Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful effort by the United States of America to bring Castro's dictatorship in Cuba to an end and Kennedy was mainly responsible for the failure.
The 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion is renowned worldwide as a failed attempt of United States government to invade Cuba with the help of Cuban exiles. It was on April 17th of the stated year that an armed force of Cuban exiles (more or less 1500 in number) entered in the territory of Bay of Pigs (Bahia de Cochinos) located on Cuba's southern coast. Those Cuban exiles had been given training by CIA members under the consent of the Eisenhower government. The main reason behind this plan was to stir up a rebellion and civil disobedience in Cuban land so that the Communist government of Fidel Castro could be brought to an end. However, the intentions and attempts of the…...
mlaReferences
Bay of Pigs Invasion from The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. (n.d.). Questia. Retrieved August 7, 2013, from http://www.questia.com/read/1E1-BayPigsI/bay-of-pigs-invasion
Dallek, R. (2011, August 29). The Untold Story of the Bay of Pigs. Newsweek, 158 (09), 26. Retrieved August 7, 2013, from http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-264929904/the-untold-story-of-the-bay-of-pigs
Kornbluh, P. (1998, April 27). Beyond the Bay of Pigs: The Military No Longer Considers Cuba a Threat. Isn't It Time We Acted Accordingly?. The Nation, 266 (15), 25+. Retrieved August 7, 2013, from http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-20525069/beyond-the-bay-of-pigs-the-military-no-longer-considers
LaFeber, W. (1986, April 19). Lest We Forget the Bay of Pigs; the Unlearned Lessons. The Nation, 242, 537+. Retrieved August 8, 2013, from http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-4211099/lest-we-forget-the-bay-of-pigs-the-unlearned-lessons
This is the description that Blight and Kornbluh provide about the failed air support, which is proven, by their research, to have been promised, but was called back (Blight and Kornbluh 167).
16 April: At about midday, President Kennedy formally approves the landing plan and the word is passed to all commanders in the operation. Assault shipping moves on separate courses toward the objective area. At 9:30 PM, McGeorge Bundy telephones General Cabell to tell him that the dawn air strikes the following morning should not be launched until planes can conduct them from a strip within the beachhead. Bundy indicates that any further consultation with regard to this matter should be with the secretary of state. At 10:15 PM, General Cabell and Richard Bissell go to Secretary Rusk's office. Rusk tells them he has just been talking to the president on the phone and recommended that the Monday morning…...
mlaWorks Cited
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105514152
Blight, James G., and Peter Kornbluh, eds. Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999. Questia. 8 June 2008 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105514154 .
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002277509
Hawkins, Jack. "Classified Disaster: The Bay of Pigs Operation Was Doomed by Presidential Indecisiveness and Lack of Commitment." National Review 31 Dec. 1996: 36+. Questia. 8 June 2008 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002277509 .
By the end of the year, United States wished to look for another person to replace Fulgencio Batista. It is also thought that Batista was suggested that the CIA should assassinate Fidel Castro but Batista rejected the offer (Hugh Thomas, p.30). The then Director of CIA, after Castro took over stated verified that Castro was not inclined towards Communism and that any American intervention before the takeover or at present would serve to be "counterproductive" (CIA Memoranda for the Director, p.3). Later on in February 1959, the Director of CIA informed the then President of the United States, Eisenhower that Castro was introducing Communist ideas and that his government had started to function with Communists infiltrating all sectors of the Cuban government. hile America withheld its policy of not intervening, it was observed that Latin Americans "tend to believe that the United States overemphasized Communism as a threat to…...
mlaWorks Cited
1) Hugh Thomas - "The U.S. And Castro, 1959-1962," American Heritage (October - November 1978).
2) Central Intelligence Agency: Memoranda for the Director (Washington, Office of National Estimates, 1961)
3) Stephen Rabe - "The Johnson (Eisenhower) Doctrine for Latin America." Diplomatic History (Winter 1985).
4) Jack Hawkins - Article Title: Classified Disaster: The Bay of Pigs Operation Was Doomed by Presidential Indecisiveness and Lack of Commitment. Magazine Title: National Review. Volume: 48. Issue: 25. Publication Date: December 31, 1996.
