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Failed Bay of Pigs Invasion
US tried to overthrow Castro with trained Cuban anti-Castro men
Castro defested them
embaressment to Kennedy administration -
Khrushchev meets Kennedy for the first time
Krushchev had tensions with President Eisenhower long before Kennedy was elected
When Khrushchev met Kennedy for first time at the Vienna Summit, he noticed that Kennedy seemed intimidated by him
Khrushchev assumed that he would be able to "push JFK's buttons" -
CIA alerts President Kennedy of the missiles in Cuba--presents the U-2 pics to him
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JFK holds meeting with his advisors/ explains the situation
Evidence of missiles in Cuba is shown-
Advisor's immidiate reaction is surprise military attack/ bomd the missiles; therefore, destroying them. -
Period: to
Cuban Missile Criris
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Beginning meetings
first few meetings mostly everyone wanted to surprise bomb attack--only one question--what would they do after the bombing? They could retaliate and were way to close for comfort to US--the more they thought about all that would come from that--realized how carefully everything had to be thought through. -
first differing of opinions over military strike
undersecretary of state, George Ball--one of few to speak out against military action--thinking about USSR's response and also how it would look to rest of the world--on our part. -
Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara suggests naval blockade
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JFK met with Soviet ambassadors
Andrei Gromyko blatently denied having missiles in cuba when jack asked
jfk debated showing them the u-2 pics, but decided against them -
half and half
half doves and half hawks -
meeting with joint cheifs of staff
they were unanimous in favor of surprise military action, obviously -
television broadcast
JFK goes on national tv to announce the situation and bloackade to the American public -
EXCOMM notifies other nations
gains support of OAS before tv announcement -
meet with congress
hours before appearing on tv, JFK meets with congress--many disagree with him -
UN meeting
right after JFK's announcement, Adlai Stevenson calls a UN meeting
confronts Soviet ambassador about missiles, he wont give Stevenson an answer