D) Arms race, space race, and international tensions

• The U.S. and the USSR deterred from starting a war because of the logic of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD)
• 1959 : Fidel Castro and the USSR established commercial relations. Communist influence grew in Cuba.
• In 1961, Bay of Pigs invasion : an American-backed invasion was led by anti-Castro Cubans trained by the CIA. The Invasion forces were defeated in 3 days.
• October 1962 : the U.S. discovered that the USSR was installing ballistic missiles in Cuba. Kennedy enforced a naval blockade
• At the end of the 1950s, the U.S. was losing the space race :

  • 1957 : first artificial satellite with “Sputnik”
  • In April 1961 : Yuri Gagarin, first man in space
• “We choose to go to the moon [...] because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills” – John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1961
• The first defeats led Congress to react and pass a series of massive federal aid-to-education measures. Science became a priority in school and universities.
• July 20, 1969 : Apollo 11 landed on the moon followed on television by 530 millions people worldwide.