Bay of Pigs Invasion

Background and planning

On 17 March 1960 President Eisenhower approved a covert-action program to remove the Castro government. The plan was to support guerrilla struggle by counter-revolutionary forces inside Cuba, with an initial budget of $4.4 million that grew to $45 million by the time of the invasion. In autumn 1960 the CIA concluded that guerrilla warfare alone could not produce an uprising and shifted to a sea-borne landing. On 28 January 1961 Kennedy was briefed on the Trinidad landing plan (Operation Pluto) and asked for a less conspicuous site; on 4 April he approved the Bay of Pigs plan (Operation Zapata).

Course of the operation

After air strikes on 15 April 1961, the force that sailed from Guatemala and Nicaragua landed on 17 April at Playa Girón and Playa Larga. Cuban troops counter-attacked under José Ramón Fernández, with Castro later taking personal command. The landing force surrendered within days and some 1,200 were taken prisoner.

Outcome and significance

On 21 April 1961 Kennedy publicly accepted responsibility, saying "I'm the responsible officer of the Government". The United States then pursued Operation Mongoose, and Allen Dulles and Richard Bissell were forced out by early 1962. The CIA Inspector General's October 1961 report cited poor planning, inadequate intelligence and staffing problems, and a task-force meeting of 15 November 1960 had already judged the concept unachievable, a judgment not shared with Kennedy. In July 1962, after the failure, Khrushchev secretly agreed with Castro to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

International response and commemoration

At the United Nations representatives of 40 countries condemned the U.S. attack on Cuba, and the Soviet government sent a note of protest demanding that the aggression stop. Cuba commemorates the victory each 19 April; in July 1961 the Council of Ministers instituted the Order of Playa Girón, and a museum of the operation stands at Playa Girón. Cuba assessed the damage at $53 million, tried the captured brigadistas in April 1962 and in December 1962 exchanged them for food and medicine.