III. Cuban Missile Crisis and Detente

JFK

US president during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Nikita Khrushchev

Leader of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Failed US-backed invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro.

Domino Theory

Belief that if one country became communist, nearby countries would follow.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 showdown between the US and USSR over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Détente

• Period of reduced tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the 1970s.

• A relaxing or easing of tensions

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

• 1972 treaty limiting U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons.

• they were 2

Helsinki Accords

Agreement improving relations between the West and the Soviet bloc and supporting human rights.

Leonid Brezhnev

Soviet leader associated with détente and Cold War tensions.

Fidel Castro

Communist ruler of Cuba allied with the Soviet Union.

Richard Nixon

U.S. president who promoted détente and visited China.

Ostpolitik

• West Germany’s policy of improving relations with East Germany and Eastern Europe

• Willy Brandt (leader of West German; wanted better relationship with East Germany)