John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address in January 1961, emphasized the desire for peace among the adversaries of the United States and the unshakable fear that Americans must have in negotiations with those oppose the democratic principles of the country. In the first months of his presidency, Kennedy faced pressure within his administration to combat Cuba's growing socialist power in Latin America. However, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev forced his position in Cuba, ultimately countering the U.S. occupation by deploying Soviet troops and maintaining Communist influence in the region. Khrushchev believed that the American invasion of Cuba was imminent and prepared to fight against the American troops. The 1961 Vienna Summit outlined the desire to conquer Berlin, a European city crucial to the American and Soviet presence during the Cold War. Khrushchev and the Soviet Union approached the United States and JFK with caution due to obvious military inferiority. British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth depicted JFK and Soviet Premier Khrushchev in a cartoon published in the popular newspaper The Daily Mail during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The cartoon was a symbol of hostile relations between the United States and the Soviet Union in context of nuclear rearmament in Cuba and Latin America. The cartoon symbolized a bitter rivalry between two superpowers on the brink of nuclear war. As the growing conflict of the Cold War threatened the world, JFK represented the capitalist and democratic ideals of America, the military hegemon in the West, while Khrushchev represented communism and a growing threat in the East. In the midst of the Cold War calamity between the United States and the Soviet Union, two leaders represented a dichotomous relationship between contrasting…half of paper…in Cuba, while imposing democracy and communism on the world through immense nuclear power . Works Cited Dobbs, Michael. “One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Verge of Nuclear War.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.Frankel, Max. “High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. Illingworth, Leslie Gilbert. “Comic Item: ILW3584.” The British Cartoon Archive. 29 October 1962. University of Kent. March 30, 2011. .Jervis, Robert. “Was the Cold War a Security Dilemma?” Journal of Cold War Studies 3.1 (2001): 36-60. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. March 30, 2011. Zelikow, Filippo. "American Politics and Cuba, 1961-1963". Diplomatic History 24.2 (2000): 317-334. Premier of academic research. EBSCO. Network. March 29. 2011.