Week 3

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion convinced Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev that the United 

States would not resist Soviet expansion in Latin America. Khrushchev secretly began to build 42 

missile sites in Cuba. An American spy discovered the sites. John F. Kennedy declared that the 

missiles were to close to the united states and that they were a threat. He declared for them to be 

removed and also announced a navel blockade of Cuba to prevent the Soviet Union from installing

more missiles. 

Vietnam War 1965- 75 

Détente 1969- 79 

Widespread popular protests wracked the United States during the Vietnam War. And the turmoil did

not end with the U.S. withdrawal. As it tried to heal its internal wounds, the United States backed

away from drawal. Détente, a policy of lessing Cold War tensions, replaced brinkmanship under

Richard M. Nixon. While the United States continued to try to contain the spread of communism, the

two superpower agreed to pursue détente and to reduce tensions.

Iranian Revolution - 1979

The leader of this religious opposition, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, was living in exile. Spurred by

his tape-recorded messages, Iranians rioted every major city in 1979. In 1979, with the ayatollah's 

blessing, young Islamic revolutionaries seized the U.S embassy in Tehran. They took more than 60 

American hostage and demanded the United States force the shah to face trial. 

USSR invades Afghanistan 1979

In the late 1970's, a Muslim revolt threatened to topple Afghanistan's Communist regime. This revolt 

led to Soviet Union invasion in 1979. The Soviets expected to prop up the Afghan Communists and 

quickly withdraw. In the late 1980's, a new Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, acknowledged the 

war's devastating costs. He withdrew all Soviet troops by 1989. By then, internal unrest and 

economic problems were tearing apart the Soviet Union itself.