All language subtitles for The.Sixties.S01E02.720p.HMAX.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV_Subtitles01.ENG

John F. Kennedy:
A supreme national effort

will be needed to move
this country safely

through the 1960s.

Across the world,
Soviet missiles are aimed

at the United States.

Whatever the President does,
he risks nuclear war.

Khrushchev calls
West Berlin a cancerous sore.

Reporter:
Lines are now drawn.

Reporter:
25 Russian ships

are en route to Cuba

on what may be
a collision course.

There's no way of knowing

whether western civilization
will live or die.

I think unless something
is done

then humanity
will destroy itself.

♪ (theme music) ♪

(chiming)

Robert Dallek:
Early on in the 60s

you have this backdrop
of tension.

You have capitalism
versus communism

and there was palpable fear

in the United States,
and in the Soviet Union,

that the two sides

were going to get
into a nuclear war.

The temper
of the world is crisis.

Architect of the crisis,
Nikita Khrushchev.

(cheering)
(speaking in Russian)

As the head
of the Soviet Union

Khrushchev
was very ideological.

He believed that the future
belonged to communism.

He said, "America
needs to be contained

and the only way to do it
is to create crises

all around
the American empire."

Khrushchev
came to the UN in 1960

and he said,
"We are grinding up missiles

like sausages,
we will bury you."

And Americans
took it seriously.

The toughness
of the Khrushchev speech,

did add some
propaganda fuel to the fire

that is now raging
diplomatically

between Moscow
and Washington.

To see if the
Soviets were building

nuclear weapons and,
more importantly,

missiles to launch them
at the United States.

They were flying a spy plane

over the Soviet Union
called the U-2.

(camera shutter clicking)

(mechanical whirring)

I'm Bill Fox,
Day Cable Editor

for United Press International
in New York.

A single engine
US Air Force plane with

one man aboard went
missing today not far

from the Soviet border
in the rugged mountains of

southeastern Turkey.

(speaking in Russian)

To a stunned
and startled audience

Khrushchev announced
than an American

U-2 spy plane
have been shot down

in the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev
made the wreckage

a public exhibition.

To the Soviet Union

this wreckage
was a national cause,

national outrage
over the violation

of Soviet boundaries.

And so out comes
the cover story.

The department has been
informed by the NASA,

a U-2 weather research plane,
piloted by a civilian,

has been missing since
May 1.

Eisenhower had said,

"No, that didn't happen",
.

He'd been drawn into a trap
by Khrushchev.

Thomas: The Soviet leader
was able to show,

not only did they
shot down the plane,

but they had the pilot!

Walter Cronkite:
Francis Gary Powers,

an ordinary man caught up in
extraordinary circumstances

and, in a way,
magnified by them.

I realized that I've committed
a grave crime

and I've realized that
I must be punished for it.

Reporter:
The evidence of espionage,

currency, presumably
for the spy

to buy his way to freedom.

And a spy's last resort,
a poisoned needle

with which he could
kill himself instantly

if captured and
threatened with torture.

Dwight D. Eisenhower:
No one wants

another Pearl Harbor.

This means that
we must have knowledge

of military forces

and preparations
around the world.

The safety of the whole
free world demands this.

Chet Huntley:
Our government was,

in effect, admitting that
we had previously lied

and that we had
committed espionage.

Admissions no nation
had ever made before.

How will this incident

affect the United States,
do you think?

I feel that it will give
the Americans

a black eye all over Europe.

I think that we ought

to sink one of those
submarines that have been

spying off Cape Canaveral.

Well, I don't think
we should admit it.

We have a right
to protect our self.

The shoot down
was such a big event

that it basically torpedoed
.

It torpedoed the chance
to have

a peaceful period,
and actually

it was the beginning
of the scariest part

of the Cold War.

Dallek:
America's public mood

was one of demoralization
and there's the feeling that

we can do better

and that's when the election
of 1960 comes along.

♪ Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
Kennedy, Kennedy ♪

♪ Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
Kennedy for me ♪

Kennedy:
I think the question before

the American people is,

"Are we doing as much as
we can do?

Are we as strong
as we should be?

Are we as strong as
we must be

if we're going to maintain
our independence?"

Reeves:
Kennedy was a cold warrior

more than Eisenhower
was really.

Kennedy: I want people
in Latin America,

and Africa, and Asia

to start to look to America,

to see
how we're doing things.

