Existing comment:
Meeting Face-to-Face:
The only time President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev formally met face-to-face was a summit meeting held in Vienna, Austria, June 3-4, 1961. The meetings were tough and contentious, covering a range of issues, both strategic and ideological. Khrushchev's combative posture took President Kennedy by surprise. Neither side yielded a point, and Khrushchev left Kennedy with an ultimatum the signaled a new crisis over the future of Berlin, Hitler's former capital that had been divided between East and West after World War II. Nevertheless, the summit provided an opportunity for both leaders to meet and size up each other as a negotiating adversary.
As a result of Krushshev's intransigence in Vienna, JFK authorized that the launch sites for the Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in Turkey became fully operational -- that is, capable of launching missiles that could reach the USSR in just minutes. |