"CIA WANTED TO HELP OVERTHROW FIDEL CASTRO"

CUBAN EXILES BITTER ABOUT U.S. HANDLING OF INVASION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 18, 1961, George Sherman of The Evening Star reports that the Cuban exiles involved in last month's failed Bay of Pigs invasion "are admittedly bitter over handling of the invasion and its dismal failure."

Sherman says that the exiles are convinced the Central Intelligence Agency, "and, therefore, the United States government," wanted to help them overthrow Fidel Castro.

The American agents, in the view of the Cubans, while trained specialists in undercover activities, had little to no knowledge of the politics and geography of Cuba.

JFK+50 NOTE

Publicly JFK had taken full responsibility for the failed invasion ("Victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan").  Privately, however, he blamed the CIA & threatened to "splinter (it) into a thousand pieces & scatter it to the winds."  

SOURCE

"Cubans Complain U.S. 'Took Control'", by George Sherman, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., May 18, 1961, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency

1950

www.law.cornell.edu/

PD

"THE STUPID U-2 MESS"

SPY PLANE SHOT DOWN BY SOVIETS

Moscow, U.S.S.R. (JFK+50) On May 1, 1960, a United States U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, piloted by Francis Gary Powers*, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Soviet air space.  This was the first attempt by the U.S. to make a clandestine flight all the way across the Soviet Union.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, claiming that this was a weather plane that strayed accidentally over Russia, was forced to admit it was a spy plane when Premier Nikita Khrushchev produced not only the wreckage of the U-2 but also the captured pilot.

The U-2 incident spoiled chances for success of the coming summit meeting. Ike called it the "stupid U-2 mess".  It was one of the most embarrassing moments of the Eisenhower Presidency.

*Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977) was born in Jenkins, KY & graduated from Milligan College (TN) in 1950.  FGP enlisted in the US Air Force & was recruited by the CIA.  He had participated in many covert missions before the U-2 incident.  FGP was found guilty of espionage & sentenced to 10 years in prison.  He was exchanged in 1962.

 

Powers Wears a Special Pressurized Suit
RIA Novosti Archive
Photo by Chernov/4ephob

ARE THESE MISSILES ARMED WITH NUCLEAR WARHEADS?

CIA UNABLE TO ANSWER JFK'S URGENT QUESTION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago in late October 1962, at the same time John F. Kennedy was considering a course of action in the missile crisis, the CIA could not tell the President whether or not Soviet missiles in Cuba were armed with nuclear warheads.  This is important because the President's military advisers were recommending an armed invasion of the island by American forces.

Michael Dobbs writes...

"A week after the discovery of the Soviet missiles, CIA analysts were still unable to answer the president's most urgent question: where are the nuclear warheads?

The Soviet nuclear arsenal...far exceeded the worst nightmares of anyone in Washington.  It included....(not only) the ballistic missiles...but (also) an array of smaller weapons that could wipe out an invading army..."

Mr. Dobbs also lists the nuclear warheads that were in Cuba...

36 one megaton for medium range R-12 missiles

36 fourteen kilaton for cruise missiles

12 two kilaton for Lunas

6 twelve kilaton for IL28s

*note: 1 megaton - 1 million tons of TNT, 1 kilaton - 1000 tons of TNT

            the a-bomb dropped on Hiroshima = 15 kilatons

SOURCE

 "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," by Michael Dobbs, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.

Soviet R-12 Nuclear Missile

Red Square, Moscow, USSR

CIA Photo

LBJ ASKS, WILL ALL SE ASIA FALL IF LAOS & SOUTH VIETNAM FALL?

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1975

DOMINO THEORY DEBUNKED BY CIA

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, June 9, 1964, the Central Intelligence Agency responded to President Lyndon B. Johnson's question, "Would the rest of Southeast Asia necessarily fall if Laos and South Vietnam came under North Vietnamese control?"

The CIA's answer challenged the argument known as the "Domino Theory" which said that if one nation in Southeast Asia were to fall to the communists, then all the other nations in the region would follow.

The Agency told President Johnson that the only nation likely to fall in such a scenario posed by LBJ's question would be Cambodia.

The CIA made the argument that while the fall of South Vietnam and Laos would be a blow to American interests in the region, it was also  likely the Philippines and Japan would deter further communist aggression or expansion in Southeast Asia.

The History Channel adds...

"The American failure to prevent a communist victory in Vietnam had much less of a global impact than had been assumed by the Domino Theory."

While both South Vietnam and Cambodia fell to the communists after 1975, the other Southeastern Asian nations did not.

SOURCE

"Domino Theory," www.history.com/

Illustration of the Domino Theory 

Beao (2011)

BRIGADE 2506 SAILS FOR CUBA

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1921

CIA TRAINED FREEDOM FIGHTERS DISEMBARK FOR CASTRO'S CUBA

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago today, April 16, 1961, a force of 1400 anti-Castro Cubans,  trained and equipped by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, sailed aboard five freighters toward the southern coast of Cuba.  Their destination was "Baja de Cochinos" or "Bay of Pigs".

The invasion to overthrow the communist dictator Fidel Castro had been planned during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower who had approved the clandestine operation.

President John F. Kennedy, having been in office less than three months, made some adjustments to the plan but otherwise also approved it.

When Presidential assistant Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.asked Mr. Kennedy what he thought about the operation, JFK responded...

 "I think about it as little as possible."

The exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on southern coast of Cuba the following day, April 17, 1961.  Their force, known as "Brigade 2506", trained in Guatemala and was led by Jose Miro Cardona, head of the anti-Castro Cuban Revolutionary Council. 

