1960-1969

On May 1, an American high-altitude U-2 spy plane is shot down on a mission over the Soviet Union. After the Soviets announce the capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers, the United States recants earlier assertions that the plane was on a weather research mission.

An U.S.-organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban exiles is defeated by Castro's government forces on Cuba's south coast at the Bay of Pigs. Launched from Guatemala in ships and planes provided by the United States, the invaders surrender on April 20 after three days of fighting. Kennedy takes full responsibility for the disaster.

The United States rejects proposals by Khrushchev to make Berlin a "free city" with access controlled by East Germany. On August 15, communist authorities begin construction on the Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin.

After the failed Bays of Pigs invasion, the Soviet Union installs nuclear missiles in Cuba capable of reaching most of the continental United States. After U-2 flights confirm their existence, Kennedy orders a naval blockade of Cuba on October 22 until the Soviet Union removes its missiles. On October 28, the Soviets agree to remove the missiles, defusing one of the most dangerous confrontations of the Cold War.

The United States and Soviet Union agree on June 20 to install a hot line allowing the leaders of both countries to directly communicate during a crisis. Kennedy and Khrushchev were often forced to communicate through public broadcasts during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on the USS Mattox in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2. On August 7, the U.S. Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Johnson authority to send U.S. troops to South Vietnam.

An anti-communist coup by Gen. Suharto topples Indonesian President Bung Sukarno on March 12. At least 500,000 alleged communists and ethnic Chinese are slaughtered in army-organized massacres during the next two years.

On June 5, Israel launches an attack that becomes known as the Six Day War, seizing the Sinai and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Soviet Union accuses the United States of encouraging Israeli aggression.

Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army troops launch attacks across South Vietnam on January 30, the start of the lunar new year Tet. In Saigon, guerrillas battle Marines at the U.S. Embassy. In March, Johnson orders a halt to the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam and offers peace talks.

On January 5, reformer Alexander Dubcek becomes general secretary of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia, pledging the "widest possible democratizations" as the Prague Spring movement sweeps across the country. Soviet and Warsaw Pact leaders send an invasion force of 650,000 troops in August. Dubcek is arrested and hard-liners are restored to power.

On June 8, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his "Vietnamization" plan, designed to withdraw U.S ground forces from Vietnam and turn control of the war over to South Vietnamese forces.

On November 17, the first phase of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks begins in Helsinki, Finland. The finished agreement, signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in Moscow on May 26, 1972, places limits on both submarine-launched and intercontinental nuclear missiles.