On April 17, 1961, approximately 1300 members of a CIA-supported counter-revolutionary exile force landed on Cuban beaches, initiating a military action that quickly ended in failure and a debacle for President John Kennedy, three months into his presidency, although the operation had been planned under outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower. As with the "Titanic" sinking, the "bay of Pigs" became a prototype (in the Media and in standup routines) of folly. And the planning of :The Bay of Pigs" operation became a prototype of ASTRATEGY.
Forces under command of Fidel Castro, rbeling against Cuban dictor General Fulgencio Batista, entered Havana on Jan. 1, 1959, completing overthrow of the government. (This event is the climax of the 1974 film, "Godfather. Part II".)The Communist policies of the new government threated profits and land holdings of American businesses. President Einsehower and foreign policy advisers became convinced that this Cuba government should be replaced, by any means neceeary. On March 17, 1960, Eisenhower authorized a Central Intelligence Agency plan, "A Program of Action Against the Castro Regime", to "bring about Castro regime ... in such a manner as to avoid the appearance of U. S. intervention."
This CIA plan derivd from a successful 1954 overthrowing of Gauatemala "leftist" President Jacobo Arbenz, which had been disgfuised as an independent invasion under exiled military officer, Carlos Armas. This, combined with etensive radio propaganda, and small but intimidating aerial bombing og Guatemala City, drove Arbenz from office.
The Cia now trained a force of Cuban exiles and created anti-Castro radio broadcasting, primarily from a station on very small Swan Island, off Honduras. Coming into officeon Jan. 1, 1961, President John Kennedy was faced with an operation that could not now be prevented, but was asured of its successful nature.
But Adlai Stevenson -- 1952 Democratic candidate for Presidency, defeated by Einsenhower) -- now U. S. Ambassor to The United Nations, had not been advised of this plan. So, on April 15, 1961, when the Cuban Government complained that planes attacking Duba had U. S. support, Stevenson emphatically denied this and pointed to Cuban markings on the planes as evidence that the planes belonged to the Cuban Air Force. Later, Stevenson became angry upon leaning that he had been used to put forth the CIA cover story. This deniabity debacle further undermined the credibility of the U. S. Government for many years after.
Bahia de Cochonos (Bay of Pigs) is a tiny island ib the inlet bordered on the east by Peninsula de Zapata, in the southeatern part of Cuba, When exile troops landed here, Castro took personal command, mobilizing military and militia and Air Force units. Many Cuban planes had been downed in air strikes preceding the invasion. The remaining few Cuban planes succeeded in destroying exile ships off the beach to supply the invaders. Cut off from supplies, running out of ammunination, exile troops struggled for a few days, but were killed or captured. 114 of the brigade were killed, and 1,189 became Cuban prisoners.Of necessity, President Kennedy admitted U. S. support of the invading exile brigade. One historian labeled this operation "the perfect failure".
Future consequences were the 1962 "Cuban Missile Crisis", which was "successfully" handled by President Kennedy, and the presence of "Bay of Pigs" participants in the "Watergate Breakin" of June 17, 1972, which eventually resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.