Cold War - Cuba and Vietnam

Castro's rise to power led to the nationalization of American businesses, causing tension.
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion, authorized by Kennedy, triggered Castro to seek nuclear weapons from Khrushchev for protection.
Khrushchev agreed to place nukes in Cuba secretly, despite earlier assurances to Kennedy.
US spy planes discovered nuclear missile sites in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The US blockaded Cuba. The US also had nukes in Turkey, close to the Soviet Union.
The world narrowly avoided nuclear war during the crisis, with the Doomsday Clock reaching close to midnight.
Kennedy decided to ignore the second message, and only pay attention to the first message.
The Soviets agreed to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for the US agreeing not to invade Cuba and secretly removing missiles from Turkey.
The crisis led to the establishment of a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin.

Domino theory: The idea that if one country falls, it can spread to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next.
Ho Chi Minh, a communist-educated leader, motivated the Vietnamese to fight off French colonial rule.
The French were defeated.
The Southern part of Vietnam remained free from communist intervention.
The South Vietnamese government was corrupt.
Ho Chi Minh quote: "Patriotism, not communism."
The Gulf of Tonkin incident led to increased US intervention in Vietnam.
The US intervened because of the corrupt government.