The Bay of Pigs invasion begins - Apr 17, 1961 - HISTORY.com Within the CIA, the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was regarded as the "perfect failure." Cold War The Bay of Pigs invasion begins Share this: The Bay of Pigs invasion begins Author The Bay of Pigs invasion begins URL Publisher A+E Networks The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. Fidel Castro had been a concern to U.S. policymakers since he seized power in Cuba with a revolution in January 1959. Castro’s attacks on U.S. companies and interests in Cuba, his inflammatory anti-American rhetoric, and Cuba’s movement toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union led U.S. officials to conclude that the Cuban leader was a threat to U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere. In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to train and arm a force of Cuban exiles for an armed attack on Cuba. John F.

Kennedy inherited this program when he became president in 1961. Though many of his military advisors indicated that an amphibious assault on Cuba by a group of lightly armed exiles had little chance for success, Kennedy gave the go-ahead for the attack. On April 17, 1961, around 1,200 exiles, armed with American weapons and using American landing craft, waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The hope was that the exile force would serve as a rallying point for the Cuban citizenry, who would rise up and overthrow Castro’s government. The plan immediately fell apart–the landing force met with unexpectedly rapid counterattacks from Castro’s military, the tiny Cuban air force sank most of the exiles’ supply ships, the United States refrained from providing necessary air support, and the expected uprising never happened. Over 100 of the attackers were killed, and more than 1,100 were captured. The failure at the Bay of Pigs cost the United States dearly. Castro used the attack by the “Yankee imperialists” to solidify his power in Cuba and he requested additional Soviet military aid.

Eventually that aid included missiles, and the construction of missile bases in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union nearly came to blows over the issue. Further, throughout much of Latin America, the United States was pilloried for its use of armed force in trying to unseat Castro, a man who was considered a hero to many for his stance against U.S. interference and imperialism. Kennedy tried to redeem himself by publicly accepting blame for the attack and its subsequent failure, but the botched mission left the young president looking vulnerable and indecisive. Related Videos Bay of Pigs Invasion - Cold War - HISTORY.com Bay of Pigs Invasion A+E Networks Introduction On January 1, 1959, a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro (1926-) drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), the nation’s American-backed president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to push Castro from power.

Finally, in April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invasion did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. Bay of Pigs Invasion Blog Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs invasion was intended to provoke popularity for an uprising against Fidel Castro , who had overthrown American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista . Instead, it gave Castro a military victory and a permanent symbol of Cuban resistance to American aggression. The Bay of Pigs was not originally John F. Kennedy 's idea. As the communist nature of Fidel Castro 's regime became apparent, the urge to topple his government grew. Dwight D. Eisenhower 's administration planned the invasion, which would be handled by the CIA . By the time of Kennedy's inauguration, the order to invade was the only remaining piece of the plan to put into place. Planning for the invasion began in 1960, before diplomatic ties with Cuba had been broken.

The situation was delicate, since the plan was to overthrow a government with which the United States was not at war. Various aspects, including propaganda and military strategies, were included in the plan, along with the directive that the U.S. should not appear to be involved. During the presidential campaign, Kennedy had accused Eisenhower of not doing enough about Castro. In fact, Eisenhower might have launched an invasion himself, had a proper excuse presented itself. Instead, he bequeathed an advanced plan to Kennedy, who was strongly inclined to pursue it. Others in the government were not convinced. The Cubans had presented evidence to the United Nations as early as October that the United States was hiring and training mercenaries. American involvement was not likely to remain much of a secret. Senator J. William Fulbright told Kennedy that this sort of hypocrisy was just the sort of thing of which the United States accused the Soviets. Under Secretary of State Chester Bowles advised Secretary of State Dean Rusk that the plan was wrong on both moral and legal grounds. Those in favor of the plan also included former Vice President Richard Nixon, John's brother Robert F. Kennedy , and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara .

On April 12, 1961, Kennedy told a press conference that the United States unequivocally had no intention of intervening in Cuban affairs. Five days later, the invasion took place. The invasion force had been assembled in Guatemala. It departed in six ships from a port in Nicaragua on April 14. On April 15, the American-backed Cuban exiles began to bomb airfields near two points in the Bay of Pigs and the Zapata swamps in Cuba. In a clumsy effort to make the attacks appear to have been made by defectors, the attacking B-26 airplanes were disguised to look like Cuban aircraft. An actual defector named Mario Zï¿½ï¿½iga was presented to the press along with his airplane, but so many important details were missing and the press had uncovered so much of the truth, that the cover-up effort had little success. Within the first few hours of the operation, it began to appear that the invasion would fail because it had not garnered the support from locals on which they were counting. Much to the CIAï¿½s surprise, locals firmly supported Castro and the Revolution. Adlai E.

Stevenson , the American ambassador to the U.N., flatly denied the Cuban ambassador's charges about the attack and showed the official photographs to support the defectorï¿½s story. Unfortunately, the truth came out within a few hours and Stevenson was humiliated. He also learned that Kennedy had referred to him as ï¿½my official liar." The attack began shortly after midnight on April 16. Coral reefs, misidentified by U-2 spy planes as seaweed, held up landings. Two ships were stranded 80 yards from shore and some heavy equipment was lost. With the invasion plainly underway, Rusk announced on Monday, April 17, that the U.S. would not intervene in Cuba nor would it in the future. Because world opinion was against the U.S., Kennedy decided not to provide further air cover until it could be launched from a landing strip somewhere in Cuba. This never happened, and Cuban forces had complete control of the air. A final desperate attempt at air support resulted in the loss of four American airmen on April 19, but the outcome was already sealed. The invaders surrendered on the afternoon of April 19.

More than 200 people been killed; another 1,197 were taken captive. On April 20, Kennedy told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that the episode was Cubans fighting Cubans and that the U.S. had not been involved. A few months later, the three responsible for planning the invasion ï¿½ Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Allen Dulles , Deputy Director of Operations Richard Bissell, and Air Force General Charles Cabell ï¿½ were fired. Mass trials of the captured men were held and nearly all were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. After 20 months of negotiations, they were released in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine. The failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion set the stage for further aggressions against Castro from his northern aggressor. President Kennedy made little effort to conceal his continued desire to see Castro deposed. Castroï¿½s insecurity about the future of his rule over Cuba led to the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles there, prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. - - - Books You May Like Include: ---- The Bay of Pigs - John F.

Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum The Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs On April 17, 1961, 1400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The US government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. Before his inauguration, John F. Kennedy was briefed on a plan by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed during the Eisenhower administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. The plan anticipated that the Cuban people and elements of the Cuban military would support the invasion. The ultimate goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. Training President Eisenhower approved the program in March 1960. The CIA set up training camps in Guatemala, and by November the operation had trained a small army for an assault landing and guerilla warfare.

José Miró Cardona led the anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the United States. A former member of Castro's government, he was the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, an exile committee. Cardona was poised to take over the provisional presidency of Cuba if the invasion succeeded. Despite efforts of the government to keep the invasion plans covert, it became common knowledge among Cuban exiles in Miami. Through Cuban intelligence, Castro learned of the guerilla training camps in Guatemala as early as October 1960, and the press reported widely on events as they unfolded. Shortly after his inauguration, in February 1961, President Kennedy authorized the invasion plan. But he was determined to disguise U.S. support. The landing point at the Bay of Pigs was part of the deception. The site was a remote swampy area on the southern coast of Cuba, where a night landing might bring a force ashore against little resistance and help to hide any U.S. involvement. Unfortunately, the landing site also left the invading force more than 80 miles from refuge in Cuba's Escambray Mountains, if anything went wrong. 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. 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. The Invasion The first mishap occurred on April 15, 1961, when eight bombers left Nicaragua to bomb Cuban airfields. The CIA had used obsolete World War II B-26 bombers, and painted them to look like Cuban air force planes. The bombers missed many of their targets and left most of Castro's air force intact. As news broke of the attack, photos of the repainted U.S. planes became public and revealed American support for the invasion. President Kennedy cancelled a second air strike. On April 17, the Cuban-exile invasion force, known as Brigade 2506, landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire.

Cuban planes strafed the invaders, sank two escort ships, and destroyed half of the exile's air support. Bad weather hampered the ground force, which had to work with soggy equipment and insufficient ammunition. The Counterattack Over the next 24 hours, Castro ordered roughly 20,000 troops to advance toward the beach, and the Cuban air force continued to control the skies. As the situation grew increasingly grim, President Kennedy authorized an "air-umbrella" at dawn on April 19—six unmarked American fighter planes took off to help defend the brigade's B-26 aircraft flying. But the B-26s arrived an hour late, most likely confused by the change in time zones between Nicaragua and Cuba. They were shot down by the Cubans, and the invasion was crushed later that day. Some exiles escaped to the sea, while the rest were killed or rounded up and imprisoned by Castro's forces. Almost 1,200 members of Brigade 2056 surrendered, and more than 100 were killed. The Aftermath The brigade prisoners remained in captivity for 20 months, as the United States negotiated a deal with Fidel Castro.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy made personal pleas for contributions from pharmaceutical companies and baby food manufacturers, and Castro eventually settled on $53 million worth of baby food and medicine in exchange for the prisoners. On December 23, 1962, just two months after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a plane containing the first group of freed prisoners landed in the United States. A week later, on Saturday, December 29, surviving brigade members gathered for a ceremony in Miami's Orange Bowl, where the brigade's flag was handed over to President Kennedy. "I can assure you," the president promised, "that this flag will be returned to this brigade in a free Havana." 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. The plan included the possibility of assassinating Castro. More than 50 years later, relations between Castro's Cuba and the United States remain strained and tenuous. Letter from President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev.

April 18, 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion Encyclopedia > History > Latin America and the Caribbean > Cuban History Bay of Pigs Invasion Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961, an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government. On Apr. 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the south coast of Cuba. Trained since May, 1960, in Guatemala by members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the approval of the Eisenhower administration, and supplied with arms by the U.S. government, the rebels intended to foment an insurrection in Cuba and overthrow the Communist regime of Fidel Castro. The Cuban army easily defeated the rebels and by Apr. 20, most were either killed or captured. The invasion provoked anti-U.S. demonstrations in Latin America and Europe and further embittered U.S.-Cuban relations. Poorly planned and executed, the invasion subjected President Kennedy to severe criticism at home.

Cuban exile leader José Miró Cardona, president of the U.S.-based National Revolutionary Council, blamed the failure on the CIA and the refusal of Kennedy to authorize air cover for the invasion force, but perhaps more crucial was the fact that the uprising the exiles hoped and needed to spark did not happened. Much later it was revealed that the CIA task force planning the invasion had predicted that the invasion's goals unachievable without U.S. military involvement; it is unclear whether Kennedy or CIA chief Allen Dulles knew of the assessment. In Dec., 1962, Castro released 1,113 captured rebels in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine raised by private donations in the United States. See K. E. Meyer and T. Szulc, The Cuban Invasion (1962); H. B. Johnson, The Bay of Pigs (1964). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Cuban History Milestones: 1961–1968 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1961–1968 The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962 A left-wing revolution in Cuba had ended in 1959 with the ouster of President Fulgencia Batista and the establishment of a new government under Premier Fidel Castro. The Castro regime quickly severed the country’s formerly strong ties with the United States by expropriating U.S. economic assets in Cuba and developing close links with the Soviet Union. Skyhawks from the USS Essex fly sorties over combat areas during the Bay of Pigs. (Robert L. Lawson Photograph Collection) These developments proved a source of grave concern to the United States given Cuba’s geographical proximity to the United States and brought Cuba into play as a new and significant factor in the Cold War. In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop a plan for the invasion of Cuba and overthrow of the Castro regime.

The CIA organized an operation in which it trained and funded a force of exiled counter-revolutionary Cubans serving as the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, known as Brigade 2506. Following his election in November 1960, President John F. Kennedy learned of the invasion plan, concluded that Fidel Castro was a Soviet client posing a threat to all of Latin America and, after consultations with his advisors, gave his consent for the CIA-planned clandestine invasion of Cuba to proceed. Launched from Guatemala, the attack went wrong almost from the start. Components of Brigade 2506 landed at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961 and were defeated within 2 days by Cuban armed forces under the direct command of Castro. The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro’s administration, which proceeded to openly proclaim its intention to adopt socialism and pursue closer ties with the Soviet Union. It also led to a reassessment of Cuba policy by the Kennedy administration. The President established a committee under former Army Chief of Staff General Maxwell Taylor and Attorney General Robert Kennedy to examine the causes of the defeat suffered at the Bay of Pigs.

