<P> Hoping to copy the success of Guatemala and Iran in 1961, the CIA, noting the large wave of emigration to the U.S. after Castro took power, trained and armed a group of Cuban exiles who landed at the Bay of Pigs where they were to attempt to spark an uprising against the Castro regime . The assault failed miserably, however . Afterwards, Castro publicly declared himself a Marxist - Leninst and set up Cuba as the first Communist state in the Americas and continued to nationalize virtually all major industries in the country . </P> <P> The Soviet government seized on the abortive invasion as a rationale for the placing of Soviet troops on Cuba . It was also decided to position on Cuba medium - range nuclear missiles which could strike many points in the U.S. at once . </P> <P> In response, President John F. Kennedy quarantined the island, and after several intense days the Soviets decided to retreat in return for promises from the U.S. not to invade Cuba and to pull missiles out of Turkey . After this brush with nuclear war, the two leaders banned nuclear tests in the air and underwater after 1962 . The Soviets also began a huge military buildup . The retreat undermined Khrushchev, who was ousted soon afterwards and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev . </P> <P> The Cuban Revolution led to Kennedy's initiation of the "Alliance for Progress" program . The program was to provide billions of dollars of loans and aid over the course of the 1960s for economic development in order to stave off socialist revolution . The Alliance also contained counterinsurgency measures, such as the establishment of the Jungle Warfare School in the Panama Canal Zone and the training of police forces . </P>

Which of the following was true at the height of the cold war in the 1950's