Big Picture

Questions

1. Who said, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty"?
2. Who led the socialist revolution in Cuba?
3. What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
4. What shift in ideology happened after the Cuban Missile Crisis?
5. What does détente mean?

Answers

1. John F. Kennedy
2. Fidel Castro
3. Perhaps underestimating Castro's popularity in Cuba, Kennedy chose to seek his overthrow. Only a few months after becoming president, Kennedy authorized a CIA-organized force of anti-Castro Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. The ill-fated invaders landed at a place called the Bay of Pigs, where Castro's forces were waiting to crush them. The invasion failed to topple Castro's government and only strengthened his mystique among the Cuban people.
4. The near-death experience of the Cuban Missile Crisis spooked everyone, prompting a general shift in American policy away from directly challenging core Soviet interests.
5. Lessening of tension