This examination and policy assessment, initiated in May 1961, led in November of that year to a decision to implement a new covert program in Cuba, with the codename of Operation Mongoose. Oversight for Operation Mongoose was provided by the 5412/2 Special Group, under the auspices of the National Security Council, expanded to include General Taylor and Attorney General Kennedy. Operation Mongoose was designed to do what the Bay of Pigs invasion failed to do: remove the Communist Castro regime from power in Cuba. Orchestrated by the CIA and Department of Defense under the direction of Edward Lansdale, Operation Mongoose constituted a multiplicity of plans with wide-ranging purpose and scope. Lansdale presented the Project’s six-phase schedule to Attorney General Kennedy on February 20, 1962, and President Kennedy received a briefing on the operation’s components on March 16, 1962. Lansdale outlined the coordinated program of political, psychological, military, sabotage, and intelligence operations, as well as proposed assassination attempts on key political leaders, including Castro.

Monthly components of the operation were to be set in place to destabilize the communist regime, including the publication of Anti-Castro propaganda, provision of armaments for militant opposition groups, and establishment of guerilla bases throughout the country, all leading up to preparations for an October 1962 military intervention in Cuba. Some (though not all) of the planned Operation Mongoose actions were deployed during 1962, but the military intervention did not occur, and the Castro regime remained in power. Although not considered as significant a U.S. foreign policy failure and embarrassment as the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Mongoose failed to achieve its most important goals. Meanwhile, throughout the spring and summer of 1962, U.S. intelligence reports indicated expanded arms shipments from the Soviet Union to Cuba. Amidst growing concern in Washington over whether the Soviet weapons being introduced into Cuba included ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, in October 1962 the Kennedy administration suspended Operation Mongoose in the face of this far more serious threat—one that resulted in the most dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

50 Years Later: Learning From The Bay Of Pigs : NPR Scribner List price: $32 Back in the first half of the twentieth century, America was a good and determined nation led by competent men and defended by an indomitable military — that, anyway, was a plausible view for Americans to hold fifty years ago. The First World War, then the Second World War, asserted and confirmed America's place of might and right in the world. Even in the decade after the Second World War, as a new conflict in Korea suggested there were limits to what the United States might accomplish abroad, it would have been a cynical American who doubted he or she lived in a powerful nation engaged in worthy exploits. And then came the Bay of Pigs. In the early hours of April 17, 1961, some fourteen hundred men, most of them Cuban exiles, attempted to invade their homeland and overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion at the Bahia de Cochinos — the Bay of Pigs — quickly unraveled. Three days after landing, the exile force was routed and sent fleeing to the sea or the swamps, where the survivors were soon captured by Castro's army.

Despite the Kennedy administration's initial insistence that the United States had nothing to do with the invasion, the world immediately understood that the entire operation had been organized and funded by the U.S. government. The invaders had been trained by CIA officers and supplied with American equipment, and the plan had been approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the president of the United States. In short, the Bay of Pigs had been a U.S. operation, and its failure — "a perfect failure," historian Theodore Draper called it — was a distinctly American embarrassment. Bad enough the government had been caught bullying and prevaricating; much worse, the United States had allowed itself to be humiliated by a nation of 7 million inhabitants (compared to the United States' 180 million) and smaller than the state of Pennsylvania. The greatest American defeat since the War of 1812, one American general called it. Others were less generous. Everyone agreed on this: it was a mistake Americans would never repeat and a lesson they would never forget. They were wrong on both counts. Mention the Bay of Pigs to a college-educated adult American under the age of, say, fifty and you are likely to be met by tentative nods of recognition.

The incident still rings discordant bells somewhere in the back of our national memory — something to do with Cuba, with Kennedy, with disaster. That phantasmagorical phrase alone — Bay of Pigs — is hard to forget, evoking images of bobbing swine in a bloodred sea (or at least it did in my mind when I first heard it). But what exactly happened at the Bay of Pigs? Many of us are no longer certain, including some of us who probably ought to be. At about the time I began thinking about this book, Dana Perino, the White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, good-naturedly confessed on a radio program that she confused "the Bay of Pigs thing" (April 1961) with the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962). Given that Ms. Perino was born a decade after these events, her uncertainty was understandable. But coming from the woman representing the president who launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 — an exercise that repeated some of the very same mistakes made in Cuba in 1961 — it also was unsettling.

Presumably, somebody in the Bush White House considered the history of the Bay of Pigs before sending Colin Powell to the Security Council of the United Nations (an episode, as we shall see, bearing striking similarities to Adlai Stevenson's appearance before that same body in April 1961) or ordering a minimal force to conquer a supposedly welcoming foreign land. Then again, if history teaches us any lesson, it is that we do not learn the lessons of history very well. Almost as soon as the mistakes of the Bay of Pigs were cataloged and analyzed by various investigative bodies, America began committing them again, not only in Cuba, but elsewhere in Latin America, in Southeast Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa. By one count, the United States has forcibly intervened, covertly or overtly, in no fewer than twenty-four foreign countries since 1961, not including our more recent twenty-first-century entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of these have arguably produced long-term benefits for the United States. Most clearly have not. The surfeit of interventions gives rise to a fair question: considering all that has occurred since 1961, why should the Bay of Pigs still demand our attention?

Next to Vietnam and Iraq, among others, the Bay of Pigs may seem a bump in the road fading mercifully in the rearview mirror. The entire event lasted a mere five days and cost the United States roughly $46 million, less than the average budget of a Hollywood movie these days. One hundred and fourteen men were killed on the American side, and only a handful of these casualties were U.S. citizens. Add to this the fact that America was embarrassed by the Bay of Pigs and the tale has everything to recommend it for oblivion. Even if we would forget the Bay of Pigs, though, it will not forget us. There among the mangrove swamps and the coral-jeweled waters, some part of the American story ended and a new one began. Like a well-crafted prologue, the Bay of Pigs sounded the themes, foreshadowed the conflicts, and laid the groundwork for the decades to follow. And what followed was, in no small measure, a consequence of the events in Cuba in 1961.

