dozens of nations in attendance. Jacqueline Kennedy lit the eternal flame that has continued to flicker since JFK's death.

Investigation Ends, Conspiracy Theories Begin

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy-known as the Warren Commission -concluded "the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository." It also said, "The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald."

Despite the official finding, many believe Oswald didn't act alone, or that other conspirators-from the world of organized crime to the CIA to Cuban exiles-are responsible for Kennedy's assassination. A 2017 poll by FiveThirtyEight, found just 33 percent of Americans believe Oswald alone killed Kennedy. Some 30,000 never-before-seen or un-redacted documents were released to the public by the National Archives in 2017 and 2018.

Sources

" November 22, 1963: Death of the President," John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

" Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? " Frontline, PBS

" The Warren Commission Report," National Archives

" The day John F. Kennedy was killed: How America mourned a fallen president," The Washington Post

" Accused JFK assassin is arrested, then gunned down," CBS News

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