With the chaos of November now behind and the opinion of America starting to swing in favor of Kennedy, he began to look outwards. The ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union was continuing to heat up as Cuban dictator Fidel Castro continued to swing closer and closer to a Marxist-Leninist style of rule. It had been a few weeks after taking office that Kennedy was told of the CIA's plan to overthrow Castro with a force of Cuban Exiles, known as Brigade 2506. The invasion was to be launched using exclusively the exiles in order to drive away any accusations of a United States attack against the new Cuban government. Secretary of State William Fulbright was heavily opposed to the plan, stating "The Castro regime is a thorn in the flesh. But it is not a dagger at the heart."
Kennedy was torn. While his chief foreign policy advisor was talking against the plan, Kennedy has publicly promised to Senator Byrd and the other Dixiecrats that he would not seek any form of appeasement to the Soviets. Not only was he against appeasement after his study of appeasement to the Nazis during his college years, the President also was worried that if a leak got out that he went back on his word he could potentially face a segregationist primary challenge in 64' at best and Articles of Impeachment at worst.
The original plan which involved 1,000 men landed in a ship-borne invasion at Trinidad, Cuba, about 270 km south-east of Havana, at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains in Sancti Spiritus province. Kennedy authorized the active departments to continue and to report progress. That scheme was subsequently rejected by the State Department because the airfield there was not large enough for B-26 bombers and, since B-26s were to play a prominent role in the invasion, this would destroy the façade that the invasion was just an uprising with no American involvement. Kennedy rejected Trinidad, preferring a more low-key locale. Kennedy finally agreed to the plan when it settled on a landing at the beaches surrounding the Bahía de Cochinos, translated to English as the Bay of Pigs.
The location of the planned invasion
Secretary Fulbright continued to protest to the President his strong reservations against the plan, as he figured it was impending disaster. The President officially authorized the plan on April 4th. Less than three months after his inauguration the controversially elected executive was undertaking his most ambitious project yet. He had ran as an aggressive anti-Communist, he swore to the Southern Cause that he would be an anti-Communist, and now John F Kennedy was being an anti-Communist.
Under cover of darkness, the invasion fleet set sail from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and headed towards the Bay of Pigs on the night of 14 April. The next day, Douglas B-26 Invaders deceptively marked as aircraft of the
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, or FAR, launched airstrikes against Cuban airbases with the goal of annihilating Cuba's air fleet. They were then to fly into the United States and land, claiming to be defectors of the Castro Regime taking up arms against the government. They split up to bombard three different airbases all near Havanna. At Santiago, the two attackers destroyed a C-47 transport, a PBY Catalina flying boat, two B-26s and a civilian DC-3 plus various other civilian aircraft. At San Antonio, the three attackers destroyed three FAR B-26s, one Sea Fury and one T-33, and one attacker diverted to Grand Cayman because of low fuel. Aircraft that diverted to the Caymans were seized by Great Britain since they were suspicious that the Cayman Islands might be perceived as a launch site for the invasion. At Ciudad Libertad, the three attackers destroyed only non-operational aircraft such as two P-47 Thunderbolts. One of the aircraft from the Ciudad Libertad attacks was heavily damaged by enemy anti-air fire, going down just North of Cuba. Both of it's crewmen were lost.
One deception flight was also undertaken that night, with the aircraft having parts of it deliberately shot up by the CIA and landing at Miami International Airport claiming to be Cuban defectors. This action was a success in making the rest of the world believe the invasion of part of a Cuban-only plot against the Castro regime. However, the airstrikes had almost nothing to show in material success as few Cuban aircraft had actually been destroyed. To President Kennedy and the CIA the Cuban air force had been obliterated, but to Castro the Imperialists had barely harmed his great Socialist air forces.
The next morning the Cuban delegation to the United Nations was infuriated, accusing the United States of air strikes against his nation. US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson insisted that it was solely Cuban defectors taking up arms against the government, a claim which he actually believed as the CIA had given him false information about their involvement in the strikes. Stevenson stated the United States armed forces were not currently undertaking action in Cuba in any way.
At midnight on April 17th, Brigade 2506 arrived in the Bay of Pigs on four large transport ships as well as a few small boats carrying CIA trained "Frogmen" teams tasked with surveying the beachhead and establishing a landing zone. The four main transports began onloading hundreds of troops as well as dozens of M41 Walker Bulldog tanks. The frogmen neutralized several militiamen patrolling the beach in a jeep before they could radio for backup, allowing the troops to begin unloading undetected. It was when the exiles began assaulting the token militia forces nearby that the Communist troops were able to radio for backup. They couldn't even finish unloading when FAR aircraft began pounding their transport vessels. The CIA soon realized Castro's air force was still intact after all.
President Kennedy was filled with dread when he learned of the failure to neutralize the Communist air force with the strikes. He saw the Impeachment Articles flash before his eyes as he was marched to the meeting room with top military advisors. Several things were clear, the popular uprising against Castro believed to begin with the invasion failed to materialize, the Cuban air force was still operational, and the Brigade would likely not survive a counterattack by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces without American assistance. This left John with three main options:
1. Hold back all American support and allow for the invasion to fail but avoid World War 3.
2. Provide air support for the Brigadists and risk World War 3
3. Launch an all out invasion of Cuba and risk World War 3
With the sake of humanity in mind, Kennedy had to go through with number 1. His decision was confirmed when he received a telegram from Nikita Khrushchev threatening total nuclear annihilation of the United States if American troops entered Cuba. The President gave a televised speech where he confirmed American forces would not enter Cuba in any way.
With potential American involvement out of the way, Fidel Castro was free to do as he pleased with the "Imperialists" invading his island.
A Cuban T-34-85 during the FAR counterattack, April 18th 1961
Although heavily outnumbered, the Brigadists fought valiantly. Dozens of Revolutionary Militia were cut down by the CIA-trained exiles but there was simply too many. Ammo started to run low, and the exiles rapidly began surrendering. It wasn't to say without a decent amount of victories, as the M41 tanks were able to chew through Cuban T-34 tanks lensed from the Soviets. But the shells weren't enough. And the air support wasn't there. Over 1,000 exiles were taken captive by Castro. By April 20th, it was over, and Kennedy had failed. He had bet his cards, and lost.
President John F. Kennedy, ruling without popular mandate, had had his worst foreign policy blunder only three months into his administration. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the United States had a hand to play in the invasion, and that hand was Kennedy's. He braced himself for the tabloids.
In Cuba, Castro was more popular than ever. He had decisively defeated a "Capitalist Invasion" and declared his nation officially Marxist-Leninist. He immediately began making overtures to the Soviet Union. Now the world was waiting. Kennedy had failed his first major test as President, but he immediately began planning to strike back at Communism and revive the image of the United States.
