"IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I DETECTED A NOTE OF RESENTMENT TOWARD THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM"

U.S. DESTROYERS TURN AWAY FROM THE BAY OF PIGS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 11:31 a.m. Eastern time on April 19, 1961, Pepe San Roman* sent out a message from the Bay of Pigs..."We are out of ammo and fighting on the beach.  Please send help.  We cannot hold."

The United States Navy began to explore ways of evacuating the brigade of freedom fighters.  Two destroyers were sent close to the beach to evaluate the chances of a successful evacuation.  At 1:12 p.m. the Joint Chiefs issued orders to begin evacuation as soon as possible.

It was too late.  San Roman sent a final message at 2:32 p.m...."You won't be here on time.  Farewell friends.  I am breaking this radio right now."  The American destroyers turned away and picked up full speed.

When word reached the President in the private residence at the White House, he was "close to tears."  A journalist who saw him later in the West Wing described JFK as composed but added....

"It was the first time in nearly a decade of knowing President Kennedy that I detected a note of resentment...toward the people around him."

*Jose Alfredo Pepe San Roman (1930-1989) enlisted in the Cuban army in 1949.  He was an instructor in the combat engineering corps 1954-1958 before becoming commander of Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs.  PSR was captured by Castro's army on April 25, 1961 & released in Dec 1962 standing on the stage next to JFK at Miami's Orange Bowl.

SOURCE

"The Brilliant Disaster:  JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," by Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011. 

JFK Accepts Brigade's Flag in Miami 

Photo by Cecil Stoughton

    December 1962
JFK Library