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Fidel Castro's popular Marxist party had taken power in Cuba and proceeded to forge links with the Soviet Union. The USA attempted a coup landing Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs- the coup ended in fiasco and potential disaster when the Soviet Union proceeded to ship nuclear weapons to Cuban, missiles with potential to reach US cities. The crisis was resolved- the US agreeing not to invade Cuba and the Soviet Union removing the missiles. Khrushchev and Kennedy had brought the world back from the brink. America was at the heart of the sixties, television came to the fore with many of the programmes coming from America. The young also found their voice in the sixties- John F. Kennedy elected president in 1960 at the age of 43 was indicative of the mood of change. Popular music provided young people with a voice and hope that they may change the world. The spread of Communism also became a major focus of the sixties as well as Cuba and the continuation of Korea, conflict arose from the invasion of South Vietnam. By 1965 the United States were fighting the communist Vietcong, however, and not least of all because of the spirit of the youth of America, the military were withdrawing before the end of the decade. Martin Luther King touched the world with his "I have a dream" campaign for civil rights although segregation was illegal there was still widespread discrimination. Britain was emerging from post World War II austerity, in 1960 there was still rationing, Liverpool gave the world the Beatles and swinging London became the cultural centre of the world. Scientific advances through the sixties culminated in July 1969 with Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
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Perhaps
best remembered as the decade of peace and love, the sixties probably
brought us closer to all out nuclear conflict than ever before- despite
nuclear arms limitation talks between USA and Soviet Union optimism was
destroyed when a US spy plane was shot down over Russia soon to be
followed by the Cuban missile crisis of