It would be facile to credit the 1960s to a single failed invasion — many currents combined to produce that tsunami — but the Bay of Pigs dragged America into the new decade and stalked it for years to come. Three of the major American cataclysms of the '60s and early '70s — John Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War, and Watergate — were related by concatenation to the Bay of Pigs. No fewer than four presidents were touched by it, from Dwight Eisenhower, who first approved the "Program of Covert Action" against Castro, to Richard Nixon and the six infamous justice-obstructing words he uttered in 1972: "the whole Bay of Pigs thing." Excerpted from The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs by Jim Rasenberger. Copyright 2011 by Jim Rasenberger. Excerpted by permission of Scribner.

Milestones: 1961–1968 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1961–1968 The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. The crisis was unique in a number of ways, featuring calculations and miscalculations as well as direct and secret communications and miscommunications between the two sides. The dramatic crisis was also characterized by the fact that it was primarily played out at the White House and the Kremlin level with relatively little input from the respective bureaucracies typically involved in the foreign policy process. Aerial view of missile launch site at San Cristobal, Cuba. (John F. Kennedy Library) After the failed U.S. attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba with the Bay of Pigs invasion, and while the Kennedy administration planned Operation Mongoose, in July 1962 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secret agreement with Cuban premier Fidel Castro to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt.

Construction of several missile sites began in the late summer, but U.S. intelligence discovered evidence of a general Soviet arms build-up on Cuba, including Soviet IL–28 bombers, during routine surveillance flights, and on September 4, 1962, President Kennedy issued a public warning against the introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba. Despite the warning, on October 14 a U.S. U–2 aircraft took several pictures clearly showing sites for medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) under construction in Cuba. These images were processed and presented to the White House the next day, thus precipitating the onset of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy summoned his closest advisers to consider options and direct a course of action for the United States that would resolve the crisis. Some advisers—including all the Joint Chiefs of Staff—argued for an air strike to destroy the missiles, followed by a U.S. invasion of Cuba; others favored stern warnings to Cuba and the Soviet Union. The President decided upon a middle course. On October 22, he ordered a naval “quarantine” of Cuba.

The use of “quarantine” legally distinguished this action from a blockade, which assumed a state of war existed; the use of “quarantine” instead of “blockade” also enabled the United States to receive the support of the Organization of American States. That same day, Kennedy sent a letter to Khrushchev declaring that the United States would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba, and demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed, and return all offensive weapons to the U.S.S.R. The letter was the first in a series of direct and indirect communications between the White House and the Kremlin throughout the remainder of the crisis. The President also went on national television that evening to inform the public of the developments in Cuba, his decision to initiate and enforce a “quarantine,” and the potential global consequences if the crisis continued to escalate.

The tone of the President’s remarks was stern, and the message unmistakable and evocative of the Monroe Doctrine: “It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.” The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced a military readiness status of DEFCON 3 as U.S. naval forces began implementation of the quarantine and plans accelerated for a military strike on Cuba. On October 24, Khrushchev responded to Kennedy’s message with a statement that the U.S. “blockade” was an “act of aggression” and that Soviet ships bound for Cuba would be ordered to proceed. Nevertheless, during October 24 and 25, some ships turned back from the quarantine line; others were stopped by U.S. naval forces, but they contained no offensive weapons and so were allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, U.S. reconnaissance flights over Cuba indicated the Soviet missile sites were nearing operational readiness. With no apparent end to the crisis in sight, U.S. forces were placed at DEFCON 2—meaning war involving the Strategic Air Command was imminent.

On October 26, Kennedy told his advisors it appeared that only a U.S. attack on Cuba would remove the missiles, but he insisted on giving the diplomatic channel a little more time. The crisis had reached a virtual stalemate. That afternoon, however, the crisis took a dramatic turn. ABC News correspondent John Scali reported to the White House that he had been approached by a Soviet agent suggesting that an agreement could be reached in which the Soviets would remove their missiles from Cuba if the United States promised not to invade the island. While White House staff scrambled to assess the validity of this “back channel” offer, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a message the evening of October 26, which meant it was sent in the middle of the night Moscow time. It was a long, emotional message that raised the specter of nuclear holocaust, and presented a proposed resolution that remarkably resembled what Scali reported earlier that day. “If there is no intention,” he said, “to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot. We are ready for this.” Although U.S.

experts were convinced the message from Khrushchev was authentic, hope for a resolution was short-lived. The next day, October 27, Khrushchev sent another message indicating that any proposed deal must include the removal of U.S. Jupiter missiles from Turkey. That same day a U.S. U–2 reconnaissance jet was shot down over Cuba. Kennedy and his advisors prepared for an attack on Cuba within days as they searched for any remaining diplomatic resolution. It was determined that Kennedy would ignore the second Khrushchev message and respond to the first one. That night, Kennedy set forth in his message to the Soviet leader proposed steps for the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba under supervision of the United Nations, and a guarantee that the United States would not attack Cuba. It was a risky move to ignore the second Khrushchev message. Attorney General Robert Kennedy then met secretly with Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, and indicated that the United States was planning to remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey anyway, and that it would do so soon, but this could not be part of any public resolution of the missile crisis.

The next morning, October 28, Khrushchev issued a public statement that Soviet missiles would be dismantled and removed from Cuba. The crisis was over but the naval quarantine continued until the Soviets agreed to remove their IL–28 bombers from Cuba and, on November 20, 1962, the United States ended its quarantine. U.S. Jupiter missiles were removed from Turkey in April 1963. The Cuban missile crisis stands as a singular event during the Cold War and strengthened Kennedy’s image domestically and internationally. It also may have helped mitigate negative world opinion regarding the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Two other important results of the crisis came in unique forms. First, despite the flurry of direct and indirect communications between the White House and the Kremlin—perhaps because of it—Kennedy and Khrushchev, and their advisers, struggled throughout the crisis to clearly understand each others’ true intentions, while the world hung on the brink of possible nuclear war.

