Bay of Pigs Invasion

 

 

Interesting videos dedicated to the Bay of Pigs invasion and its main participants.

The Cold War

Humorous drawing illustrating the Cold War

The Bay of Pigs invasion is a part of the Cold War...
The Cold War took place from 1945 to 1991. It was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States and powers in the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union. This began after the success of their wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. 

For further infomation about the Cold War, click here to see Megan Rollus's blog on the subject !

The Bay of Pigs invasion : political background

Political background 

Before being president of the USA, John F. Kennedy was a democratic senator from Massachusetts. He won the 1960 presidential election and had already some "enemies"...

First, the former president Eisenhower himself : Eisenhower always considered John Kennedy too young and inexperienced to be a serious president (He referred to him as "the boy" and "young whippersnapper"). When Kennedy won the election, Eisenhower considered it  as his own greatest defeat. He abhorred Kennedy's big spending as president and his passive response to the building of the Berlin Wall. He also called the new president's challenge to race the Russians to the moon a "stunt".

On March 1960, Eisenhower approved a program of covert action against the castro regime. The objective was presented as follows : to replace the Castro regime with one more devoted to the true interests of the Cuban people and more acceptable to the USA, in such a manner to avoid any appearance of US intervention. On August of the same year, Eisenhower approved a budget of $13 million for the operation. On November 1960, directors of the CIA briefed new president John Kennedy on the plans and Eisenhower persuaded him of their merit.

USA presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Than, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro : President John F. Kennedy stood against him in order to keep the United States safe. Looking into the Kennedy foreign policy towards Cuba demonstrates how he believed that Castro’s regime was a very important player in the Cold War. For some American people, Kennedy was obsessed with Castro : why would he waste his time focusing on the tiny island of Cuba? How would the world perceive the United States when they feared a dictator? Was it because they were so close to US soil? Or was removing Castro a way to show the USSR that he was in control?

Cuban leader Fidel Castro (left) and US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy (right)

The Bay of Pigs invasion : background information

Bay of Pigs invasion

The Bay of Pigs invasion was an action launched by the CIA to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion took place in April 1961, in southern Cuba (on the Bay of Pigs) and the American forces were actually composed of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA. 

The action was unsuccessful : the Cuban armed forces (trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations) defeated the invading combatants within three days, unfortunately for John Fitzgerald Kennedy who was on his first months of presidency…

A map of the famous Bay of Pigs, in Cuba

Title explanation

The main invasion took place at a Cuban beach named Playa Girón. The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, (although that is only a translation of the Spanish Bahía de Cochinos) which was a part of this beach.

This Cuba beach had been choosen because of its good port facilities, but also because it was closer to many existing counter-revolutionary activities, because it was had an easily defensible beachhead, and because it offered an escape route into the mountains.