Crisis over the Berlin Wall and the Bay of Pigs

Two weeks before JFK took office, Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba due to the revolutionary leader named Fidel Castro who was a declared Communist and welcomed help from the Soviet Union. In March 1960, Eisenhower allowed to CIA to secretly train Cuban exiles to create a rebellion to overthrow Castro. Kennedy although doubting the outcome, allowed the operation to continue. On April 17, 1961, 1500 Cuban exiles with the help of the United States military landed on Cubas southern coast called the Bay of Pigs. The main commando unit landed and faced 25,000 Cuban troops supported by Soviet tanks and jet aircraft. Some of the Cuban exiles were killed and the others were taken prisoner. The entire operation was a complete disaster and looked bad upon the Kennedy administration. Kennedy soon after admitted the whole thing to be his fault to the media and gained trust by the U.S. citizens.

After WWII, the city of Berlin was split into four sections then eventually into two, West Berlin and East Berlin. East Berlin was under Communist control by the Soviets whereas West Berlin was under Democratic control by the United States, France, and the UK. In the 11 years since the Berlin Airlift, 3 million East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin in order to escape Communism. Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union threatened Kennedy in a summit meeting in Vienna, Austria, to close all roads to West Berlin from the east. During this time, the US and the Soviet Union were under great stress and were at the brink of a nuclear war. Khrushchev, on August 13, 1961 started to create the Berlin Wall which separated West Germany and West Berlin from the east. This construction ended the crisis but aggravated even further Cold War tensions. The US and Soviet Union eventually signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty which prevented nuclear testing in the atmosphere and the crisis died down.  

Crisis Over Berlin and the Bay of Pigs

The Berlin crisis occurred in 1961, just 11 years after the Berlin Airlift. The issue was brought about due to the fleeing of an approximate 3 million East Berliners to the democratically-controlled West Berlin. Not only did East Berlin lose much of its people, the people leaving were often in skilled positions such as doctors and tailors. To stop this mass exodus, Khrushchev made the decision to erect a wall splitting off West Berlin from East Berlin. Within a few days, the Berlin Wall was made with soldiers manning it day and night. While this wall did fulfill its task of preventing East Berliners from leaving, it was also a sign of weakness that Kennedy full took advantage of. He told the American people that Communism had to build walls to keep people from fleeing, which gave the Americans
confidence in capitalism and democracy.

Another crisis that arose was over the situation in Cuba. The United States tried to secretly overthrow the Cuban government and Fidel Castro, but the plan went seriously awry. The small advance group did not even reach the shore, while the main force of 1,300 Cuban exiles was met by 25,000 Cuban troops with air and tank support. Overpowered as they were, the Cuban exiles were either killed or imprisoned, which reflected badly upon the U.S. Kennedy, who had approved the mission with the advice of his staff, wondered how the mission could go so wrong.
Both of these events were just the start of the Cold War, and they tested both the U.S. and the Soviet Union to see to what lengths each were willing to go to.