In an effort to prevent this from happening again, a direct telephone link between the White House and the Kremlin was established; it became known as the “Hotline.” Second, having approached the brink of nuclear conflict, both superpowers began to reconsider the nuclear arms race and took the first steps in agreeing to a nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Cuban History: Bay of Pigs > Castro: When the people rule (January 21, 1959) On February 2, 1959, a U.S. citizen, Allen Mayer, is arrested in an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. On February 7, the Cuban Republic reinstates Cuba's Constitution of 1940 (which had been discarded by Gen. Batista after his military coup in 1952). On the 13th, Fidel Castro becomes the Prime Minister after Jose Miro Cardona resigns. On March 3, the Cuban government nationalizes the Cuban Telephone Company, an affiliate of ITT, and drastically reduces its enormous telephone rates. Two days later, former president Ramon Grau San Martin demands the U.S. military leave it's occupation of Cuba at the massive (116 sq.

km) Guantanomo naval base. The U.S. government refuses to leave it's military base in Cuba, but writes Cuba a check to forcefully "lease" the land for $2,000 a year. The Cuban government has never cashed a single one of those checks. Throughout the rest of the month, the price of medicine in Cuba is drastically reduced, while the Urban Reform Law lowers all rents by 30 to 50 percent. On March 26, another assasination plot against Fidel Castro is uncovered, planned by Ernesto De la Fe (Batista's Information Minister) and Rolando Masferre (Autentico Senator), who led his private army to fight the Cuban guerilla's in 1958; fleeing Cuba by the end of the year for Florida. On April 15-26, 1959, Prime Minister Fidel Castro travels to the United States on behalf of the new Cuban Republic, seeking to meet with U.S. President Eisenhower, but is refused, and permitted only a meeting with the vice president, Richard M. Nixon.

After the meeting, Nixon reports to Eisenhower that while Fidel Castro may deny it, he is a Communist, saying things like "democracy is more than just a word", that there can be no democracy where there is hunger, unemployment and injustice. At the United Nations, Castro explains that Cuba will take an independent position. By May 2nd, with encouragement by liberal senators and the majority of the U.S. public who views Cuba's revolution as a positive step forward, the United States signs a Point Four agreement with Cuba offering technical cooperation in the development of Cuba's agrarian reform program. On May 17, 1959, the Cuban government enacts its Agrarian Reform Law: distributing all farmlands over 1,000 acres to landless peasants and workers, and prohibiting foreign ownership of land  which had owned 75 percent of Cuba's most fertile land. The Cuban government buys all foreign owned land with 20 year fixed-term government bonds paying an annual interest rate of 4.5 percent (higher than most U.S. government bond rates at the time). Over 200,000 Cuban families own land for the first time in their lives as a result of the reform.

> Castro: On the promulgation of the Agrarian Law (May 17, 1959) Opposition in the U.S. grows as a result, and on June 5, Sen. George Smathers (Democrat of Florida) proposes an amendment to reduce the Cuban sugar quota. Six days later, the U.S. government officially protests the terms of compensation given to U.S. companies for the Cuban land they had occupied. U.S. landowners object that compensation is being granted in accordance to tax assessment rates, explaining that those tax rates had not been adjusted for 30 or 40 years, and thus did not depict the current value of the land. For decades this had been of tremendous advantage to the foreign landowners  not having tax rates updated meant paying taxes in terms of values 30 or 40 years old; i.e. increasingly lower tax rates with each passing year. Despite this, the Cuban government negotiates with foreign landowners and reaches agreements with landowners in Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Sweden. U.S. landowners refuse to sitdown for any negotiations.

By July, 1959, the CIA puts out a contract on Fidel Castro's life, with the order that he be killed within a year. While Castro is aware of the assassination being orchestrated from the United States, he does not plan nor attempt reprisals, but continues to attempt to find peace between Cuba and the United States. On July, 16, President Urrutia resigns and Osvaldo Dorticos Torrado becomes president. In August 10, at the behest of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo and General Batista, Dominican Republic radio broadcasts counter-revolutionary demands to the Cuban people that they overthrow their government through the use of mass arson and murder. The counter-revolutionary attempt miserably fails on the ears of every Cuban who hears of it, with a last ditch effort on the 13th ending when a Dominican C-47 lands in Cuba with arms and ammunition is seized, bringing the weak attempt to a complete halt.

On August 20, in order to help give electricity to more homes throughout Cuba (many Cuban people had never seen even a lightbulb), sales rates of the "Cuban Electric Company" monopoly (owned by the American Foreign Power Company) are reduced by 30 percent to make electricity more affordable. Through October 11 to 21, three covert raids by U.S. military aircraft bomb Cuban sugar mills in Pinar del Rio and Camaguey provinces. Cuba begins efforts to purchase airplanes for its defense, looking first to Britain, who agrees to enter negotiations for sales. Britain quickly withdraws from the negotiations after the U.S. learns of them and advises Britain otherwise. On Oct. 21, an aircraft raid on Havana kills two people and wounds 45 civilians in the streets. The next day, in Las Villas province, a U.S. military aircraft strafes a train full of passengers. In response, Cubans form a popular militia. On October 25, Camilo Cienfuego, leader of the Cuban revolutionary army, is tragically lost in a mysterious plane crash.

In January, 1960, Cuba expropriates 70,000 acres of land held by U.S. sugar companies, who refused to sell the land at any price, in an attempt to make up for the lowered quota that is damaging the nation's economy. This land includes 35,000 acres held by the powerful United Fruit Co., which had attained over 270,000 acres of Cuban land at the time. On January 12, U.S. government protests arrive in the form of U.S. military bombers camouflaged as counterrevolutionary Cuban aircraft. The bombers drop napalm bombs on oil refineries and the sugar cane fields of Cuba, burning 10 tons of sugar cane in Havana Province. On the 21st, four 100 pound bonds are dropped on Havana, causing extensive damage. On the 28th through the 29th, U.S. military aircraft bomb and severely wreck five sugar cane fields in Camaguey Province and three in Oriente Province. > Castro explains the bombings in an interview (January 20, 1960) Meanwhile, the majority of the U.S.

population is still in love with the Cuban revolutionaries, and their heroic struggle. Both Castro and Guevara are seen as romantic freedom fighters who beat unthinkable odds to establish freedom. The U.S. people are completely unaware of the secret war their government is waging against the Cubans, and the U.S. government quietly begins a propaganda campaign to turn U.S. workers' opinions on their head. On February 7, 1960, another air attack by covert U.S. military aircraft burns 30 tons of sugar cane and several sugar mills in Camaguey, as sabotage operations of sugar production and terrorism in urban areas continue. On February 13th the Cuban government, finds a nation not intimidated by U.S. economic threats and blockading, a nation that would would help Cuba recover from the extensive loss of life, and economic damage caused by U.S. bombings and terrorism. Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Anastas Mikoyan and Prime Minister Fidel Castro sign a trade agreement in which the Soviet Union agrees to purchase 5 million tons of sugar over a five-year period. The Soviet Union agrees to export to Cuba crude oil and petroleum products, as well as wheat, iron, fertilizers, and machinery.

