The Bay of Pigs Paradox

[Gerry Down]

The way Kennedy oversaw the Bay of Pigs operation was to make it look like the U.S. was not involved. This is why he refused to provide air cover or U.S. troops.

So, if Kennedy was trying to deny U.S. involvement...

...why did he publicly take responsibility for the mess that ensued? Wasn't that admitting that the U.S. was involved?

[Walt Cakebread]

The way Kennedy oversaw the Bay of Pigs operation was to make it look like the U.S. was not involved. This is why he refused to provide air cover or U.S. troops.

So, if Kennedy was trying to deny U.S. involvement...

...why did he publicly take responsibility for the mess that ensued? Wasn't that admitting that the U.S. was involved?

.why did he publicly take responsibility for the mess that ensued? Wasn't that admitting that the U.S. was involved?

If he had not accepted responsibility for the BOP fiasco he would have been admitting that he was not in control of the CIA......

And in fact he was NOT in control of the CIA.....  But he couldn't afford to admit that in the cold war days.

AND....  JFK was Navy....  He had had been trained that he was responsible for anything that happened on his watch.   It was a matter of honor...to accept responsibility for the fiasco... ( even though he was not in fact responsible )...

[Gerry Down]

AND....  JFK was Navy....  He had had been trained that he was responsible for anything that happened on his watch.

What do you mean "his watch"? Kennedy and the USA were supposed to be a spectator on the side watching on as the cuban exiles attempted to invade and overthrow Castros regime.

The entire operation was supposed to have nothing to do with Kennedy and the CIA.

[Zeon Mason]

Agree with Walt AGAIN!  It makes sense given JFK was a man who could reason and although he was opposed to the Communist ideology as most Americans were, JFK was NOT an MIC puppet. He was a Nationalist Populist Classic (John Locke) Liberal. (IMO)

[Gerry Down]

If he had not accepted responsibility for the BOP fiasco he would have been admitting that he was not in control of the CIA......

How did it become known that the CIA was behind the Bay of Pigs operation? That was supposed to be a secret. The CIA and Kennedy were trying to give the impression to the world that the cuban exiles planned the whole operation all by themselves.

[Walt Cakebread]

How did it become known that the CIA was behind the Bay of Pigs operation? That was supposed to be a secret. The CIA and Kennedy were trying to give the impression to the world that the cuban exiles planned the whole operation all by themselves.

Gerry, There is a story as big and convoluted as the assassination behind the BOP......  There is no quick and easy answer to the question.

But surely you can understand that JFK would have been telling the whole wide world that he was a captain that did not have control of his ship.......And his ship was being controlled by cutthroat pirates (CIA) if he hadn't taken responsibility for the BOP fiasco.

You may be surprised to learn that JFK DID NOT sanction the BOP operation.....   He knew the CIA had planned the operation while Eisenhower and Nixon were at the helm..... and the operation was a violation of international law and several non aggression agreements.  JFK opposed the operation was adamantly against the use of any US military in the operation.   JFK strictly prohibited the use of US military in the operation.

The CIA had a plot that they thought would sucker JFK into committing US military forces. That plot was a carbon copy of Hitler's scheme to declare war on Poland in September of 1939.....A Plot which ignited WWII.

The CIA had no qualms about killing a few US Marine sentries at Gitmo...and making it appear that those young Marines had been killed by Castro's forces....   Had that plot succeeded JFK would have been furious at the attack on a US Naval base,  and the deaths of the Marine sentries, and he would undoubtedly  have ordered a retaliation strike.    And that would have destroyed Castro's military  strength and the Cubans under control of the CIA would have easily established a base at BOP. 

[Gerry Down]

Apparently, and you don't hear this too much, but the U.S. army did send aircraft into the airspace near Cuba in an attempt to intimiate Castro:

From the "Bay of Pigs" Wikipedia page:

Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from the USS Essex flew sorties over combat areas during the invasion to reassure brigade soldiers and pilots and to intimidate Cuban government forces without directly engaging in acts of war.

Consequently, Kennedy had bizarrely demonstrated that the U.S. was involved even though the plan initially was to try and deny U.S. involvement. It sounds like Kennedy had no idea what he was doing.

[Walt Cakebread]

Apparently, and you don't hear this too much, but the U.S. army did send aircraft into the airspace near Cuba in an attempt to intimiate Castro:

From the "Bay of Pigs" Wikipedia page:

Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from the USS Essex flew sorties over combat areas during the invasion to reassure brigade soldiers and pilots and to intimidate Cuban government forces without directly engaging in acts of war.

Consequently, Kennedy had bizarrely demonstrated that the U.S. was involved even though the plan initially was to try and deny U.S. involvement. It sounds like Kennedy had no idea what he was doing.

Apparently you're unaware that the USS ESSEX  is a NAVY  vessel...not ARMY......

But the "Blue Raiders" from the ESSEX,  flying the Douglas Skyhawks OFF THE COAST of CUBA were under strict orders NOT TO invade Cuban airspace and they were not to fire on any Cuban aircraft unless they were fired at.....  And Casto's pilots were smart enough to know they would have been committing suicide if they fired at the American Navy Fighters......