One of the best points is brought forth by Higgins, who writes that an estimated force of 1500 men were sent to take on no less than 25,000 Cubans (Higgins 1987). "In the end, of approximately 1300 men who actually landed on the beaches from the Brigade, almost 1200 were captured and about 100 killed in combat (Higgins 149). The Brigade, if they failed, were expected to escape into the protected areas that connected to the Bay of Pigs; when in fact those areas, the conditions of the terrain, the poor training and preparation of the Brigade, made such escape impossible (Higgins 149).
Years later, declassified papers and tapes from the hite House would lend insight into the fiasco, but not clarity. One thing that was evidenced from the hite House tapes is that the Bay of Pigs continued to be a source of humiliation and annoyance to President Kennedy (Lawrence…...
mlaWorks Cited www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105514152
Blight, James G. And Peter Kornbluh, eds. 1999. Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105514456 .
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24098536
Chomsky, Noam. 1993. Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War, and U.S. Political Culture. Boston: South End Press. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24098683 .
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105410509
This entity follows the California Clean Air Act and the Federal Clean Air Act so that it is responsible for air monitoring, permitting, enforcement, long-range air quality planning, regulatory development, and education and public information activities with regard to air pollution.
A more recent concern has developed as the first cruise ship to enter Monterey ay since 1966 caused environmental groups to demand increased protection for marine sanctuaries and to increase regulation of the cruise ship industry. The water around Monterey ay has also been affected by sewage spills at local beaches, leading to viral and bacterial contamination. In 2000, four Monterey County beaches were closed because of sewage spills, and twenty-five warning advisories were issued. In 2001, there was one beach closure and eleven advisories. It has also been found that there is inadequate storm pipe maintenance in cities on the Monterey peninsula.
The California Ground Squirrel is a large…...
mlaBibliography
Burde, John H. And George a. Feldhamer. Mammals of the National Parks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Environmental Impact Analysis." San Benito County 2005 RTP EIR (2005).
Castillo, Edward D. A Short Overview of California Indian History (1998). http://www.nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html .
Cato, Paisley. "Spermophilus beecheyi." San Diego Natural History Museum (2007), http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/mammals/sper-bee.html .
A year later, Soviet's premier in collaboration with Cuba installed nuclear missiles on the Cuban island, a few miles from the U.S. This decision triggered the Missile Crisis in Cuba and many global leaders feared the possibility of a nuclear war (Blight & Kornbluh, 2007).
Focalism / focusing illusion played a part in this failure
As evidenced above, Kennedy's reign offers potent examples of the psychological theory about flawed focusing illusion (group decision-making). Because the group culture overruled the internal agreement, members became unrealistic. In this case, the products of focusing illusions played a part in the failure of the invasion. President Kennedy's poor decision-making practices led to insufficient solutions to the issues of the invasion. Because the president and his advisors limited their discussions to few alternative courses of action, they disregarded further consideration of alternatives, which could have been worthy to the course. The team ignored all viable solutions…...
mlaReferences
Blight, J.G., & Kornbluh, P. (2007). Politics of illusion: The Bay of Pigs invasion reexamined. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner Pub.
Craughwell, T.J., & Phelps, M.W. (2008). Failures of the presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and war in Iraq. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press.
Higgins, T. (2009). The perfect failure: Kennedy, Eisenhower, and the CIA at the Bay of Pigs. New York: Norton
In this Kennedy appeared to be following up on his anti-Communist speech with anti-Communist actions. but, the level of actual commitment was clearly not there. Kennedy had the entire United States military at his disposal. All he had to do was use them. but, clearly, he did not have the stomach to follow it all the way through. Kennedy wanted to appear strong but did not want to have to be strong - image meant everything.
