1.+John+F.+Kennedy

** [[image:John_F_Kennedy-749600.jpg]] Background**
==== I n 1960 John F. Kennedy entered the race as the Democratic Parties presidential cantidate. Shortly after Kennedy replace Dwight Eisenhower in office, he was presented with the plan for the CIA to invade Cuba. "Kennedy had doubts about the venture but he was afraid he would be seen as soft on communism if he refused permission for it to go ahead. Kennedy's advisers convinced him that [|Fidel Castro] was an unpopular leader and that once the invasion started the Cuban people would support the ClA-trained forces" (Sparticus Educational). The attack on Cuba was a total failure, and within seventy two hours the troops had either been killed, injured, or surrendered. Closely after this failed attempt, U-2 spy planes discovered the Soviet Union was building surface to air missle launch sites in Cuba. As these sites were being built, the inflow of Soviet Union ships into cuba increased. The US government feared that they were carrying in weapons. "On September 27, a CIA agent in Cuba overheard Castro's personal pilot tell another man in a bar that Cuba now had nuclear weapons. U-2 spy-plane photographs also showed that unusual activity was taking place at San Cristobal. However, it was not until October 15 that photographs were taken that revealed that the [|Soviet Union] was placing long range missiles in Cuba" (Spartacus Educational). After many meetings concerning what to do regarding the missles in Cuba, the general concensus was met that a Naval Blockade should be set up in Cuba. Both Robert and Kennedy alienated the millitary leaders because their first instinct was to blow "cuba off the face of the earth" ([]). At the same time that this was going on, Fidel Castro was gaining followers, and there were many people dedicated to his revolution in Cuba. One of the men that was highly tied into this affair was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald did not have a good temper and was not known for his deliberate thinking and decesion making skills. This set up Oswald to be in a terrible position after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.====