They also provide Cuba with a $100 million loan at 2.5 percent interest. Meanwhile, on February 18, U.S. pilot Robert Ellis Frost is killed when his aircraft is shot down while attacking a sugar mill in Matanzas province. On the 23rd, several more air attacks are launched against sugar mills in Las Villas and Matanzas provinces. The Cuban government reaches out to the United States for peaceful negotiations on the 29th, with the condition that the United States cease the bombing campaigns which the U.S. continues to publicly and privately deny during negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (a stockholder and longtime legal adviser for the United Fruit Company, whose land had been purchased as a result of the Agrarian Reform Law), refuses all attempts to negotiate peace. In March, a $100 million loan, planned to be granted to Cuba by Western European banks, is canceled in response to U.S. threats. On March 4, the Coubre , a French freighter loaded with Belgian arms and ammunition, is blown up by a terrorist attack in Havana Harbor, killing over a hundred workers.

On March 8, an air attack burns more sugar cane in Pinar del Rio. On March 17, 1960, President Eisenhower approves a covert action plan to actively overthrow the Cuban Republic, guided by the CIA (the director of the CIA, Allen Dulles, is the brother of the Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. Allen also has ties to the United Fruit Company  he was once the president of the company). The plan begins with the creation of a military force, with the aim to invade and overthrow the Cuban government. In the meantime the plan calls for complete economic warfare: a termination of all sugar trade with Cuba, the end of all oil deliveries to Cuba, instructing all U.S. companies in Cuba to refuse to cooperate with the Cuban Government. Meanwhile, a continuation of the arms embargo through all means necessary and the campaign of terrorism will continue. Although the U.S. invasion plan is top-secret, by April Foreign Minister Raul Roa Garcia learns that troops are being trained by the United States in Guatemala to invade Cuba.

The Guatemalan government (which had been put into power by the CIA in June 1954, after the CIA overthrew the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, who was a Socialist with a plan to nationalise much of the nation's land, including vast tracks owned by the United Fruit Company) lies about their involvement and severs all diplomatic relations with Cuba. On April 4, Cuba readies a plan to exporpriate all Cuban land held by the United Fruit company, while on the same day a U.S. military aircraft flying from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo drops napalm bombs in the Oriente province. On May 7, 1960, Cuba establishes normal diplomatic relations with Soviet Union, which had been severed after General Batista's coup in 1952. On May 17, the CIA creates Radio Swan in Florida with the help of those loyal to Batista, a radio station broadcasting U.S. propaganda to the Cuban people to rise up and overthrow their own government. In June 7, when the first shipment of Soviet sold oil arrives, it finds not only that every oil refinery in Cuba is owned by the U.S.

companies Esso, Texaco and the British Shell, but that the companies are unilaterally ordered by the U.S. government to refuse to process Soviet oil; while at the same time all U.S. oil sold to Cuba is terminated. This act completely paralyzes the Cuban economy, unable to generate energy. On June 27, the U.S. Congress begins to push through an amended Sugar Act, which calls to eliminate Cuba's sugar quota in whole. Taking the only open option to avert catastrophy, Cuba nationalizes the Texaco oil refinery on June 29, and the Esso and Shell oil refineries on July 1. On July 3, 1960, the United States suspends trading sugar with Cuba through the Sugar Act, cutting off over 80 percent of Cuban exports to the United States, again crippling the Cuban economy. On July 5, Cuba attempts to recover from yet another staggering economic blow by nationalizing all U.S. businesses and commercial property. On the following day President Eisenhower cancels the 700,000 tons of sugar remaining in Cuba's quota for 1960, and threatens that military action against Cuba is imminent.

On July 8, the Soviet Union announces that it will purchase the 700,000 tons of sugar cutoff by the U.S.; while Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev explains that the Soviet Union will protect Cuba from a U.S. invasion force. At the U.N. General Assembly, Cuba replies that in the event of a U.S. invasion, Cuba "could have no other course than to accept this assistance with gratitude." On July 23, China agrees to buy 500,000 tons of sugar from Cuba annually for five years, at the world market price. > Castro on Facing U.S. Aggression (July 9, 1960) In August 8, 1960, Cuba nationalises all remaining U.S. industrial and agrarian held land in Cuba. A week later, on August 16, the CIA unsuccessfully launches another effort to assassinate Fidel Castro. In this attempt, members of the U.S. mafia are recruited to kill Castro for the CIA. In September, John Roselli is recruited by the CIA, who in turn recruits Chicago Mafia boss Momo Salvatore Giancana and Santo Trafficante Jr..

Santo introduces the new group to "very active" Cubans in Florida who are eager to return to the days of their lucrative gambling, drugs, and prostitution businesses in Cuba. In September, Cuban civilian militia mobilize for cleanup operations in the Escambray region of Las Villas Providence, against CIA funded counterrevolutionary groups operating there. The CIA groups are crushed by the civilian militia. On September 17, Cuba nationalizes all U.S. banks in Cuba (The First National Bank of Boston, First National City Bank of New York and Chase Manhattan). On September 19, Fidel Castro, attending the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly, stays in Harlem, where he meets Malcolm X. On September 26, Premier Castro addresses the U.N. General Assembly. Returning to Cuba on the 28th, Castro addresses a mass rally at Revolution Plaza  when terrorists detonate four bombs intended for Castro. The attempt is unsuccessful, and Castro continues speaking, now proposing the creation of Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Czechoslovakia sends military arms to Cuba for protection, primarily antiaircraft batteries, with technicians accompanying them.

