The Bay of Pigs

The Bay of Pigs

In the annals of American military history, the Bay of Pigs stands among our most embarrassing blunders, one whose implications continue to reverberate long after the end of the Cold War—and even longer after the United States predicted the fall of Cuba’s Communist regime. In another superb entry in the Pivotal Moments in American History series, Howard Jones offers a concise and dramatic account of the Kennedy administration’s disastrous attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, and its humiliating aftermath.

In January 1959, as Castro entered Havana in triumph, many Americans hailed the homegrown revolutionary as a hero. The romance was short-lived, however, sharply curtailed by Castro’s increasingly anti-American rhetoric, the rise in his regime of the openly Marxist Che Guevara and the dictator’s youngest brother, Raul Castro, as well as by brazen seizures of American-owned assets. In little more than a year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, agreeing to a recommendation from the CIA, concluded that Castro had to go.

Jones deftly examines the train of missteps and self-deceptions that led to the invasion of U.S.-trained Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. Putting the operation into historical context, he shows us how the Eisenhower administration—ignoring stern warnings from the ambassador to Cuba—put in motion an operation that proved nearly unstoppable even after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1960. He also offers an incisive examination of the arrogance of the CIA and Pentagon, which both voiced confidence in the outcome of the invasion, especially after coordinating previous successful coups in Guatemala and Iran. And he points out the Agency’s political shortcomings as well, showing us how, as a vital part of the Cuban effort, the CIA sought to incite a popular insurrection by recruiting the Mafia’s help in engineering Castro’s assassination on the eve of the invasion. After laying this expert groundwork and bringing us to the moment the Kennedy administration launched the exile force toward its doom in Cochinos Bay on April 17, 1961, Jones gives a riveting account of the battle—and the confusion in the White House—before moving on to explore its implications. The Bay of Pigs, he writes, set the course of Kennedy’s foreign policy. It was a black mark for the administration that not only fueled fears of Communist domination and pushed Kennedy toward a hardline cold warrior stance, but also left the president deeply skeptical of CIA and military advisers, which clearly influenced his later actions during the Cuban missile crisis.

Richly researched, vividly written, The Bay of Pigs offers an engaging and thoughtful account of the turning point in Kennedy’s foreign policy, and indeed in foreign policy for decades to come.

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press ( August 01, 2008 )

Item #: 87-7599

ISBN: 9780195173833

Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 0.67 inches

Product Weight: 17.0 ounces