Politics/Major News Stories
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Politics/Major News Stories
Presidents
Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon were the 5 presidents spanning these two decades
1950's
The launching of Sputnik was an artificial Earth satellite launched by the Soviet Union beginning on Oct. 4, 1957, inaugurating the Space Age. Sputnik 1, the first satellite launched by man, was a 184-pound (83.6-kilogram) capsule. It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 584 miles (942 km) and a perigee (nearest point) of 143 miles (230 km), circling the Earth every 96 minutes and remaining in orbit until early 1958 when it fell back and burned in the Earth's atmosphere. Sputnik 2 carried the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit the Earth. Eight more Sputnik missions with similar satellites carried out experiments on a variety of animals to test spacecraft life-support systems; they also tested reentry procedures and furnished data on space temperatures, pressures, particles, radiation, and magnetic fields.
1960's
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major confrontation between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) over Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba, regarded by many as the world's closest approach to nuclear war. In 1960 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev launched plans to supply Cuba with medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile attack. Khrushchev mistakenly assumed that the United States would take no action and when questioned denied that any missiles were being supplied to Cuba. By the summer of 1962, U.S. spy planes flying over Cuba had photographed Soviet-managed construction work and spotted the first ballistic missile on October 14.
U.S. president John F. Kennedy consultated secretly with advisers, discussing options: invasion, air strikes, a blockade, or diplomacy. On October 22, Kennedy announced a naval blockade to prevent the arrival of more missiles. He demanded that the USSR dismantle and remove the weapons and declared a quarantine zone around Cuba, within which U.S. naval forces would intercept and inspect ships to determine whether they were carrying weapons. The United States was supported by other members of the Organization of American States.
For several tense days Soviet vessels en route to Cuba avoided the quarantine zone, and Khrushchev and Kennedy communicated through diplomatic channels. Khrushchev wavered in his position, sending a message on October 26 in which he agreed to Kennedy's demands to remove all missiles, and then the following day he tried to negotiate other terms. Kennedy responded to the first communication, and on October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons from Cuba and offered the United States on-site inspection in return for a guarantee not to invade Cuba. Kennedy accepted and halted the blockade. Cuba, angry at Soviet submission, refused to permit the promised inspection, but U.S. aerial reconnaissance revealed that the missile bases were being disassembled. The apparent capitulation of the USSR in the standoff was instrumental in Khrushchev's being deposed in 1964.
