America During The 1960s

3 Pages 873 Words

America During The 1960’s
The 1960’s were a time of peace, love, riots, assassinations, and an unpopular war. The decade began under the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
John F. Kennedy gave hope to many. Free speech, civil rights, women and peace movements helped bring the American society toward progress. By the end of the decade, over 500,000 Americans had been sent to the war in Vietnam which was fought for the struggle for equality and left the nation divided.
Bay of Pigs
On April 17th 1961, the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs began. Kennedy was convinced that Fidel Castro lacked support from the Cuban people. So Kennedy allowed the invasion to go through. Little did he know the Cubans were well prepared. Within seventy-two hours of invasion, 1500 men were defeated by the Cubans. By the last day of the invasion, a total of 114 men were killed while thirty-six died as prisoners in Cuban cells. The failure of the invasion led to the poor judgment of Kennedy along with the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).
Cuban Missile Crisis
With all the tension already from the 1961 Cuban invasion, Kennedy found out that Premier Khrushchev had placed weapons in Cuba. Kennedy called a meeting with a group of his closest advisors along with his brother Robert, the attorney general. On October 22, 1962, Kennedy announced the presence of the Soviet missile launch pads to the nation.
JFK Assassination
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Kennedy arrived at Dallas, Texas approximately 11:40 AM and was welcomed by the people of the city. Along with Kennedy was Governor John Connelly and their wives as they were about to be driven to the Trade Mart where Kennedy was scheduled to make a speech between liberal and conservative elements within the American Democratic party. Still five minutes away from the Trade Mart, his car was turning down Elm Street. While Kennedy was acknowledging everyone, several loud noises sounding like firecracker...