Bay Of Pigs

Endorsed by President Eisenhower, constructed by the CIA and modeled after a successful ousting of the Guatemala dictator Arbenz, the Bay of Pigs was a United States military covert operation in an attempt to usurp the Communist President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. The United States was to find and train a small Cuban invasion force in hopes the coup d'`etat would look as if a small independent revolutionary group acted alone. So the U.S. would have international deniability of involvement, in order not to evoke any action by a Cuba ally country, mainly the Soviet Union. The covert operation was a fiasco, later described by the CIA as "a perfect failure."

In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the incumbent Cuban President Batista. He did so with a small regime called Sierra Maestra. The United States had mixed feelings about the new President. Mixed because they were unsure whether or not Castro would choose to continue with Cuba's communist government. If he chose to do so, the U.S. believed he would be an ally to the Soviet Union, which would be dangerous toward our national security. If military action became necessary to deal with the Soviets then Cuba being an ally to them would be a detriment to us because of how geographically close to us they were. A perfect spot to launch offensive military strikes on U.S. soil. Castro's government ambiguity became clear when he confiscated U.S. controlled land in Cuba, and shut down operating U.S. businesses. Eisenhower believed it was time to do something; he gave carte-blanche to the CIA to develop a plan which would result in removing Castro from power.

The CIA decided to model the coup after a similar one executed to success down in Guatemala. The CIA found and trained approximately 1300 Cuban exiled refugees for over a year's time. The U.S. wanted deniability of involvement; it had to look like an independent military group acted on their own accord. There was a problem, Eisenhower was leaving office and the next President might not sign off on the operation. Only part came to pass, Eisenhower left the White House before the "invasion" began, and Kennedy came into office.

During the 1960 Presidential Campaign Kennedy had criticized Eisenhower's lack of action concerning Castro. After he was elected, Kennedy was briefed by the Joint Chiefs Committee