Operation Mongoose continued the entire Cuban situation. It relied upon covert use of the CIA to make any and all attempts necessary to overthrow the Cuban government. On the heels of the Bay of Pigs failure, Kennedy attempted another poorly conceived attempt to rid himself of Castro. The operation essentially failed before it could possibly begin. Time after time, plans were brought out to be replaced by others. And those plans were impossibly strange…...
mlaReferences
LeFeber, Walter. America, Russia and the Cold War: 1945-2002. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Merrill, Dennis & Paterson, Thomas G Major Problems in American Foreign Relations: Since 1914. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
United tates and Fidel Castro's Cuba, now more than forty years old, is still a source of great political and moral contention. The collapse of the oviet Union and, with it, the end of the Cold War, signaled a change in the implications of the type of socialism governing Cuba. The alleged threats that had hovered so close to the continental U.. throughout these paranoid and dangerous days of ideological impasse were now neutralized by the dismantling of the infrastructure that had brandished them. Cuba, once a unique and remote ally to the U...R., served as an outpost for anti-American hostilities and a potential vessel through which to deliver the devastating blows that may have turned the Cold War hot, now is an isolated bastion for ideals abandoned by most of the world. In the Western Hemisphere, they are alone, paying for what most American citizens will tell you…...
mlaSources can be found and printed at the following sites:
Source 1. http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/cuba/policy.html
Source 2. http://travel.state.gov/cuba.html
Source 3. http://qbanrum.tripod.com/cuba-1.html
Cuban Missile Crisis
There are two views, as with any conflict or issue, on the reasons and reactions of the major players in the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place at the end of October 1962. The crisis pitted two world powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, against each other in what many describe as the closest the world has come to World War III and a nuclear holocaust.
In order to understand the Crisis, it is important to first understand the events leading up to the crisis. This paper examines the background of the crisis from the Cuban/Soviet point-of-view in depth. Toward the end of the paper, the United States' perspective of the crisis is discussed with regard to what is described previously from the perspective of supporters of the Castro regime and the now collapsed Soviet Union.
ackground
After the devastation that the bombs left in Japan at the end…...
mlaBibliography
Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," 20 November 1975. The National Security Archives. 147.
Bay of Pigs: Forty Years After," Chronology, National Security Archives (Cuban Problems 11 December 1959), 24 June 2004. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html .
Bay of Pigs." Cuban History: Missile Crisis. Marxists.org. 25 June 2003. http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/subject/missile-crisis/index.htm .
Crisis de Octubre: Cronologia." Informe Especial: 1960 and 1961. Centro de Estudios Sobre America.
Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba although they had made a promise to the U.S. that they would not (Chayes). hen the U.S. discovered the construction of missile launching sites, President John F. Kennedy publicly denounced the Soviet actions, demanding that they remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba.
hen this did not work, Kennedy imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, threatening that the U.S. Days would meet any missile launched from Cuba with a full-scale retaliatory attack later, Soviet ships carrying missiles to Cuba went home. Khrushchev soon agreed to dismantle the missile sites. The U.S. ended its blockade within a month, and shortly after, all missiles and bombers were removed from Cuba.
Introduction
In 1962, the United States, the Soviet Union and the rest of the world came…...
mlaWorks Cited
Brugioni, Dino A. Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside story of the Cuban Missile
Chayes, A. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Oxford University Press, 1974.
Crisis. Random House, 1991.
Hersh, Seymour. The Dark Side of Camelot. Little, Brown & Company, 1998.
American President John F. Kennedy's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis played an important role in averting nuclear war between the Soviets and Americans. hile critics (often rightly) accuse Kennedy of making mistakes, including creating the conditions for the crisis in his mismanagement of the Bay of Pigs, his overall performance during the crisis was helpful. Kennedy's choice to avoid a military attack on Cuba was especially important, as was his decision to negotiate diplomatically with Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev.
JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was sparked by American president John F. Kennedy's discovery that the Soviet Union had nuclear missiles in nearby communist Cuba. President Kennedy learned of the buildup of nuclear weapons, which included the installation of offensive nuclear missiles, on October 16th, 1962. At that date, the Soviet Union's nuclear missiles in Cuba were just 90 miles from U.S. territory, and the…...
mlaWorks Cited
Blanton, Thomas S. The Cuban Missile Crisis: 40 Years Late. Washingtonpost.com with Thomas S. Blanton, Executive Director, National Security Archive. Washingtonpost.com,
Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002; 11 a.m. ET. Accessed October 26, 2005.
