ALLEN DULLES

On November 28, 1961, JFK pinned the National Security Medal on outgoing CIA director Allen W. Dulles at the CIA Headquarters.  Dulles served as CIA Director during the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba on April 17, 1961.  JFK had signed on to the Eisenhower directed plan to use Cuban refugees trained by the CIA to overthrow Communist dictator Fidel Castro.  Although JFK accepted personal responsibility for the failure, privately he blamed the CIA*.  

After JFK's death in November 1963, the new President,  Lyndon Johnson, appointed Dulles to serve on the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.  Dulles died of natural causes in 1969.

*On the Nixon "Watergate" tapes there is a conversation among Nixon and his aides in which he says: "If this thing about the Bay of Pigs comes out, it will blow the lid off everything."  As far as I have been able to learn, no one knows what he meant by this statement.  I personally asked Howard Baker, who was Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Watergate, if he knew what Nixon meant.  His answer: "I don't know and I think that it may be good that I don't."

*********UPDATE:

Former Secret Service Agents Recount JFK Assassination

CSPAN: 11/28/2010 11-12pm

Two former Secret Service agents, Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill, join Q&A this week. Both men were present on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated and Clint Hill was the agent who jumped onto the trunk of the motorcade seconds after Kennedy was shot. During the interview, they recall the day’s horrific events, conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination and the day-to-day aspects of their lives after the Secret Service. Read More »

Mr. Blaine recently authored a new book, “The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence,” with Clint Hill adding the prologue, as well as giving interviews for the book’s content.