in any more Russian ships, as he negotiated with Khrushchev. Negations were not good, and the order was given that if one boot set foot on Cuba, to fire. This was the Cuban missile crisis of august 1962. Kennedy brought the country to the brink of nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis. We were literally just a “push of a button” away from a nuclear holocaust. At the last minute though Kennedy decided not to send in troops, angering much of the US military, and high government. Bring the country to the brink of total destruction though would be enough to get people angry, however people thought as Kennedy as a hero for getting the country out of the situation. Before that though the US wanted to do something with Castro. What they decided upon was to try to assassinate the Cuban dictator. Kennedy dealt with the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA in caring out this project. The CIA tried several attempts at doing this, such as poisoned drinks and cigars, itching powder, and moffia assassins. The Bay of Pigs invasion was one of these failing, and embarrassing actions. In the invasion, anti-Cuban refugees trained in secret CIA camps in Florida, and Louisiana were supposed to have an “umbrella of cover” by the military. Kennedy did not follow through on this, and he blamed the failures on the CIA vowing, “to tear the CIA into a thousand little pieces.” He fired two head CIA men, Allen Dulles, and Someone Else angering the agency. Kennedy also sent the FBI and local authorities into Florida and Louisiana to break up the CIA’s training camps. These camps are where names like David Ferrie, Clay Shay, Guy Banister, and Lee Oswald start to fall into place. Vietnam was another situation that the president faced when he took office. Communism was moving into northern Vietnam and Laos. The US military had been there since the late forties to help the French with their fight. As the end of Kennedy’s...
