Cold War and Us Diplomacy

RUNNING HEAD: Cold War and US Diplomacy 1

Cold War and US Diplomacy

Matthew Johnson

Strayer University

POL 300 International Problems

Professor Hambleton

February 8, 2012

Cold War and US Diplomacy 2

When President Kennedy took the Oval Office, The United States had already been involved in the Cold War since President Truman was in office in 1945. President Kennedy took on the same approach as President Truman did by trying to contain the expansion of communism so that it would not infect other countries (Roskin & Berry, 2010).

When President Kennedy was running for President, he warned of the growing expansion of the communism, and the growing number of nuclear arsenal the Russians were doing (Cold War, 2012). When Kennedy became President, He increased the size of the United States Military, built up strategic intercontinental ballistic missile forces, and reopened nuclear testing in the United States even though he was against it, Cold War (2012).

The first meeting President Kennedy had with the Russian Leader, Nikita Khrushchev, took place in Vienna, Austria (Cold War, 2012). Khrushchev threatened to cut off any Allied access into Berlin. Soon after the visit, Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall cutting off East Germans from going into Western Germany, Cold War, (2012). Kennedy responded by increasing the size of the Air Force and nuclear missiles, Cold War, (2012).

The most notable event in Kennedy’s Presidency was the Cuban Missile crisis. Khrushchev made a deal to Cuba to supply them with nuclear missiles to defend against another US invasion (Bay of Pigs) (Cold War, 2012). President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade around Cuba and demanded that the missile sites be destroyed and the removal of all nuclear missiles from Cuba. Khrushchev agreed only if the US pledge not to invade Cuba, which President Kennedy agreed to, Cold War (2012). The Cuba Missile crisis did not affect the

Cold War and US Diplomacy 3

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