The summit meetings of 1959-61

• At Geneva in May 1959 the foreign ministers met. No solution was reached but it was agreed Khrushchev and Eisenhower would meet in person
• At Camp David in September 1959, the Soviets agreed to withdraw the Ultimatum and that they would hold talks again in the summer
• At Paris in May 1960, the Soviets announced that they had shot down an American U-2 spy plane, and that the pilot, Gary Powers, had admitted to being a spy
• At Paris in May 1960, when Eisenhower refused to apologise about spying on the USSR, Khrushchev walked out of the meeting
• At Vienna in June 1961, Khrushchev believed he could get the better of the new American President, John Kennedy, whose reputation was weakened by the Bay of Pigs
• At Vienna in June 1961, Khrushchev renewed the Berlin Ultimatum and when Kennedy refused to make any concessions the meeting ended
• Consequently, Kennedy also decided to increase spending on the American armed forces by over $2 billion
• Consequently, relations between Kennedy and Khrushchev were strained