Bay of Pigs

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In this paper, I will do a case study on the Bay of Pigs and why the United States tried to conduct this attack. I will find out what intelligence led to this invasion attempt as well as what intelligence failures were made which resulted in the failure of the invasion. I will discuss what impact the Bay of Pigs had on the United States Intelligence community and what changes was made. I will end this paper with any findings I have concluded to if the failure has any affect on how the U.S. conducts intelligence in today’s world.
On April 19, 1961, the United States was ready to be a part of a missile attack. The mission became a complete failure and many people were killed during this time. President Kennedy had withdrawn his order for land aerial cover a week before the bombing was to occur.
On New Year’s Day, 1959, Cuban Rebel forces, led by Fidel Castro, overthrew the existing government led by Fulgencio Batista. Castro immediately reformed Cuba’s economic policy, reducing the power of American companies over Cuba’s industry, as well as threatening American profits and influence in the area. This greatly irritated the United States as a whole, and caused the government, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to turn hostile towards Castro. Just a year after Castro’s rise to power, President Eisenhower was convinced that if the best interests of the United States were to be fulfilled, the new Cuban government would have to be abolished. On March 17, 1960, he approved the Central Intelligence Agency’s plan, entitled “A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro Regime.” This program’s purpose was to “bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with one more devoted to the true interests of the Cuban people an...

... middle of paper ...

... of sitting on the fence on the issue. The Bay of Pigs invasion, although with good intensions, turned out to be a major debacle, and eventually proved to be more detrimental than beneficial.

Works Cited
“The Bay of Pigs.” Cuban Missile Crisis: Fourteen Days in October.
“Bay of Pigs Invasion: Documents.” Ed. Jon Elliston. 17 March 2001
Blight, James G., and Peter Kornbluh, eds. Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Reexamined. London: Lynne Rienner, 1998. “Inspector General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation and Associated Documents.”
Central Intelligence Agency: Electronic Document Release Center. 18 March
2001“Invasion at Bay of Pigs.” History of Cuba. Ed. J.A. Sierra. 17 March 2001
Meyer, Karl E. and Tad Szulc. The Cuban Invasion. New York: Frederick A. Praeger,
1962.Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. The Bay of Pigs. New York: Ocean Press, 1999.

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