To wonder what the President

of the United States
is doing

and not to look at
Khrushchev

or look at
the Chinese Communists.

The fact is,
Kennedy did run

to the right of Nixon

and he was saying
that they were letting

the Russians get
ahead of us in missiles.

It frightened people,

it's not true
but it frightened people

and it's very effective
in the campaign.

Kennedy: I believe
the Soviet Union is

first in outer space.

You yourself said to
Khrushchev,

"you maybe ahead of us
in rocket thrust

but we're ahead of you
in color television."

I think that
color television is not

as important as rockets are.

The missile gap
was a total lie.

We out-missiled them
at that time

better than a 100-to-1.

If Eisenhower had
come forward and said,

"This kid is not telling
the truth,"

it would have been
a different election.

Kennedy:
Let every nation know

whether it wishes us
well or ill,

that we shall pay any price,

bear any burden,
meet any hardship,

support any friend,
oppose any foe

to assure the survival
and the success of liberty.

(applause)

Kennedy,
in his inaugural speech

did not have a single
mention of domestic issue.

He came to the presidency
thinking his job

was to run the Cold War,
to defeat the Russians.

I do not shrink
from this responsibility.

I welcome it.

If you had left New York

by car at seven minutes past
one this morning,

by 2:55, you could've made
Philadelphia,

95 miles in an hour
and 48 minutes.

In that same time
this morning,

a man went around the world.

The spaceship
was built in Russia.

Dallek:
When the Russians put

Yuri Gagarin into space,

it was another
sense of America

being knocked back
on its heels.

We're behind.

Khrushchev
greeted the hero saying,

"Now, let the capitalist
countries try to catch up."

For the Russians

to be the first
to put a man in space

felt a real blow
not only to American pride,

but restarted
the whole question about

whether the U.S. government

could protect
the American people.

(rocket blasting)

Gagarin's
spaceship weighed five tons.

The biggest payload
we've been able to

push into orbit weighed
only a few hundred pounds.

If you can put
a man into space,

you can put nuclear warheads
into space

and lots of them.
And then we're in trouble.

This is
Marvin Kalb in Moscow.

The people who work back
here in the Kremlin

are convinced
that the balance of power

in the world
has shifted in their favor.

And encouraged
by this conviction,

they've stepped up
their activities

all over the world

not only in Berlin
but also in Latin America.

A big jam of
cameramen here now

an absolute mad house here.

The first historic meeting

between Premier Khrushchev
and Premier Castro

is now over.

Sergei Khrushchev:
My father first met

Fidel Castro in 1960
in the United Nations.

Fidel Castro: If every
citizen of the United States

could visit Cuba
their opinion would change.

From the time
since he took power

Fidel Castro has become an
enemy of the United States.

(speaking in Spanish)

In Cuba,
you have Fidel Castro

who is tying himself
to the Soviet Bloc

which seems to be
threatening

the United States
by the possibility

that they're going to
export communism

to other
South American countries

which are in many
instances, anti-American.

Khrushchev:
(speaking in Russian)

Khrushchev is
saying that

you have to understand that
Cuba matters a lot to us.

Don't mess with Cuba.

Khrushchev was not
just using rhetoric.

The Eastern Bloc
was supporting Castro

with military systems.

Huntley:
Many Latin Americans were

shocked to find out
how much

communist equipment Castro
actually has.

The sense was that
Kennedy had to do

something about Castro.

When Kennedy comes
to the presidency,

he's briefed on the fact that

there was a plan in place
to topple Castro.

But the plan that's
presented to him

is not what he wants.

It's a huge invasion,
a noisy beach.

It's going to look like a
U.S. invasion of Cuba.

So he says to the CIA,

we can't be associated
with this.

I want something
that is believably Cuban.

This is Ron Oppen in Miami.

I'm standing in one of the
many anti-Castro

recruiting places scattered
throughout the city.

So when we found there was
something against Castro,

Since two o'clock
this morning,

men and boys
have been filing

through this door behind me,

anxious to join the fight
in Cuba

against Fidel Castro's
government.

They were
mainly Cuban exiles.

They hated Castro.

They thought that they could

mount a small-scale
invasion,

which would gather more
and more support

until it ended up
over-throwing the regime.

Reporter:
Cuban businessmen, doctors,

white-collar workers,
men who once drove taxis

always hoping the muscle
of the United States

would sustain them.

