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Sino-Soviet Split
After Stalin’s death, Mao says that the People’s Republic of China’s version of communism is superior to Russia’s, and China is tired of being treated as inferior to Russia. Because of this, China publicly declared that they were breaking their alliance with Russia in June 1960. This not only made the Cold War a war with three bodies fighting, but it also started a competition between the major communist powers of China and Russia. -
Russia sends the first human ever into space
The Russian spacecraft called Vostok 1 performed one orbit, and it landed 1 hour and 48 minutes after launch. Carried Yuri A. Gagarin into space and back down to the surface. This only increased competition between the US and Russia, for now Russia had beat the US in getting a man into space. The US launched a suborbital flight 25 days later. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviets are discovered to have a large number of nuclear Missiles in Cuba by a spy plane. Kennedy gives a speech to the US on October 22 that informs the public that Russia has missiles aimed at the US. US starts to monitor activity going in and out of Cuba. JFK threatens to invade Cuba, but Russia does not want to risk that. At the brink of nuclear war, the US and Russia come to an agreement where the Cuban missiles are withdrawn and similar US missiles in Italy and Turkey are also withdrawn. -
Primary Source - Apollo 11 Mission Notes
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JFK was allegedly assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald
While on a car trip in Dallas, Kennedy was gunned down in cold blood. Without Kennedy at the helm, America was not able to continue his legacy in office as the first modern liberal president. It has been consistently speculated that communists aided Oswald in the assassination as an attempt to end the Kennedy administration. Kennedy was a complete advocate for capitalism and fought valiantly against the rise of communism across the world. This event was truly a tragedy for the United States. -
Nikita Khrushchev was removed from office
The removal of Khrushchev could be seen as the end of the removal of Stalinist Russia. The authoritarian leadership of JFK’s greatest enemy was removed and replaced by a less vehement threat to national safety. However, this did not mean that the Soviets were not a powerful threat. This event acted as almost an ending to the Kennedy era. -
The United States entered the Vietnam war
As the war on communism and Ho-Chi-Minh continued, the united states sent 65,000 troops into Vietnam to support the South Vietnamese. This is the continuation of the war on the communist and the Russian expansion of influence. This is the continuation of the legacy of JFK and his war against the spread of Communism and the corruption of the world. -
CHIC-3 Detonation
Communist China detonates a third nuclear device. At the time they were suggesting they created a hydrogen bomb through use of “thermonuclear” material. But Japanese meteorologists concluded with evidence that it was not a hydrogen bomb. But this was another sign of power and intimidation on the side of the communists against America. -
Primary Source - Warren Report #2
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Bangkok declaration
This declaration is established to extinguish and eliminate the communist threat in Southeast Asia. Comprising of Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. This declaration leads to the creation of the ASEAN declaration. This represents an effort to fight against the communist power in Asia, showing that governments were still fighting for control and were not giving in to communism. These governments came together to fight communism in Southeast Asia. -
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a liberalization and protest in Czechoslovakia as a communist state. This led to the Warsaw pact for the Soviet Red Army to move into Czechoslovakia to crush the rebels and revolt. This event was major in 1968 since it showed that Communism was slowly losing its grasp. The revolts in this country by its people against the communist leadership was leading to the spark of the end of communism. It was very important how the Red Army responded with brute force and violence. -
Apollo 11 first moon landing
The United States achieves a major victory in the Space Race with Apollo 11, manned by astronauts Neil Armstrong, “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins, being the first to land on the moon. This represented a major victory for the US against communist countries especially Russia, with the US officially winning the Space Race of the countries like the SU and Communist China that participated and while the US was not the winner for the beginning, they came back in the end with the ultimate victory. -
Apollo 11 Footage
