I have a 95 2500 with 413,000 miles and my cruise control does not work at all and also when braking in tight areas, for instance parking, the brake pedal gets very hard to push. Are these two problems related and if so what are the most likely causes? Any help would be awesome

 

Sounds like possibly a vacuum leak or maybe a failing vac pump. Start by chasing down the lines and see if you have any cracked connections.

Kurt

 

Most common vacuum leak is from acid rotted hoses under the driver's side battery.

The trucks with vacuum assisted brakes are well known for not being able to keep up with repeated braking at idle. The vacuum pump just can't keep up at low rpms.
Best way to deal with it is to just be aware of it and just give it a little throttle.