Rodriguez:
We thought United States

being behind this operation,

there was no way
we were going to lose,

and we were wrong.

(missiles exploding)

Reporter:
Small force of invaders

landed at a semi isolated
resort area

on the south coast of Cuba,
at the Bay of Pigs.

Castro alerted
his small air force

and his large army and
raced towards the sea.

The showdown
came at dawn.

The rebels managed to move
only 20 miles inland

and those able to move
beyond the beach

were trapped in swamp
or high growth.

(airplane crashing)

(speaking Spanish)

Long live
the revolutionary forces,

which are shooting down
Yankee planes

and are smashing
the invaders of the land.

The Castro controlled
television network

is parading prisoners

captured on the beaches
of Las Viejas

before the cameras for
public interrogation.

Reporter:
One writer had called

the Bay of Pigs
'the perfect failure'.

It was a tragedy
on the beach

and in Washington.

Out of the
news of this week

the attempt of Cuban exiles

to re-establish a foothold
in their homeland.

A tactical failure that
became a strategic defeat

for Cuban democracy
and American prestige.

U.N. Interpreter:
This act of imperialistic

piracy falls squarely

on the government
of the United States.

United States has committed

no aggression against Cuba

and no offensive
has been launched

from Florida or
from any other part

of the United States.

The American role is

immediately exposed.
No one believes

that this isn't happening
with some American help.

Richard Kallsen:
The leader of the free world

has been humiliated
on its own doorstep.

Castro has prevailed
over Kennedy

at least for the moment

and it will take a long time
to destroy that image.

It was a calamity.

Kennedy had been
totally misinformed

by American intelligence
about the strength

of the anti-communist
movement

and the fact is when these

poor people arrived
on the beaches in Cuba,

they were decimated.

Cronkite:
On the landings themselves,

Stuart, how large
were they actually?

Stuart Novins:
Best indications, Walter,

there were about 300 men

and only with the weapons
they could carry.

It's unmistakably clear,
Walter,

from all the evidence
available

that the CIA planned
this operation.

It was the CIA

that established
the revolutionary council

by saying
to the dissident factions

get together or else.

Today, in his
news conference,

the president acknowledged
the failure

and took the responsibility
for it.

Kennedy:
Detailed discussions

are not to
conceal responsibility

because I'm the responsible
officer of the government.

Victory has a 100 fathers
and defeat is an orphan.

The Russians,
I think, see this as

evidence of 'a young,
feckless,

inexperienced president.

Kennedy privately
goes around saying,

"How could I have been
so stupid?"

He's full of
self-recrimination.

Kennedy
listened to the experts,

the CIA, the military,
a little bit too much

and they were wrong.

The lesson
he learns from this is

not to trust the CIA.

Richard Reeves:
After the Bay of Pigs,

Kennedy was
more anxious than ever

to meet with Khrushchev

because he knew that
he had screwed up.

There he is President
.

He thought the
meeting in Vienna would

straighten all that out.

In fact,
it made it much worse.

Vienna
was at its romantic best.

Almost enough it seemed to

remove a bit of the chill
from the Cold War.

It began
with a police escort

leading Mr. Kennedy's
limousine

to the Soviet Embassy.

Nikita Khrushchev
was waiting also

for talks that would
explore such issues

as Berlin, nuclear testing,
and disarmament.

Tell us what you
think of this

meeting between
the young president

and Khrushchev?

Well, I think it was
long overdue

because
the world needs peace

and the world needs
disarmament.

For Khrushchev,
it is a chance

to test the new president.

On a subject of Berlin,

Khrushchev is tough
and blunt.

Khrushchev said

West Berlin is a bone
in my throat

and we must extract it.

Berlin, of course,
is divided

at the end of World War II

but Berlin is 110 miles

inside of the East German
zone.

Khrushchev is threatening to
force the integration

and take over West Berlin.

And Kennedy says to him.

"Berlin is part of our Western
commitment at World War II.

Don't challenge us there."

After two days,
the talks end.

Thomas:
Kennedy did not do well.

He allowed himself
to be caught

in an ideological argument
with Khrushchev.

He'd been warned against it.

He did it anyways and
Khrushchev bullied him

and pushed him around.

Khrushchev
has made the first move

in the chess game

and the president knows it
as he leaves, he says,

"It's going to be
a cold winter."