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/02/sp_world_blanton101602.htm
Dyer, Gwynne. The Enigma of John F. Kennedy, 10 November 2003. Accessed October 26,
6. p. 8 -- When Joseph Kennedy made an enemy of FDR, he made an enemy of J. Edgar Hoover. This is important because Hoover intensely disliked John F. Kennedy, and this may partly explain it.
7. p. 92 -- reporters noticed that Kennedy was spending a lot of money in state primaries but could not prove vote fraud. This was a recurring pattern in Kennedy's campaign to get elected.
8. p. 06 -- Kennedy apparently did have an affair with Marilyn Monroe. Although it was well-known among a number of people, only rumors made it into the media.
9. p. 42 -- the Chicago Mafia helped get Kennedy elected president. This shows that politics, including Kennedy politics, were still quite corrupt by this election.
0. p. 203 -- "Taking out" Castro was always a part of the "Bay of Pigs" invasion plan. This at least partly explains why Castro's Cuba was so intensely…...
mla16. p. 326 -- Jacqueline was John Kennedy's second wife; he was married briefly to Durie Malcolm, a socialite. The family used its connections to remove records of the marriage from the Palm Beach County, Florida, courthouse.
17. p. 343 -- Kruschev knew about the Kennedy's plans to outs and/or assassinate Castro, and it was an important factor in Russia's choice to put missiles in Cuba. This demonstrates that what the public has been told about the Cuban missile crisis is a sanitized and incomplete version.
Hersh, Seymour M. The Dark Side of Camelot. New York: Little, Brown Y Co., 1997.
Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union." (ThinkQuest Team, 1) This provides us with an imperative to undermine Khrushchev's conceptions either that we are indecisive or that we are unwilling to make the sacrifices implicated by a full-scale confrontation with the Soviets.
On the other hand, we must also strike a balance whereby these sacrifices are not necessary. Ultimately, it is our full understanding that the distinctions in the arms race between our tactical long-term abilities and superior stock of weapons and the Soviet Union's decidedly less capable and smaller stock do not constitute…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Divine, R.A. (1988). The Cuban Missile Crisis. Markus Wiener Publishers.
Dobbs, M. (2008). One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Bring of Nuclear War. Random House.
Global Security (GS). (2008). Cuban Missile Crisis. Globalsecurity.org.
Paz, J.V. (1995). The Socialist Transition in Cuba: Continuity and Change in the 1990s. Social Justice, 22.
" he spectacular effect achieved by the Russians therefore had a significant effect upon the minds of citizens around the globe (Dick, March 24).
he financial and political implications of the Apollo program became significant once the president made the decision to commit the United States to a Lunar landing. It was important to the president to set a goal that his country had a good chance of achieving before the Soviet Union. After a definite decision for the launch of the project was made, further important issues of politics and financing became deciding factors in the growth and development of the program.
he decision proved to be sound if the reaction of the nation could be used as a measure of effectiveness. he American imagination was captured, and they lent overwhelming support for Kennedy's decision to sponsor the moon landing. In the eyes of the nation, difficulty, expense and complication were…...
mlaTranscript of Presidential Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Topic: Supplemental appropriations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 21 November 1962.
Webb, James E. Letter to President Kennedy. October 29, 1962. NASA History
http://history.nasa.gov/JFK-Webbconv/pages/james-letter.pdf .
S. wanted Europe to respect its boundaries, but had no intention of respecting Europe's:
Imagine, Mr. President, what if we were to present to you such an ultimatum as you have presented to us by your actions. How would you react to it? I think you would be outraged at such a move on our part. And this we would understand…Our ties with the Republic of Cuba, as well as our relations with other nations, regardless of their political system, concern only the two countries between which these relations exist. And, if it were a matter of quarantine as mentioned in your letter, then, as is customary in international practice, it can be established only by states agreeing between themselves, and not by some third party. Quarantines exist, for example, on agricultural goods and products. However, in this case we are not talking about quarantines, but rather about much more serious…...
mlaWorks Cited
Kennedy, Robert. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. NY: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1999. Print.
"Khruschev Letter to President Kennedy." Web. 10 Nov 2011.
Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-
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