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To defend the US, JFK tripled the US’s nuclear capability, increased the number of troops, ships, and artillery, and established the Green Berets, a special force squad. JFK also turned toward aiding third world countries where communism would be fought in the future. A plan similar to the Marshall Plan called the Alliance for Progress was created as a series of projects for peaceful development in Latin America, and the Peace Corps was established to send young volunteers to third world countries for building projects and to provide service to those in need. The major crisis during Kennedy’s term in office was the Cuban Missile Crisis, the biggest test of JFK’s foreign policy. Cuba during this time was led by an openly communist revolutionary leader named Fidel Castro, who gladly accepted help from the Soviets, destroying any relation between the US and Cuba. Early into his presidency (9 days to be exact) Kennedy learned of Eisenhower’s plan that gave the CIA permission to covertly train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. JFK approved of the mission, and at the Bay of Pigs, 1,200 fought 25,000 Cuban troops supported by Soviet tanks and were ultimately defeated. The alliance between Castro and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was clear when Khrushchev agreed to defend Cuba with Soviet weapons, and with that the importation of nuclear Soviet weapons into Cuba began. Kennedy was clear to announce that nuclear weapons would not be tolerated in Cuba, and stated the US would respond to any Cuban attack with all-out nuclear retaliation. In response to the increased Soviet ships coming with weapons, JFK ordered a blockade, which he called quarantine because a blockade is an act of war, around Cuba. For 13 days, the world held its breath as the threat of a nuclear war hung over the world, but the Soviets