Kennedy thought

there might be a basis
for dealing

with the Soviets instead
he gets the Berlin crisis.

Reporter:
In July, 1,000 East Germans

escaped in to West Berlin
every day.

Now, in August,
they are coming out

of the rate of 2500 a day

as a result of Khrushchev's
threats and demand.

East Germany is being bled
of its best trained people.

Robert Macneil:
I went to Berlin

to cover the bureau and the
NBC news desk in New York

called in the middle
of the night and said,

"What's this about
closing off the border

at the Brandenburg Gate?"

At two AM,

the Communist regime
issued a ukase.

No East German could go to
West Berlin

without
special dispensation.

Reporter:
The sound of jackhammers

erupts in the night.

Suddenly, East German
police appeared

tearing up the sidewalks
and street.

Macneil:
A small crowd gathered

and the East Germans
were unrolling barbed wire

and starting fences.

They were sealing off
the border.

I thought, "My God, this is,
you know, unbelievable."

President Kennedy was in

Hyannis port
for the weekend.

A telephone call from
Washington

that Sunday morning

told him that
the communists had

finally begun to seal
the Berlin sector border

against the East Germans
and East Berliners.

Through backyards,
down canals

across streets

all along the 25-mile border

between East and
West Berlin.

Telephone lines to
West Germany are cut,

the flood of refugees
is dammed up.

West Berlin is isolated.

(melancholic music)

A communist country like

East Germany cannot exist
with an open border.

It must be able to
wall its people in

and make them work,
so communism succeeds.

Reporter:
President Kennedy decided

on Thursday to send
Johnson to Berlin

because Mayor Brandt
has a written a letter

warning that the city's
dropping morale

required bold
and quick treatment.

Lyndon Johnson:
And the United States

wants you to know that

the pledge he has given
to the freedom

of West Berlin
and to the rights

of Western access to Berlin,
is firm.

(applause)

Is Khrushchev entirely

convinced that our words
have meaning?

And if he is not,

what can we do short of war,

to convince him
that they do?

Edwin Newman:
1500 American soldiers

arrived in West Berlin after
110-mile road trip across

East Germany, and the Soviet
press and radio described

the arrival of additional
American forces

as a 'challenging
military act.'

Reporter:
But Berliners know that

Western strength
is their only protection.

There were all
sorts of people who say,

"send the tanks and knock
the damn wall down."

And Kennedy, "No."

He understands this solves
his problem.

Will Khrushchev try and
take over the rest of Berlin

if he's putting up a wall?

Will he risk a war with us?
No.

The wall saved us from
that kind of conflict.

(nuclear bomb exploding)

Naftali:
After the Berlin crisis,

Khrushchev tests the
largest nuclear device ever.

He basically is going to
say to the Americans,

"You can't scare me.
I'm going to scare you."

(sirens)

The West
has nuclear jitters.

People worry about fallout,
about war.

Khrushchev
has turned testing

into a weapon of terror.

There was tremendous
anxiety and fear

that if you got
into a nuclear war,

it was going to mean

the devastation of
civilization.

It was the apocalypse.

Let us face,
without panic

the reality of our times,

the fact that atom bombs
may someday

be dropped on our cities.

And let us prepare
for survival

by understanding the weapon
that threatens us.

Reeves:
The threat of nuclear war

was the center of
many of our lives.

TV anchor: Fallout shelter
could save your life

in a nuclear war.

The family room
of tomorrow.

It's a truly
ship-shape room,

only eight and a half
by 12 feet in size

but with an amazing
amount of storage space.

It just seem unless

we can control the use of such
a thing as that, that...

all the civilization that

we've built up
over all these

many thousands of years
will just be washed out.

It gives you quite a scare

to think that something like
that may happen to us.

They were close
to nuclear war in 1961.

And as JFK said
to his brother

"Bobby, you know,
we've had a good life

but our children...

What if there's a
nuclear war

and our children die?"

That's how close war felt.

♪ (music) ♪

Adlai Stevenson:
As he said he would,

Mr. Khrushchev has
exploded his giant bomb

in cynical disregard
of the United Nations.

Naftali:
Kennedy recognizes

that he's on the verge
of a yet another crisis,

but he's looking in
the wrong direction.

And then in 1962,

there's a lot of political
chatter about Cuba.

