"JUST LIKE IKE, WORSE I DO MORE POPULAR I GET"

IKE PEPPERS JFK WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT ILL-FATED BAY OF PIGS INVASION

Camp David, Maryland (JFK+50) On April 22, 1961, President John F. Kennedy met with former president Dwight D. Eisenhower here at Camp David* to discuss the recent failed Bay of Pigs invasion in which CIA-trained Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime.

Jim Rasenberger writes that while JFK might have expected sympathy, Ike "peppered" him with questions.  Such as...

Were all opposing views aired in pre-invasion meetings?  

Were changes made to initial plans approved by the Joint Chiefs?

Ike left Camp David with the impression that President Kennedy was "bewildered."  Never-the-less, by the following month, JFK's approval rating soared to 82%. 

President Kennedy said...

"It's just like Eisenhower, the worse I do, the more popular I get."

*Camp David is a country retreat for the POTUS located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, Frederick County, MD.  Completed in 1938 by WPA, FDR named it Shangri-La.  President Eisenhower re-named it after his father & grandson in 1953.

15 POTUS have occupied the retreat.  The presidential cabin is called "Aspen Lodge."  Camp David is only a 30 minute helicopter ride from the White House.

SOURCES

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

"Welcome to Camp David," www.whitehouse.gov1.info/

 

 

 

Presidents Kennedy & Eisenhower

Camp David, Maryland

April 22 1961

Photo by Robert Knudsen

JFK Library

 

"IKE PEPPERED JFK WITH QUESTIONS"

JFK MEETS WITH IKE AFTER BAY OF PIGS FAILURE

Camp David, Maryland (JFK+50) On April 22, 1961, President John F. Kennedy conferred with former president Dwight D. Eisenhower here at Camp David.  The meeting took place just days after the ill-fated invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

According to Jim Rasenberger, Ike "peppered Kennedy with questions."

Were all opposing views aired in pre-invasion meetings?

Were changes made to the initial plans and if so, why?

Did the Joint Chiefs approve of the changes?

When President Kennedy expressed the necessity of keeping the role of the United States in the invasion secret, Mr. Eisenhower responded...

"How could you expect the world to believe that we had nothing to do with it?"

SOURCE

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

 

 

JFK & Eisenhower Meeting

Camp David, MD

April 22 1961

Photo by Robert Knudsen

JFK Library Image

"THE WORSE I DO, THE MORE POPULAR I GET"

JFK DISCUSSES BAY OF PIGS FAILURE WITH IKE AT CAMP DAVID

Camp David, Maryland (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy met with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Camp David presidential retreat on Saturday, April 22, 1961.  The topic of discussion was the recent Bay of Pigs failure.

Jim Rasenberger writes that Ike was less consoling than JFK probably expected.  The former president peppered Kennedy with questions.  Were all opposing views aired in pre-invasion meetings?  Were changes made to the initial plans approved by the Joint Chiefs? If so, why?

President Kennedy was very defensive about his intent to keep the role of the United States in the invasion of Cuba a secret.  Ike asked, "How could you expect the world to believe that we had nothing to do with it?"

Eisenhower left the meeting at Camp David feeling his successor was a "bewildered" man.  Ike went to his grave convinced that as President he had never given approval for an invasion of Cuba.  Ike would only acknowledge that he had "merely approved a program."

As for President Kennedy, by May his mood had vastly improved thanks to a recent Gallup poll that had his approval rating at 82%.  JFK said...

"It's just like Eisenhower, the worse I do, the more popular I get."

 SOURCE

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

JFK & Ike Meet at Camp David
April 22, 1961
Photo by Robert Knudsen
JFK Library Image

MISMANAGEMENT, INDECISION & TIMIDITY AT THE WRONG TIME

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2287

EISENHOWER COUNSELS JFK ON BAY OF PIGS FAILURE

Camp David, Maryland (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago this morning, Saturday, April 22, 1961, President John F. Kennedy met with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Aspen Cottage here at Camp David*, Maryland 

Mr. Eisenhower asked President Kennedy if he had "made sure to air all opposing views in his meetings" prior to the invasion.  Kennedy had to admit he had simply taken the advice of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Ike, sounding like a General who had experience planning invasions, asked why JFK had called off the second bombing mission.  The young president answered "to keep our hands from showing."  Mr. Eisenhower replied...

"How could you expect the world to believe that we had nothing to do with it?"

In his book "Brilliant Disaster", Jim Rasenberger describes the meeting as being "like a trip to the woodshed" for the youngest elected President of the United States in history.

After their lunch had been taken, the two POTUS walked around the grounds for a quarter of an hour.  Before he boarded a helicopter to return to his home at Gettysburg, the General said to reporters...

"I am all in favor of the United States supporting the man who has to carry the responsibility for our foreign affairs."

In the privacy of his Journal, however, Ike was more than candid about his impressions.  He wrote that "the story of the invasion was 'a very dreary account of mismanagement, indecision and timidity at the wrong time.'"

*Camp David is located 62 miles NW of Washington, D.C. in Frederick County, MD.  Built by the WPA in the mid 1930s, it was converted into a presidential retreat by FDR.  He named it Shangri-La.  The name was changed by President Eisenhower who renamed it after his father & grandson.

SOURCE

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

JFK & Kids at Camp David
March 31, 1963
Photo by Robert Knudsen
White House Phot

IKE TAKES JFK TO THE WOODSHED

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1927

JFK CONFERS WITH IKE AFTER BAY OF PIGS 

Camp David, Maryland (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago today, Saturday, April 22, 1961, President John F. Kennedy met with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower here at Camp David*, Maryland.

The morning meeting took place at Aspen Cottage.  Jim Rasenberger describes it as being "like a trip to the woodshed" for the young president.

Eisenhower wanted to know if JFK had "made sure to air all opposing views in his meetings" prior to the invasion.  Kennedy had to admit he had simply taken the advice of the CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Ike, sounding like a General who had experience planning invasions, asked why JFK had called off the second bombing mission.  The young president answered "to keep our hands from showing."  Mr. Eisenhower replied...

"How could you expect the world to believe that we had nothing to do with it?"

After their lunch had been taken, the two POTUS walked around the grounds for a quarter of an hour.  Before he boarded a helicopter to return to his home at Gettysburg, the General said to reporters...

"I am all in favor of the United States supporting the man who has to carry the responsibility for our foreign affairs."

In the privacy of his Journal, however, Ike was more than candid about his impressions.  He wrote that "the story of the invasion was 'a very dreary account of mismanagement, indecision and timidity at the wrong time.'"

Jim Rasenberger, however, argues that it was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who approved the CIA's "Program of Covert Action"  on March 17, 1960 and when the former president learned that his former security adviser, Gordon Gray**, had in his possession "review notes" of that meeting, Mr. Eisenhower had no choice acknowledge this fact.  Ike insisted, however, that while he gave his approval, there was no "military planning" done at that meeting.

*Camp David is located 62 miles NW of Washington, D.C. in Frederick County, MD.  Built by the WPA in the mid 1930s, it was converted into a presidential retreat by FDR.  He named it Shangri-La.  The name was changed by President Eisenhower who renamed it after his father & grandson.

**Gordon Gray (1909-1982) was born in Baltimore, MD & graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1930 & Yale Law School in 1933.  GG served in the US Army in WWII & was appointed head of the Office of Defense Mobilization by President Eisenhower & later National Security Adviser.  GG served on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under JFK, LBJ, RN & GF.

SOURCE

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

JFK & Kids at Camp David
March 31, 1963
Photo by Robert Knudsen
White House Photo