BAY OF PIGS
"In response to Cuba aligning themselves with the Soviet Union, in March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to devise a scheme to train Cuban exiles based in Guatemala to invade the island and overthrow Castro" (Roberts).
As Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy "inherited this projected invasion operation. Perhaps fearing to appear soft on communism... in March, 1961 the newly elected president approved its implementation, with two important modifications. First, seeking to maintain the deniability of any U.S. contribution to the operation, Kennedy insisted that no American troops or pilots participate. Second, the invasion site was moved from Trinidad to the more vulnerable Bay of Pigs" (Roberts).
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THE PLAN
"The original invasion plan called for two air strikes against Cuban air bases. A 1,400-man invasion force would disembark under cover of darkness and launch a surprise attack. Paratroopers dropped in advance of the invasion would disrupt transportation and repel Cuban forces. Simultaneously, a smaller force would land on the east coast of Cuba to create confusion" (JFK Library).
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"The main force would advance across the island to Matanzas and set up a defensive position. The United Revolutionary Front would send leaders from South Florida and establish a provisional government. The success of the plan depended on the Cuban population joining the invaders" (JFK Library).
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THE INVASIONApril 15, 1961
"A group of Cuban exiles took off from Nicaragua in a squadron of American B-26 bombers, painted to look like stolen Cuban planes, and conducted a strike against Cuban airfields. However, it turned out that Castro and his advisers knew about the raid and had moved his planes out of harm’s way" (History). April 17, 1961
"The Cuban exile brigade began its invasion at an isolated spot on the island’s southern shore known as the Bay of Pigs. Almost immediately, the invasion was a disaster. Before long, Castro’s troops had pinned the invaders on the beach, and the exiles surrendered after less than a day of fighting; 114 were killed and over 1,100 were taken prisoner" (History). |
AFTERMATH
"The CIA and the Cuban exile brigade believed that President Kennedy would eventually allow the American military to intervene in Cuba on their behalf. However, the president was resolute: As much as he did not want to “abandon Cuba to the communists,” he said, he would not start a fight that might end in World War III" (History).
"The shambles severely embarrassed the Kennedy administration and became a major propaganda coup for Castro, laying the ground the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, arguably the closest the world has come to the aggressive use of nuclear missiles since WWII" (Huffington Post).
"The shambles severely embarrassed the Kennedy administration and became a major propaganda coup for Castro, laying the ground the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, arguably the closest the world has come to the aggressive use of nuclear missiles since WWII" (Huffington Post).
“The reality is that after the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro announced he officially joined the Soviet bloc. Through that [declaration] the obligation of the Soviets was to defend all their clients, all their allies because otherwise they would lose face . . . and your allies would not trust you. Cuba, after 1961, became for the Soviet Union the same as West Berlin to the United States—a small useless piece of land deep inside hostile territory. But if you don’t defend it, you will not be treated as a superpower” (US Naval Institute).
"[It was] humiliating because the attack was a disaster; instructive because President John F. Kennedy realized he had made a terrible mistake — and he pledged to learn from it...And his experience in 1961 informed how he would handle the much greater missile crisis in 1962" (Meacham).
"[The Bay of Pigs] taught Kennedy to be skeptical of professional military and intelligence advice" (Welch).
"The disaster at the Bay of Pigs had a lasting impact on the Kennedy administration. Determined to make up for the failed invasion, the administration initiated Operation Mongoose—a plan to sabotage and destabilize the Cuban government and economy" (JFK Library).