The freedom fighters came under heavy fire from Fidel Castro's army as they hit the beach and the invasion soon ended in disaster with most of these brave men captured.

President Kennedy publicly accepted full responsibility for the failure and the Bay of Pigs has been listed as one of the TOP TEN presidential mistakes of all time.  In one of the best and most recent accounts of the Bay of Pigs, "Brilliant Disaster," Jim Rasenberger writes...

"Long before his death, John Kennedy's presidency was transformed by the Bay of Pigs.  There were...tactical changes (such as) tightening  of the inner circle, increasing reliance on (Bobby Kennedy), the skepticism regarding the advice of military and intelligence advisers...and broader policy changes that escalated the Cold War."

As far as JFK's role in the Bay of Pigs, Rasenberger writes that President Kennedy "could not easily halt the operation (but saw) the potential for serious repercussions if he went ahead."

Nobel Laureate Gunnan Myrdal describes JFK's difficult position as follows...

"If Kennedy had called (the invasion) off, he would have been ruined politically at home, but if he had engaged American forces to salvage a failing covert operation, he would have been ruined abroad."

SOURCE

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

JFK Gets Update on Invasion of Cuba

HARRY TRUMAN & THE CIA

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1809

TRUMAN CALLED FOR CIA TO END OPERATIONAL DUTIES

Independence, Missouri (JFK+50) Former President Harry S Truman* died forty-three years ago today, December 26, 1972, here in Independence. He was 88 years old.  Mr. Truman, who retired from the presidency in January 1953, referred to himself as "Mr. Citizen." 

Mr. Truman was sworn in as President of the United States on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 12, 1945.  By August 1945, President Truman approved the use of atomic weapons on Japan.

During World War II, FDR had authorized the creation of the Office of Strategic Services, O.S.S. to handle intelligence operations for the United States.  Truman dissolved the O.S.S. on September 20, 1945 by executive order.

For a few months, intelligence activities were shared by the Departments of State and War, but on July 26, 1947, President Truman signed into law the National Security Act of 1947 which created both the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The original charge of the CIA was to provide a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis.  One month after the death of President John F. Kennedy, however, former President Truman had come to the conclusion that the "operational duties" of the CIA should "be terminated."

Writing in the Washington Post, Mr. Truman expressed concern that the agency had "been diverted from its original assignment" becoming instead "a policy-making arm of the Government."

JFK FACTS argues that "the circumstances" of JFK's death
"propelled Truman's radical proposal."  In original notes written by President Truman available at the Truman Library, he expressed the view that the CIA worked as intended "only when (he) had control."

During his visit with President Kennedy in January 1961, Mr. Truman said...

"Within the first few months I discovered that being president is like riding a tiger.  A man has to keep riding or be swallowed."

*Harry S Truman (1884-1972) was born in Lamar. Missouri.  He served in WWI and was partner in a men's clothing store in Kansas City after the war.
HST was elected to the US Senate in 1934 and was selected as FDR's running mate in 1944.  He became president upon FDR's death on April 12, 1945. HST won an upset victory over Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. 

SOURCE

"After JFK was killed former president Truman called for the abolition of CIA covert operations," JFK Facts, December 22, 2015, www.jfkfacts.org/

Former President Truman

At his desk at the Truman Library

HST Library Photo (1959)

MISSILE CRISIS DAY 8

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1752

JFK SIGNS CUBA QUARANTINE PROCLAMATION 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 7 p.m. (EDT) fifty-three years ago tonight, October 23, 1962,  President John F. Kennedy signed Proclamation 3504 at his desk in the Oval Office authorizing a naval quarantine of Cuba to take effect at 10 a.m. (EDT) October 24, 1962.The blockade was announced by the President last night to more than 100 million Americans watching on national television.

JFK waited to sign the proclamation until the Organization of American States approved a resolution to "individually or collectively impose the quarantine of Cuba."  The resolution was passed earlier in the day by a vote of 19-0.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ambassador Adlai Stevenson made the case for a naval blockade.  Stevenson called Cuba "an accomplice in the communist enterprise of world domination."

Later, the White House received a letter from Nikita Khrushchev in which he did not admit the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba or offer any concessions to the United States.

SOURCE

  "TWE Remembers: The OAS Endorses a Quarantine of Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis, Day 8)," by James M. Lindsay, www.blogs.cfr.org/

JFK Signs Quarantine Proclamation

October 23, 1962

Photo by Abbie Rowe

JFK Library Image

JFK TO THE CIA: ARE THESE MISSILES ARMED WITH NUCLEAR WARHEADS? 

In October 1962, at the same time JFK was considering a course of action in the Missile Crisis, the Central Intelligence Agency could not tell him for certain that the Soviet missiles were armed with nuclear warheads.  This is important, because the President's military advisers were favoring an armed invasion of Cuba by American forces.

Michael Dobbs writes:

"A week after the discovery of the Soviet missiles, CIA analysts were still unable to answer the president's most urgent question: where are the nuclear warheads?"

Dobbs continues....

"The Soviet nuclear arsenal...far exceeded the worst nightmares of anyone in Washington.  

It included....(not only) the ballistic missiles...but (also) an array of smaller weapons that could wipe out an invading army..."

Mr. Dobbs also lists the nuclear warheads that were in Cuba:

36 one megaton for medium range R-12 missiles

36 fourteen kilaton for cruise missiles

12 two kilaton for Lunas

6 twelve kilaton for IL28s

*note: 1 megaton - 1 million tons of TNT, 1 kilaton - 1000 tons of TNT

            the a-bomb dropped on Hiroshima = 15 kilatons

SOURCE

 "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," by Michael Dobbs, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.

Soviet R-12 Nuclear Missile

Red Square, Moscow, USSR

CIA Photo