John F Kennedy:
If at anytime

the communist
build up in Cuba

were to endanger.

or interfere with
our security in any way,

then this country will do
whatever must be done

to protect its own security
and that of its allies.

Richard Reeves:
The CIA had a consultant

who spotted soccer fields

all along the coast in Cuba.

And as he said
'the Cubans play baseball,

Russians plays soccer.'

Kennedy approves
a series of U-2 flights.

He didn't want to
get sucked in once again

as he had at the time of
the Bay of Pigs.

He wanted hard evidence.

It was the
combination of very good

high level photography
plus espionage,

that made it possible
for the

U.S. Intelligence Community
to say,

"Mr. President,
we are absolutely convinced

that they are putting
missiles in Cuba."

Kennedy gets together

a group of his
closest advisors

which becomes known
as the 'EXCOMM'

or Executive Committee of the
National Security Council.

Naftali:
U.S. intelligence showed him

the parts of the
United States

that would be hit
by a nuclear attack.

And the figure was
about 30 million American

who were in danger of dying.

Sergei Khrushchev:
My father, he want to be

recognized as equal.

If you not recognize
as equal,

you challenge opposite side.

Big debates,
should we bomb?

Should we invade?

Back and forth.

Reeves:
Most of them thought...

we should attack Cuba.

Kennedy, almost alone,
did not want to do that.

Dobbs:
Kennedy is the only person

who has a sort of
a larger view.

There are times
when he's not just

the President
of the United States.

He is thinking

in terms of the survival
of the human race.

Dobbs:
He was frightened that

a wrong move by him
could trigger

a whole sequence of moves
by the other side,

so he wanted to slow
everything down.

And the method he chose

was the imposition
of a blockade.

President Kennedy
will address the nation

tonight on radio
and television,

on a subject of the
highest national urgency.

Good evening
my fellow citizens.

This government,
as promised,

has maintained
the closest surveillance

of the Soviet military
build-up

on the island of Cuba.

These large, long range,

and clearly offensive
weapons

of certain mass destruction

constitutes an explicit
threat to the peace

and security
of all the Americans.

o thwart this
offensive build up

a street quarantine on all
offensive military equipment

under shipment to Cuba
is being initiated.

I have directed
the armed forces to prepare

for any eventuality.

Reporter:
Within minutes after

the President spoke,
the Navy announced

that it was sustaining
a blockade of Cuba

with more than 40 ships
and 20,000 men.

I'd hate like hell to
see us go to war

but if it's necessary
to prevent a nuclear war,

I think the action has to be
taken at this time.

Well, I think it's high time

we stopped Russia from
having things their own way.

I know that

some action should be taken,

but he's going to have to
tread very lightly,

short of war.

But the
American people were

very frightened

that they were on the edge
of a cataclysm.

Something no one had
ever experience before,

a nuclear war.

Grocery store owner:
We have been jammed up.

We have been mobbed.

People are buying like
food is going out of style.

Reporter:
Is this your normal order

or are you stockpiling?

Oh, I'm not stockpiling.

I feel that if anything
were to happen,

you wouldn't able to
eat it anyhow.

Nelson Rockefeller:
Develop a shelter spot

where there is water, food,

medical supplies,
a Geiger counter and a radio.

Reporter:
Congressional leaders

were recalled
from their campaign labors,

flown back to Washington
in military planes,

and there were reports of troop
movements in Florida Keys.

Chet Huntley:
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro

told his people that
the armed blockade

is the most
dangerous adventure

since World War II.

He called President Kennedy
a pirate

and said a life and death
struggle

is underway
between an empire

and the revolution
of a small and weak people.

Cuban militia
was mobilized

and the country was
put on a war footing.

Russia alerted
its military forces

and warned that
the United States

is playing with fire.

At a special session

of the United Nations
Security Council,

the United States,
Cuba and Russia

offered separate resolutions
and traded bitter charges.

Do you Ambassador Zorin,

deny that the USSR has
placed and is placing

medium and intermediate range
missiles and sites in Cuba?

Yes or no?

Don't wait for
the translation, yes or no?

(delegates laughing)

I am not in
an American courtroom, sir.

And therefore, I do not
wish to

answer a question
that is put to me

in the fashion in which
a prosecutor does.

In due course, sir,
you will have your reply.

I'm prepared to wait

for my answer until
hell freezes over,

if that's your decision.