> Castro on Establishing Revolutionary Vigilance in Cuba (September 29, 1960) On October 7, 1960, the United Nations is again informed by Foreign Minister Raul Roa Garcia that the CIA is training counterrevolutionaries in Guatemala for an invasion of Cuba. The United States agressively denies the allegations and the United Nations again dismisses the claim. On October 8-10, weapons caches dropped from a U.S. military aircraft are seized in Escambray and over 100 counter-revolutionaries are arrested. On the 13th, the delegate of the Cuban Republic's council in Miami, Abelardo Leon Blanco, is severely beaten and terrorized in broad daylight. On October 19, the United States imposes a full trade and economic embargo on Cuba excepting food and medicine. By this time, the Cuban government has converted former army barracks into over 10,000 new schools in both the cities and rural areas, a 200% increase in the number of Cuban schools for the past 20 years, achieved in a single year.

On October 15, 1960, Cuba enacts a program of urban reform, guaranteeing every worker home ownership. On October 31, Cuban Foreign Minister Raúl Roa, in an interview at the U.N. General Assembly, again reveals new information about a planned U.S. attack on Cuba, citing the training of Cuban exiles once loyal to Battista, now being indoctrinated and supplied by the U.S. military. U.S. President Eisenhower denies all. Four days previous, Eisenhower ordered the beginning of U-2 flights over Cuba to map out invasion plans. By this time Cuba has universally armed all of its workers, including women, for the defense of their country. On November 13, nearly half of the entire Guatemalan army, led by over 120 officers, rebels against the government of Miguel Fuentes. The soldiers, partly in solidarity with Cuba's revolution, object to the U.S. government using their country for an invasion of Cuba. The Guatemalan government is not able to crush the soldiers rebellion, and appeals to the United States government for assistance. The U.S.

government complies, thoroughly bombing the soldiers with B-26 bombers  piloted by Cuban exiles, whom the CIA is training for use against Cuba. To cover this action up, five days later President Eisenhower orders the U.S. Navy to Nicaragua and Guatemala to protect these countries from "Cuban aggression". On the 18th, the soon-to-be President Kennedy is briefed on plans for the invasion of Cuba. On January 1, 1961, Cuba launches a National Literacy Campaign, which within the span of the year reduces the rate of illiteracy in Cuba from 25 percent to 3.9 percent  setting an unprecedented standard throughout the underdeveloped world. On January 2, 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev lucidly tells a gathering at the Cuban embassy in Moscow: "Alarming news is coming from Cuba at present, news that the most aggressive American monopolists are preparing a direct attack on Cuba." A day later the United States severs diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. On January 7-9, weapon caches dropped by U.S. planes in Pinar del Rio and Ecambray are again ceased.

Days later, on the 14th, terrorists start a fire in the tobacco warehouses of Havana, causing severe damage. On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the president of the United States, defeating Richard Nixon with claims that he had not been tough enough on the world-wide spread of communism. Nixon had been the vice president of Eisenhower (the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, during World War II), their administration lasting from 1953-1960. Together they encouraged the Red Scare, purging hundreds of people from the government and imprisoning thousands of people who were suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party. Eisenhower had used the CIA to attack and overthrow the Iranian government in 1953 and in 1954 to overthrow the socialist government in Guatemala. In September of 1954, Eisenhower created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to ensure the stability of capitalism in Southeast Asia.

The administration had however signed a treaty agreeing not to attack China, and it's "only" involvement in the war in Indochina was to send weapons, supplies, and military strategists to the South Vietnamese (thereto supported militarily by the French). Kennedy had much more militaristic plans for communism, which was tearing asunder U.S. economic power throughout the world. In February, for the first time Castro explains Socialism is being built in Cuba. Shortly thereafter, the CIA makes yet another attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Castro, this time poisoning Castro's favorite Cuban cigars with botulism, a toxin so potent that its fumes are strong enough to kill. Furthermore, Col. Sheffield Edwards of the CIA delivers capsules containing the same toxin to his Mafia contact Roselli, to have sent to Castro. Both attempts fail. > Castro explains the nature of Socialism in Cuba (February 1, 1960) On March 11, terrorists destroy electrical plants in Havana, leaving a large part of Havana without electricity. Two days later, an oil refinery at the Santiago de Cuba port is attacked by terrorists. On April 3rd, the U.S.

State Department issues a White Paper on Cuba, explaining that Cuba is a Soviet satellite  dictating that if Cuba breaks off all ties with the Soviet Union the United States will aid such a "free" government; if Cuba chooses otherwise, the United States threatens that Cuba is "a clear and present danger to the authentic and autonomous revolution of the Americas." On April 7, the New York Times reports that "experts" have been training paramilitary groups for an invasion of Cuba in Guatemala, Florida and Louisiana. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union ushers the world into a new era when Yury Gagarin becomes the first human being in space. On the same day, U.S. President Kennedy directly responds to the allegations leaked into the New York Times, saying: First, I want to say that there will not be, under any conditions, an intervention in Cuba by the United States Armed Forces. U.S. Invasion of Cuba In the early morning of April 14, 1961, a squadron of U.S.

B-26 bombers camouflaged with Cuban insignias begin bombarding airports in Cuba in raids that would last for two days, destroying a large portion of the cuban airforce. Additional airstrikes to completely wipe out the air capabilities of Cuba are denied by Kennedy, to ensure the U.S. connection to the attacks remain secret, while world support already is begining to swing strongly in favor of Cuban defense. On April 16, shortly before midnight, U.S. frogmen land on Cuba's beaches in the Bay of Pigs and set up landing lights to guide the coming invasion. The invasion is sprearheaded by Brigade 2506, a group of 1200 Cubans, trained under U.S. military direction, supplied with U.S. armament and support. The Brigade is commanded by CIA agent Grayston Lynch and CIA operative William Robertson. In addition to having destroyed most of the Cuban Air Force days earlier, the invasion plan is for aerial attacks to destroy roads and bridges, ensuring the Cubans could not reach the Bay of Pigs before the counterrevolutionary soldiers got a foothold.

These air raids would be extended by CIA operatives who had already penetrated Cuba, ready to blow up several key bridges and roadways throughout Cuba. The overall victory condition was to be the creation of a new Cuban government under U.S. direction. In the early morning of April 17, the 2506 Brigade split up into six battalions of about 200 soldiers each, and began deploying. Two battalions landed at Playa Girón and one at Playa Larga, but even deployment would deny them. Coral reefs were their first enemy, delaying the landing several hours until the boats could navigate around the coral, lest it breach their ships' hulls. Two war vessels sank 80 yards from the Cuban shore as a result of poor navigational ability, the crews were rescued but some heavy equipment (artillery, heavy war munitions, etc.) were lost. Shortly before 3 a.m. on Monday morning, a civilian member of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution spots the U.S. warships, just yards off the Cuban shores. Less than 20 minutes later, the entire Cuban government is informed about the invasion, and their response is immediate.

