1. Thaw & Freeze
1953-Nikita Khrushchev became the new dictator of the USSR.
Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization program eased censorship; detente
This ended when a US U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR in 1960 and building of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
, and shocked the people when he publicly called Stalin a criminal
in 1959 US Vice-President Richard Nixon toured the USSR and engaged in the “Kitchen Debates” with Khrushchev.

2. 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban govt and formed communist dictatorship.
Castro became allies with the Soviet Union, and friends with Khrushchev.

3. President Kennedy funded a secret invasion of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in Castro repelled the disorganized invasion

4. Castro allowed the USSR to build nuclear missile bases in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.
. Kennedy responded with a naval blockade of Cuba and demanded Khrushchev remove the missiles.

5. On the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev backed down and removed the missiles, but he won a secret pledge from Kennedy not to invade Cuba and to remove US missiles from Turkey.

6. Outcome
Cuba remained Communist & heavily armed, but without nuclear missiles
World saw the futility of the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
Supported theory of containment & co-existence
Permanent hotline between White House & Kremlin set up
U.S. & U.S.S.R negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty

7. Soviet Oppression Hungary
1956-Hungarian nationalists revolted against Soviets.
Ended one-party rule, withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, repelled Soviet troops.
In response, Khrushchev sent troops and tanks to crush the revolt.

8. Czechoslovakia
Spring of Czechoslovakian govt called for reforms.
USSR sent thousands of troops to occupy Prague and restore a communist dictatorship.

9. Vietnam The Vietnam War
French colony of Vietnam was taken by Japan during WWII.
France hoped to regain the colony but faced resistance from communist leader Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Cong guerilla fighters.

10. Viet Cong defeated the French in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bein Phu
Viet Cong defeated the French in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bein Phu. A peace settlement split Vietnam into a communist North and a capitalist South. Civil war soon broke out, the US joined forces with South Vietnam.

11. 1969-a half million US troops were serving in Vietnam, but South Vietnam could not defeat the Vietcong, who received aid and supplies from the USSR and China.

12. Growing anti-war sentiment in the US forced President Nixon to withdraw American forces by 1973.
1975-Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to the North Vietnamese communists, who reunited the country under their control.