"IT DOESN'T TAKE PRICE WATERHOUSE TO FIGURE OUT 1500 CUBANS AREN'T AS GOOD AS 25,000"

ANTI-CASTRO BRIGADE HEADS TOWARD CUBA

Miami Beach, Florida (JFK+50) On April 16, 1961, a brigade consisting of 1400 anti-Castro Cubans* sailed aboard five freighters toward the southern coast of Cuba.  The destination was Baja de Cochinos or Bay of Pigs.

The invasion's purpose was to overthrow communist dictator Fidel Castro.  The United States government, led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been concerned about Castro's attacks on American business interests on the island, his anti-American rhetoric, and alliance with the Soviet Union.

In 1960, President Eisenhower ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to train and equip anti-Castro Cubans to invade Cuba with the intention of  overthrowing the communist regime.

Upon his inauguration as President on January 20, 1961, JFK inherited the invasion plans and reluctantly gave his approval.  Jim Rasenberger writes that after CIA Director Allen Dulles briefed him on the plans of the invasion, President Kennedy was concerned that this was too small a force to go against Castro's army.  He wanted the Joint Chiefs to do "a careful evaluation" of the operation.

The evaluation, presented on January 31st, was favorable to going ahead with the operation.  Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson**, however, thought the plan "idiotic."  Acheson said...

"It doesn't take Price Waterhouse^ to figure out that 1500 Cubans aren't as good as 25,000."

^Price Waterhouse (Coopers) is a multi-national professional services network headquarted in London, U.K. 

*After Castro came to power, many Cubans fled to the United States, primarily to Miami, where they formed a variety of anti-Castro organizations.  Sources vary on the number that made up the invasion at the Bay of Pigs.  Figures range from 1200 to 1600.  At least one source has Castro's army consisting of 30,000.

*Dean Gooderham Acheson (1893-1971) was born in Sandy Springs, MD & educated at Harvard & Yale Universities.  DGA served as Secretary of State under President Harry S Truman 1949-1953. 

SOURCES

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

"This Day In History, April 17:  The Bay of Pigs Invasion Begins, www.history.com/ 

      JFK Gets Update on Invasion of Cuba

THE INVASION IS ASSUMING THE CHARACTER OF A FULL-SCALE WAR

NORTH KOREAN ARMY CROSSES 38TH PARALLEL

Seoul, South Korea (JFK+50) The North Korean People's Army, supported by the Soviet Union, crossed the 38th parallel 68 years ago today, June 25, 1950.
At 4 a.m. the North Koreans began a 90 minute artillery barrage which was followed by infantry and tanks pouring through gaps in the hills during a driving rainstorm.

The North Korean Army took Kaesong and John J. Muccio*, American ambassador here in Seoul, cabled Washington....

"The invasion is assuming the character of a full-scale war."

The United Nations Security Council, meeting in New York City, unanimously condemned the invasion and President Harry S Truman ordered United States air and naval forces to support South Korea two days after the invasion.

Korea had been divided  at the Potsdam Conference following World War II. In January 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson had stated that the US could not guarantee any area on the mainland of Asia against military attack.

In December 1945, a Joint Commission of representatives of the United States and USSR agreed to allow a 5 year trusteeship for North Korea by the Soviet Union and a 5 year trusteeship for South Korea by the United States.

*John J. Muccio (1900-1989) was the 1st US Ambassador to South Korea (1949-1952) & the 1st US Ambassador to Iceland.  JJM also served as US Ambassador to Guatemala under Presidents Eisenhower & Kennedy.

SOURCES

"Rival nations mark 64th anniversary of Korean War," New York Daily News, June 25, 2014, www.nydailynews.com/

"The Korean War Begins", History Today, www.historytoday.com/

Korean War Memorial

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2003)

BEWARE THE FALLING DOMINOES

IKE DISCUSSES "FALLING DOMINO PRINCIPLE" IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Sixty-one years ago today, April 7, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, at a news conference at the White House, that the impending fall of French Indo-China to the communists could be called a "'falling domino' principle" in relation to Southeast Asia.

The President was responding to the following question put to him by Mr. Robert Richards of the Copley Press...

"Mr. President, would you mind commenting on the strategic importance of Indochina for the free world?"

President Eisenhower responded...

"You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the 'falling domino' principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."

According to www.thisdayinquotes.com/, Mr. Eisenhower's statement led to the incorrect conclusion among many that he was the first to use the term "Falling Domino Theory."

Ike referred to it as the falling domino principle, which, according to the referenced website, had been previously discussed by President Harry S Truman's undersecretary of State Dean Acheson in 1947 in reference to the threatened communist takeover of Greece and Turkey.

The website argues that some reporters were responsible for giving President Eisenhower the credit for the first use of  what would become one of the most well-known phrases of the Cold War, the Falling Domino Theory.

A month following Ike's press conference, the French lost the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and North Vietnam was created as a communist state while South Vietnam remained free.  

Both of Ike's successors, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, agreed with his assessment and used it to justify increases in American military involvement in the region.

JFK+50 NOTE

Our first post on this topic of April 7, 2011 is the 3rd most popular post on JFK+50 with 23,562 hits as of today.  Obviously, the Falling Domino Theory is of much interest more than sixty years later.

SOURCES

"The origins of the 'falling domino principle,' and 'The Domino Effect,'" April 7, 2014, www.thisdayinquotes.com/

This Day in History, April 7, www.history.com/

The "Falling Domino" Theory