PRESIDENT KENNEDY REFUSES TO DISCUSS THE CRISIS IN CUBA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 21, 1961, President John F. Kennedy "warned...of the extremely serious and intensified struggle" against Communist subversion around the world.
The President, writes Earl H. Voss, refused, however, to discuss the crisis in Cuba.
JFK said...
"I do not think that any valid national purpose would be served by my going further into the Cuban question this morning."
The President continued...
"Victory has a hundred fathers--defeat is an orphan."
JFK+50 NOTE
On April 17, 1961, a military operation began in which 1400 U.S. trained Cuban exiles attempted to invade Fidel Castro's communist Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The operation, initiated during the Eisenhower administration, was approved by JFK not quite 3 months into his presidency.
1200 of the Cuban exiles were captured by Castro's forces while 100 others were killed. JFK publicly accepted full responsibility for the fiasco but in private was said to blame the CIA.
The JFK Library says that the Bay of Pigs failure led to "Operation Mongoose," a plan to sabotage the Communist government & economy of Cuba.
Despite the failure, JFK's popularity increased in the Gallup Poll. The reason, most likely, was his willingness to accept full responsibility.
SOURCES
"Kennedy Says World Crisis Rises," by Earl H. Voss, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 21, 1961, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"The Bay of Pigs," JFK Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/
