Okla-homey
4/17/2006, 05:45 AM
April 17, 1961 JFK waits for word on the Bay of Pigs* invasion
Forty-five years ago today, President John F. Kennedy is sweating it out in the White House while he awaits word on the success of a covert plan to overthrow Cuba’s government. Kennedy had authorized “Operation Zapata,” the attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro, on April 15. The failed coup became what most consider the worst foreign-policy decision of Kennedy’s administration.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8886/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzjfk.jpg
When Kennedy entered the White House in January 1961, he inherited from his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, an ongoing conflict with the leftist regime in Cuba. Aided by Soviet-bloc weaponry, Castro led a brutal clampdown on human rights and dissent after taking power in 1959.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/922/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz33.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fidel Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev
That same year, Eisenhower had implemented a trade embargo on Cuban goods and, in 1960, broke off diplomatic relations with the island nation. In a nationally broadcast speech on Dec 2, 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism. On Feb 7 1962, the US imposed an embargo against Cuba, which included a general travel ban for American tourists.
Before he left office, Eisenhower had approved, but did not launch, a covert plan devised by his vice president, Richard Nixon, and the CIA to overthrow Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9933/cubaprojectmap0lr.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9582/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz2.gif (http://imageshack.us)
When Kennedy assumed the presidency, he retained Eisenhower’s CIA and military advisors who had helped plan the mission. At their urging, Kennedy made the final decision to send approximately 1,200 CIA-trained Cuban exiles to land at the bay on Cuba’s southern coast called “Bahia de Cochinos” (aka "Bay of Pigs").
The attempted coup failed miserably, largely due to faulty intelligence. Kennedy and the CIA leaders in charge of the mission (all inherited from Eisenhower) believed that Cuba’s people and its military would spontaneously rise up to help the exile army overthrow Castro, a grave miscalculation.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9528/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz29.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
These posters exhorted Cubans to be alert for pending and expected US invasion
Unknown to US intelligence, the operation itself was expected by Castro, and in anticipation the government rounded up perhaps 100,000 anti-Castro Cubans -at least 20,000 in Havana alone, executed some and imprisoned the others under threat of death should the invasion succeed.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8107/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz28.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Led by Erneido Oliva, most of the 1,200 men invasion force made it ashore; however, reserve ammunition in two US supplied support ships, the Houston and the Río Escondido. Both ships were sunk by Cuban Air Force WWII-era Hawker Sea Fury attack aircraft and a flight of armed Lockheed T-33 jets. President Kennedy was influenced by some State Department officials including Roy Rubottom and especially his assistant William Weiland who had been involved in Castro related matters since 1933 under Sumner Welles.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5664/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz30.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Cuban AF "Sea Fury" attack aircraft
Mysteriously, Kennedy withdrew support for the invasion at the last minute, by canceling several USAF and USN bombing sorties that could have crippled the entire Cuban Air Force. The cancellation also prevented US Marines waiting off the coast from landing in support of the Cuban exiles.
After three days of ferocious fighting in which about 100 invaders and 2,000 -5000 Cuban militia were killed the rest of the invaders were captured. At least nine invaders were formally executed in connection with this action, however, a number died of suffocation in an unventilated semi-trailer, while Castro attributed the defeat of the invasion to his leadership.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3774/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz3.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Ex-patriot Cuban invaders in Cuban custody
The CIA and JFK’s administration blamed each other for the plan’s failure. The CIA cited JFK’s failure to order prolonged offensive air strikes against Cuba’s air force at the same time as the land operation, while JFK and his advisors blamed the CIA for keeping information from the president, including several analysts’ conclusions that the plan’s “success was dubious.”
The ensuing tension between the president and his military and intelligence advisors prompted JFK to rely even more heavily on the advice of his brother, Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, who was also his attorney general, when making future foreign-policy decisions -- apparently little brother Teddy Kennedy was never consulted about anything. :D
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/8291/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzjfkrfk4xa.png (http://imageshack.us)
JFK and RFK confer
A former special assistant to JFK, Arthur Schlesinger, has since recorded Bobby Kennedy’s recollections of the Bay of Pigs invasion. In a memorandum written in June 1961, Bobby Kennedy concluded that the mission broke down from the “incompetency” of the CIA and a “complete lack of communication.”
He also noticed that the disaster weighed heavily on his brother, who was concerned about how it would reflect upon his leadership and the nation’s credibility. In an oral history interview, Bobby Kennedy recounted that he and his brother had “been through a lot of things together, and he was more upset [by the Bay of Pigs failure] than any other.”
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8339/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz15.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Bay of Pigs as it appears today
* Called "Bay of Pigs" in English, "Cochinos" is a Spanish word for "pigs" but in this instance cochinos is a name for a local salt-water fish, hence the "Bahia de Cochinos" means literally: "Bay of Cochinos Fish"--which makes more sense than "Bay of Pigs."
