The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April of 1961

The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April of 1961 was a fatal decision that haunted President Kennedy for the rest of his administration. Planning for the invasion had begun under the Eisenhower Administration, and after assuming office, President Kennedy ordered the CIA to continue with the planning for the operation. Kennedy NEVER promised air coverage for the Cuban exiles, but the CIA expected it of him. As Robert Dallek points out in his new book, An Unfinished Life, the invasion was poorly planned and even worse, poorly executed. Kennedy’s major blunder was believing that simply by signing on the dotted line, the invasion would succeed and Castro would be gone. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The President should have carefully monitored the CIA’s planning and ensured that the exiles were prepared for the invasion. Needless to say, this was a major blunder of Kennedy’s presidency that led to his complete and utter distrust of the Central Intelligence Agency and promise to splinter it into 1,000 pieces and scatter it to the wind. As a result of the invasion, Allen Dulles, Richard Bissel and Charles Cabell of the Central Intelligence Agency were fired. Dulles would later serve on the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy’s assassination.
The Bay of Pigs is a good example of how half-measures just don’t work, as well as being an example of typical CIA belief in its ability to succeed at anything, even things that are not within its sphere of competence. If Kennedy wanted to get rid of Cuba, he should have authorized an invasion by the US military. Sound far out? I thought so at one time (actually, in 1962).. When I was undergoing infantry officer’s basic training at Fort Benning, I met an Italian officer who was taking a course there, and we talked about the Bay of Pigs. When he said that it was foolish to use Cuban exiles, and CIA planes, and that the US just should have called a spade a spade and invaded, I told him that Italy would probably be the first to scream that we had violated the rights of a sovereign nation. His response was That’s a typically American reaction. You’re afraid of what the world will say. What you need to realize is that if you had sent in the US airborne and marines to do the job, everyone in Europe would keep their mouths shut for fear of being next on the list. Who do you think would have the guts to stand up to you once you showed what you were capable of doing? It’s just the way international politics is. Sounds about right to me.