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John Kennedy: Incidents Bay of Pigs Two years before Kennedy even took office, a plan of the invasion of Cuba was already in the works. After the overthrow of Cuba’s democratic government by Fidel Castro, relations between the US and Cuba deteriorated rapidly. After Castro came to power, he immediately started decreasing Cuban dependence on the US by expelling US firms. Eisenhower took exception to this. He took economic steps against the new government by cutting Cuban sugar sales in the US. Just seventeen days before Kennedy was to be inaugurated, after Castro demanded the US decrease the size of its embassy in Cuba to only eleven members, Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba. When Kennedy took office, he continued on the same path as Eisenhower. He made the decision to preserve the diplomatic blackout between the US and Cuba. In addition, he had already been briefed by CIA officials about the training of Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba. Kennedy tentatively approved the plan, saying the training would continue until he made a decision about the actual invasion. After further economic sanctions against Cuba failed to alter Castro’s stance, Kennedy ordered the invasion to commence. On April 13, the exiles boarded American ships bound for Cuba. The exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs four days later. Kennedy, fearing the invasion would be identified with the US, canceled US air support for the mission. With no American assistance after the landing was made, the 1500 Cuban exiles were quickly pinned down by Castro’s forces and captures or killed. The captives were later traded for $53 million dollars worth of food and medicine from the US. Cuban missile crisis In October of 1962, the Kennedy administration learned, presumably from Cuban refugees, that the Russians had installed missile sites on the island. Initially, the administration did not believe they were dealing with long range missiles. Instead, Kennedy’s advisors were of the opinion that the Soviets had installed surface-to-air missiles to protect Castro against another US invasion. Then, John McCone, director of the CIA, suggested to Kennedy that the surface-to-air missiles were there to protect Soviet long range surface-to-surface missiles, capable of carrying nuclear missiles. On October 14, these fears were confirmed. An American U-2 spy plane returned pictures documenting the existence of six intermediate range missile sights capable of striking the US. The advice Kennedy initially sought from some of his top advisors called for an immediate air strike on the sites. John Kennedy rejected the idea out of hand, not only because of the possibility of Soviet retaliation, but also because it was dishonorable. The president's brother, Robert, made the case well when he said it would be “a Pearl Harbor in reverse.” Instead, Kennedy settle on a blockade, or “quarantine” as the president referred to it when he announced the administration's intentions during his October 22 address to the nation. Kennedy also declared during this speech that he would regard “any nuclear missile launched from Cuba...as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.” Soviet General Secretary Khrushchev angrily denounced the blockade, comparing Soviet missile bases in Cuba to US missiles in Turkey and Italy. The situation became very tense when Khrushchev ordered his ships to ignore the blockade and continue on towards Cuba. The crisis was averted when UN Secretary General U Thant suggested that Soviet ships turn back while the US blockade be suspended. Shortly thereafter, through personal correspondence between Kennedy and Khrushchev, the two nations came to an agreement. The US would permanently halt the blockade and promise not to invade Cuba while the Soviets would agree to remove all missiles from Cuba under the supervision of the UN. Additionally, US missiles in Turkey and Italy were quietly removed a few months later, though this was not a part of the official deal. |
Incidents
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