Each side didn't know

what the other side
was doing

and there was a lot of
room for miscalculation.

We believe
there are about

25 Soviet ships
moving towards Cuba.

If the vessel does not stop,

refuses to heed the
instructions...

force will be applied
to assure that it does stop.

Reporter:
Nikita Khrushchev says,

Soviet ships will
never submit

to the United States
blockade.

The next few days
are critical.

Who is going to blink first?

A dispatch just in,

a late development.

25 soviet ships
steam toward Cuba.

If the ships captains
do no stop,

force will be used
to stop them.

Kalb: It was all a truly
historic drama

taking place every moment
of every day.

Richard C. Hottelet:
We are now in the most

dangerous situations since
the end of World War II.

The next 48 hours
will be decisive.

Reeves:
Right up to the last minute,

the first ship looked like

it was going
through the barrier.

And at that point, Kennedy
would have had to do

something more.

What it was...
wasn't even clear to him.

The White House

was on the point
of being evacuated.

They thought that
this was the early stages

of World War III.

Thomas:
You can listen to the tapes

of the missile crisis.
And on the last day,

when we seemed
so close to war

you can hear
the voices becoming

a little bit more ragged and
a little bit more urgent.

President Kennedy
is the calm voice.

Reeves:
And at the last minute

the Soviet ships
turned around.

Reporter:
Khrushchev has

changed his position.

There was an
announcement from Moscow

that they would
withdraw the missiles.

And I said,
the other guy just blinked.

This is the day,

we have every reason
to believe,

when the world
came out from under

the most terrible threat of
nuclear holocaust

since the end of World War II.

Elie Abel: The message
to President Kennedy

was long and rambling.

But for the first time,
Mr. Khrushchev acknowledged

the presence in Cuba of
Soviet missiles.

He argued they were
defensive in nature,

but he said he understood

the President's feeling
about them.

He said he would
withdraw the missiles

if President Kennedy would
promise not to invade Cuba.

The following is the text of

President Kennedy's
statement of noon.

"I welcome
Chairman Khrushchev's

statesman like decision to
stop building bases in Cuba.

This is an important

and constructive
contribution to peace."

There was an
incredible sigh of relief

in the country and
in the world.

With the
tranquil courage

of the great leaders
of democracy,

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
said to the communist world,

enough.

There had been
some back and forth

between Kennedy
and Khrushchev.

We'll make a promise
not to invade Cuba,

and within a
matter of months

the United States will take
it's missiles out of Turkey.

And in return for that,

Khrushchev publicly
and verifiably removed

Soviet missiles from Cuba.

Reporter:
The conditions of the

Cold War have been
altered in spirit,

if not in fact by
what happened in Cuba.

As a result of
American determination

in the crisis,
morale has been raised

throughout
the non-communist world.

Perhaps this is the beginning

of more understanding
between our people.

Both sides realized

we need to stand back
from this

and we need to create
a framework

that's less dangerous.

I have chosen
this time and place

to discuss a topic on which
ignorance too often abounds,

and the truth too
rarely perceived.

And that is the most
important topic on earth...

peace.

The following June,
Kennedy gives the famous

'peace speech'
at American University,

in which he talks about

changing our attitudes
towards the Soviet Union.

Kennedy:
For in the final analysis

our most basic common link

is that we all inhabit
this small planet,

we all breathe the same air,

we all cherish out
children's future

and we are all mortal.

(clapping)

Kennedy and
his people waited

for any reaction
from Moscow at all.

And then
they got the tele-type

saying that for the first
and only time

a speech
of an American president

covered a complete page of
Pravda, the party newspaper.

Khrushchev, decided
to change his world policy,

the strategy of
creating tension

all around the American empire
was dropped.

And he said
to his colleagues

in the Presidium,
"You know what?

Let's give them
a Test Ban Treaty."

Reporter:
The United States,

the Soviet Union
and Great Britain,

promise to end
all nuclear test explosions

in the atmosphere,
outer space and underwater.

The big deal of
Soviet Union,

the same as United States

and Khrushchev
was very proud

that they stop testing
and poison the atmosphere.

Man's long
hopeful quest for peace

will cease to be
only a dream

and will begin to acquire
a solid reality.

Dallek:
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

is one of the truly
great achievements

of the Kennedy presidency.