Castro tirelessly coordinates defense of the island; first the civilian population is immediately alerted about the invasion: for the past months the Cuban government had begun an aggressive program of giving weapons to the entire Cuban population and training their people in basic military tactics to defend the island in case of invasion. Next, the remainder of the Cuban Air Force launches  within hours the outnumbered but daring Cubans achieve air superiority over the U.S. aircraft. The Cuban Air Force then flies over the U.S. invasion fleet, bombarding and sinking the fleet command vessel Maropa and the supply ship Houston. Cuban police hunt down and arrest CIA operatives before they can blow up any of their intended targets, and Cuban civilian and later military forces ferociously engage Brigade 2506. Diplomatic matters for the United States began going very poorly, very quickly. U.S. involvement in the invasion of Cuba was a direct violation of Article 2 and Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as Articles 18 and 25 of the Charter of the Organization of American States, and Article 1 of the Rio Treaty. On the day of the invasion, U.S.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk gives a press conference. The American people are entitled to know whether we are intervening in Cuba or intend to do so in the future, he said. The answer to that question is no. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Stevenson, now made aware of the U.S. involvement in the invasion that he had been instructed to deny days earlier, breaks ranks and publicly urges the United States to stop the attack. Soviet ambassador to the United Nations Zorin respondes by making it clear that Cuba is not alone today. Among her most sincere friends the Soviet Union is to be found. At 12:15, April 18, Kennedy receives a letter from Khrushchev: It is a secret to no one that the armed bands invading this country were trained, equipped and armed in the United States of America. The planes which are bombing Cuban cities belong to the United States of America, the bombs they are dropping are being supplied by the American Government.... It is still not late to avoid the irreparable.

The government of the USA still has the possibility of not allowing the flame of war ignited by interventions in Cuba to grow into an incomparable conflagration.... As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, there should be no mistake about our position: We will render the Cuban people and their government all necessary help to repel an armed attack on Cuba. > Khrushchev to Kennedy: End U.S. Aggression Against the Republic of Cuba (April 18, 1961) Kennedy blinks. All planned support by the U.S. Air Force is called off, and the 2506 Brigade is left stranded to fend for itself in Cuba. The battle was going poorly for the U.S. invaders, not able to gain an inch on the beach they had been deserted. In the face of utter defeat, Kennedy continues to maintain that the U.S. is not involved in the invasion. After two days of intense fighting, Kennedy momentarily reverses his previous decision with his stomach full of regret, and orders the U.S. Air Force to assist the invasion force in what way they can. Four American pilots are killed, shot down by people who months ago had known little more about the world than harvesting sugar.

> Khrushchev: Of What Freedom Are You Speaking? On the same day, April 19, 2:30 p.m., 2506 Brigade commander Perez San Roman transmites a final radio message from Brigade 2506: We have nothing left to fight with,  San Roman said, his voice breaking, how can you people [the U.S.] do this to us, our people, our country? Around 200 soldiers are killed in the fighting, while 1000 others are captured as prisoners of war. Among the prisoners are men who had previously owned in Cuba 914,859 acres of land, seventy factories, five mines, two banks and 10 sugar mills. In 72 hours, Cuba had won. The Cold War for Kids: Bay of Pigs The Cold War Bay of Pigs In 1961 the United States sent trained Cuban exiles to Cuba to try and overthrow Fidel Castro 's government. They failed miserably. The invasion is considered part of the Cold War because the United States was trying to prevent communism from taking hold in the Americas.

Bay of Pigs in Cuba Source: Zleitzen at Wikimedia Commons Before the Invasion Fidel Castro helped to lead the Cuban Revolution in overthrowing the existing government of Cuba in 1959. He was an ardent communist and was allied with the Soviet Union. This deeply concerned the United States as this gave communism and the Soviet Union a foothold in the Americas. The CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency, was tasked with overthrowing Fidel Castro's government in Cuba. There were many people from Cuba, called exiles, who had fled the country when Fidel Castro had become leader. The CIA began to train these exiles in guerrilla warfare. The idea was that they would sneak back into Cuba and begin a guerrilla war against Castro. They would gather others and eventually overthrow Castro. The plan changed, however. The new plan was help the exiles to invade the island. The hope was that locals would join forces with them and they would quickly take over. Planning the Invasion The invasion was originally planned to occur at the city of Trinidad, but President Kennedy thought that they needed a more secluded place. The Bay of Pigs was chosen instead. The idea was that planes would fly in first and destroy the air force.

Then the invasion force of 1500 soldiers would land. They hoped that the Cuban people would join them in rebelling against Castro. The CIA tried to plan the invasion in secret, however, too many people knew and word got out. The Cubans knew the invasion was coming. The Invasion The invasion occurred on April 17, 1961. It did not go well. Although the Cuban air force was damaged by early air strikes, there were still planes left to attack the invaders. Once the invasion started, it took too long for the troops and ammunition to get off the ships. Before the ammunition could be unloaded, Cuban planes sunk the invader's ships. Many of the paratroopers, who were supposed to slow down Castro's forces on the ground, landed at the wrong place or in the swamps. Soon the invaders were surrounded by a much larger force and were running out of ammunition. They tried to retreat, but most were eventually captured and put into prison. Results The results were disastrous for the United States. The government looked weak and the CIA inept. It also seemed to strengthen Castro's government within Cuba and caused him to look to the Soviet Union as a military ally.

Interesting Facts About the Bay of Pigs The Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA in the country of Guatemala. Jose Miro Cardona was set to become president of Cuba once Castro was overthrown. The invasion force was known as Brigade 2506. The invaders would have had a much better chance to escape into the hills if they had used the original landing site of Trinidad. However, they were surrounded by swamp at the Bay of Pigs and had nowhere to run. It is thought that some of the timing of the invasion got messed up due to people getting the time zones confused. Take a ten question quiz about this page. To learn more about the Cold War: Back to the Cold War summary page. Overview

Question: In what country did the Bay of Pigs invasion happen?
Answer: Cuba