The most important event in American history in 1960’s is the Cuban missile crisis, a confrontation between Cuba with the Soviet Union and the United States, in October, 1962. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union built nuclear missiles in Cuba to strike the United States by the request of the Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro. President John F. Kennedy handled this very dangerous situation which could be turned to “World War III”, a nuclear war. Despite the strong opinions from advisers and members of EXCOMM to invade Cuba to destroy missile bases, President Kennedy chose the naval blockade of Cuba. After the negotiation, the Soviet Union agreed to remove missiles placed in Cuba and the United States accepted to remove the Jupiter missile in Turkey.
This is the one of the few good foreign diplomacy during Kennedy’s presidency. Some other countries did not support the way he handled this situation, but I think he was very brave to decide not attacking Cuba under the fear of nuclear attack to the United States.
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I believe the major reason this crisis did not worsen was the commitment to peace and above all the cooperation of both Kennedy and Khrushchev. Neither side really wanted to go to war. Russia could not afford a disadvantage of fighting a war in which they had incomplete military bases in Cuba. Of course the crisis could have been very different if Kennedy had chosen to use air strikes in defense, if Khrushchev did not agree to peace and use military force, or even if the Russian military bases had been completed.
The end of the crisis was a big success for Kennedy but a failure for Khrushchev. A positive result of the crisis was the establishment of a hot-line between Russia and the US to make communication easier between the two nations. This is also an example of some of the most heightened tensions during the Cold War. In 1963, both countries signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in which all nuclear explosions are banned for both military and civilian purposes.