2. US foreign policy
In today’s class I am learning to:
• Describe different US foreign
policies in the 1960s
• Analyse the extent to which these
events helped cause the Cuban
Missile Crisis
3. US foreign policy
Throughout the Cold
War, the USA was
involved in a
variety of foreign
policy actions.
These policies aimed
to strengthen
America, and stop
the spread of
Communism around the
world.
4. US foreign policy
In 1823, the American
President James Monroe
put forward a policy
that became known as
the Monroe Doctrine.
This said that the USA
would stop any
European country
trying to control
countries in the
American continent.
5. US foreign policy
After the Cuban
Revolution, the USA
worried about a Soviet
influence in Cuba.
US Presidents –
especially John F
Kennedy – cited the
Monroe Doctrine when
they took action to
prevent this Soviet
involvement.
6. US foreign policy
When Dwight Eisenhower
was US President, he
approved a plan to
invade Cuba and remove
Fidel Castro from
power.
John F Kennedy was
reluctant to continue
this plan but
eventually agreed to
do so.
7. US foreign policy
1400 Cuban exiles (now
living in the USA)
were given American
military training and
support.
They were to return to
Cuba and start a
counter-revolution.
They landed at a
remote location called
the Bay of Pigs.
8. US foreign policy
The invasion was a
disaster.
American attempts to
bomb Cuban air bases
failed. Castro also
knew in advance about
the plans so was
prepared.
All of the exiles were
killed or imprisoned.
9. US foreign policy
The USA’s Central
Intelligence Agency
(CIA) were also
involved in several
failed attempts to
assassinate Castro.
It has been claimed
these plans included
unusual actions such
as poison cigars and
exploding sea-shells.
10. US foreign policy
US attempts to remove
Castro scared him,
forcing him to get
USSR protection.
The Soviets may have
believed that US
embarrassment at the
Bay of Pigs would mean
they would not stop
the Soviets putting
weapons into Cuba.
11. US foreign policy
The Bay of Pigs Crisis
certainly had damaged
Kennedy, perhaps
making him more
cautious.
However it also showed
that JFK was prepared
to take military
action. Khrushchev may
not have wanted to
provoke this.
12. US foreign policy
After discovering that
the USSR had placed
nuclear weapons into
Cuba, the USA wanted
them removed.
President Kennedy gave
a national TV address
where he updated
Americans and demanded
the Soviets take
missiles out of Cuba.
13. US foreign policy
The USA tried to stop
more weapons going to
the island, imposing
a quarantine on Cuba
(stopping Soviet
ships going there).
The US military urged
the President to
invade the island and
remove the weapons.
14. US foreign policy
Cuba was an
independent country
and entitled to have
any military presence
it wanted in its
country.
If the USA had
accepted this and not
tried to intervene,
there would have been
no crisis.
15. US foreign policy
However the Soviets
could be said to be to
blame for the crisis.
They knew the USA
would not accept them,
which is why they did
it secretly. This
meant the USA were
correct to worry that
the weapons might be
used for attack.
16. US foreign policy
The US had a policy of
Containment to stop
the spread of
Communism.
In Asia, the USA had
sent soldiers into the
Korean War to prevent
this, and were also
supporting the
government of South
Vietnam.
17. US foreign policy
In Europe, the US
strengthened had set
up the military
alliance of NATO in
1949.
America now had
military bases across
Europe, including
basing Jupiter nuclear
missiles in Italy and
Turkey too.
18. US foreign policy
The Soviets felt
threatened by American
nuclear missiles in
Italy and Turkey.
Putting weapons in
Cuba was an attempt by
the USSR to place
their weapons in a
similar location, or
force the USA to
remove theirs.
19. US foreign policy
The Soviets publicly
wanted US Jupiter
missiles removed from
Turkey and Italy.
However the Jupiter
missiles were of
limited technical
value by the 1960s, so
it is unlikely the
USSR would have risked
war because of them.