We shall not regret
that we have made this clear

and honorable,
national commitment,

to the cause of
man's survival.

For under this treaty
we can and must still keep

a vigilant defense of freedom.

The people
of this county are elated

by the feeling that
the United States

finally is taking
the initiative

in our conflict
with communism.

But all along
the boarders of communism

we and our enemies have
unfinished business.

Mr. President
the headline and story

in the New York Times
yesterday morning said

that the administration would
try diplomacy in Vietnam,

which I'd assumed we've been

-trying all along.
-Yeah.

What can we do
in the situation

which seems to parallel
other famous debacles of

dealing with
unpopular governments in past.

Well, in the first place
we ought to

realize that Vietnam
has been at war for 25 years.

Kennedy had treated
Vietnam

as a second tier issue
until 1963.

He was dealing with Berlin.
He was dealing with Cuba.

He has his
domestic challenges.

He had sent troops to train
the South Vietnamese army.

But he wasn't happy
about it.

In the final analysis,
it's their war.

They're the ones who have to
win or to lose it.

We can help them,
give them equipment.

We can send our men
out there as advisors.

But they have to win it,

the people of Vietnam
against the communists.

Kennedy felt that

United States had to
draw a line

against communist expansion.

But the Soviets supported
the North Vietnam regime.

We supported the South.

It's what becomes
known as the

Domino Theory.
If South Vietnam falls,

then all the rest of
Southeast Asia,

Laos, Cambodia,
the Philippines,

they might be defeated.

As I believe
I've reported upon

my return from
previous visits,

I've been
very much encouraged

by the progress which
the South Vietnamese forces

have been making

and by the assistance
which our forces have

rendered to them.

Max Holland:
When Vietnam started up

they believed that they

had so expertly micromanaged
the Cuban Missile Crisis

that they could do the same

in a Southeast Asian nation
10,000 miles away.

The North Vietnamese
were very different from

Soviets and Khrushchev.

And the attempt to resolve
the Vietnamese crisis

through controlled escalation
simply didn't work.

News anchor:
The government of

South Vietnam
has been over thrown

by a military coup.

If we are at all involved,

I hope we don't have

another Bay of Pigs
on our hands.

New anchor:
Are we winning

the war in South Vietnam?

Winning?
No. We're losing it.

Dallek: Kennedy says to
one of his principle aides

that after he is re-elected
in 1964,

then he can talk about
getting out of Vietnam.

Naftali:
It's difficult to believe

that the story of the
United States and Vietnam

would've followed
the same course,

had John F Kennedy
not gone to Dallas in 1963.

♪ (somber music) ♪

Do we know what
Kennedy would have done

if he had lived?

There is all sorts of
evidence to suggest

that he never
would have done

what Lyndon Johnson did
in Vietnam.

President Lyndon B. Johnson:
This nation will keep its

commitments from
South Vietnam to West Berlin.

Though LBJ had
experienced the same crisis

by sitting next to Kennedy,

he had not come out
with the same conclusion.

He did not share
Kennedy's suspicion

of the United States
military

or the military advice.

Once Kennedy was gone
it was inevitable

that US foreign policy
would change.

You lost a president
who was skeptical of

military advice and gained one
who usually took it.

Ed Herlihy:
The official Russian

announcement said
he resigned.

The crowds that once cheered
Khrushchev wildly

were left in the dark
as to what went on

when the Central Committee
met to name

Leonid Brezhnev as a
new leader of the party.

Sergei Khrushchev:
My father was shocked.

His successor just
turn on the opposite direction

and then divorce
all his policies.

He was very upset.

He had begun a
new age of the Soviet Union,

a thawing of the Cold War.

Not complete but
the beginning of something.

But things change.

The Cuban Missile Crisis
showed that

neither side could gain
a military victory

over the other side.
So therefore

the competition had to take
a different form.

It was beginning

of the very rapid changes
in the relations

between two countries.

Next period in our history

we will compete
in the economy.

In the end
we couldn't defeat

the Soviet Union militarily.

But we could
demonstrate that

we had a much better
attractive society.

The United States of America

wants to see
the Cold War end.

We want sanity and security
and peace for all.

And above all...
President Kennedy,

I am sure will regard
as his best memorial

the fact that in his
three years as President

the world became
a little safer,

and the way ahead became
a little brighter.

♪ (The Sixties theme,
Composer Blake Neely) ♪