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5407/insane7zo6ml.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Forty-five years ago today, President John F. Kennedy is sweating it out in the White House while he awaits word on the success of a covert plan to overthrow Cuba’s government. Kennedy had authorized “Operation Zapata,” the attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro, on April 15. The failed coup became what most consider the worst foreign-policy decision of Kennedy’s administration.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8886/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzjfk.jpg
When Kennedy entered the White House in January 1961, he inherited from his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, an ongoing conflict with the leftist regime in Cuba. Aided by Soviet-bloc weaponry, Castro led a brutal clampdown on human rights and dissent after taking power in 1959.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/922/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz33.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Fidel Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev
That same year, Eisenhower had implemented a trade embargo on Cuban goods and, in 1960, broke off diplomatic relations with the island nation. In a nationally broadcast speech on Dec 2, 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism. On Feb 7 1962, the US imposed an embargo against Cuba, which included a general travel ban for American tourists.
Before he left office, Eisenhower had approved, but did not launch, a covert plan devised by his vice president, Richard Nixon, and the CIA to overthrow Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9933/cubaprojectmap0lr.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9582/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz2.gif (http://imageshack.us)
When Kennedy assumed the presidency, he retained Eisenhower’s CIA and military advisors who had helped plan the mission. At their urging, Kennedy made the final decision to send approximately 1,200 CIA-trained Cuban exiles to land at the bay on Cuba’s southern coast called “Bahia de Cochinos” (aka "Bay of Pigs").
The attempted coup failed miserably, largely due to faulty intelligence. Kennedy and the CIA leaders in charge of the mission (all inherited from Eisenhower) believed that Cuba’s people and its military would spontaneously rise up to help the exile army overthrow Castro, a grave miscalculation.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9528/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz29.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
These posters exhorted Cubans to be alert for pending and expected US invasion
Unknown to US intelligence, the operation itself was expected by Castro, and in anticipation the government rounded up perhaps 100,000 anti-Castro Cubans -at least 20,000 in Havana alone, executed some and imprisoned the others under threat of death should the invasion succeed.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8107/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz28.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Led by Erneido Oliva, most of the 1,200 men invasion force made it ashore; however, reserve ammunition in two US supplied support ships, the Houston and the Río Escondido. Both ships were sunk by Cuban Air Force WWII-era Hawker Sea Fury attack aircraft and a flight of armed Lockheed T-33 jets. President Kennedy was influenced by some State Department officials including Roy Rubottom and especially his assistant William Weiland who had been involved in Castro related matters since 1933 under Sumner Welles.
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5664/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz30.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Cuban AF "Sea Fury" attack aircraft
Mysteriously, Kennedy withdrew support for the invasion at the last minute, by canceling several USAF and USN bombing sorties that could have crippled the entire Cuban Air Force. The cancellation also prevented US Marines waiting off the coast from landing in support of the Cuban exiles.
After three days of ferocious fighting in which about 100 invaders and 2,000 -5000 Cuban militia were killed the rest of the invaders were captured. At least nine invaders were formally executed in connection with this action, however, a number died of suffocation in an unventilated semi-trailer, while Castro attributed the defeat of the invasion to his leadership.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3774/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz3.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Ex-patriot Cuban invaders in Cuban custody
The CIA and JFK’s administration blamed each other for the plan’s failure. The CIA cited JFK’s failure to order prolonged offensive air strikes against Cuba’s air force at the same time as the land operation, while JFK and his advisors blamed the CIA for keeping information from the president, including several analysts’ conclusions that the plan’s “success was dubious.”
The ensuing tension between the president and his military and intelligence advisors prompted JFK to rely even more heavily on the advice of his brother, Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, who was also his attorney general, when making future foreign-policy decisions -- apparently little brother Teddy Kennedy was never consulted about anything. :D
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/8291/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzjfkrfk4xa.png (http://imageshack.us)
JFK and RFK confer
A former special assistant to JFK, Arthur Schlesinger, has since recorded Bobby Kennedy’s recollections of the Bay of Pigs invasion. In a memorandum written in June 1961, Bobby Kennedy concluded that the mission broke down from the “incompetency” of the CIA and a “complete lack of communication.”
He also noticed that the disaster weighed heavily on his brother, who was concerned about how it would reflect upon his leadership and the nation’s credibility. In an oral history interview, Bobby Kennedy recounted that he and his brother had “been through a lot of things together, and he was more upset [by the Bay of Pigs failure] than any other.”
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8339/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz15.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Bay of Pigs as it appears today
* Called "Bay of Pigs" in English, "Cochinos" is a Spanish word for "pigs" but in this instance cochinos is a name for a local salt-water fish, hence the "Bahia de Cochinos" means literally: "Bay of Cochinos Fish"--which makes more sense than "Bay of Pigs."
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5407/insane7zo6ml.jpg (http://imageshack.us)