JFK ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BAY OF PIGS FIASCO
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy did not want to discuss the failed Bay of Pigs invasion at his news conference on April 21, 1961, but he did accept blame as "the responsible officer of this government." The President said...
"There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."
Jim Rasenberger points out, however, that privately JFK felt he had been "led...astray" in the matter by his advisers. In particular, he was of the opinion that "the real screwups were the folks at the CIA." He just could not fathom how "intelligent and...experienced" men leading that agency "could have been so wrong."
The President appointed a committee to investigate the Bay of Pigs, led by General Maxwell D. Taylor and assisted by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The investigation led to the creation of "Operation Mongoose" to be directed by the CIA and Department of Defense. The primary goal of the operation was to remove Fidel Castro from power in Cuba.
Having failed to achieve this goal and with the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, Operation Mongoose was suspended.
SOURCES
"Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," by Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011.
"The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961-October 1962," Office of the Historian, www.history.state.gov/
General Maxwell D. Taylor
U.S. Army
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Defense Technical Information Center
Department of Defense
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy did not want to discuss the failed Bay of Pigs invasion at his news conference on April 21, 1961, but he did accept blame as "the responsible officer of this government." The President said...
"There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan."
Jim Rasenberger points out, however, that privately JFK felt he had been "led...astray" in the matter by his advisers. In particular, he was of the opinion that "the real screwups were the folks at the CIA." He just could not fathom how "intelligent and...experienced" men leading that agency "could have been so wrong."
The President appointed a committee to investigate the Bay of Pigs, led by General Maxwell D. Taylor and assisted by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The investigation led to the creation of "Operation Mongoose" to be directed by the CIA and Department of Defense. The primary goal of the operation was to remove Fidel Castro from power in Cuba.
Having failed to achieve this goal and with the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, Operation Mongoose was suspended.
SOURCES
"Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," by Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011.
"The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961-October 1962," Office of the Historian, www.history.state.gov/
General Maxwell D. Taylor
U.S. Army
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Defense Technical Information Center
Department of Defense
