Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Invasion - Case Study Example

J. F KENNEDY AND THE BAY OF PIGS: THE ANALYSIS Background In the year 1960, John F. Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States of America at a tender age of 43. J.F Kennedy was a republican whose one of the campaigning policies was to close the missile gap from the USSR. This policy did not come to pass as more war was witnessed later after he took over the presidency of the U.S. Since his assassination in 1963, the Americans have been remembering Kennedy for his outstanding ideas and stern civil rights policies1. In his inauguration speech, President Kennedy read out zero tolerant policies, both domestic and foreign. However, this president could later on be seen as living up to the policies of his predecessor; Eisenhower. This was clearly evident when he decided to adopt the Bay of Pigs Invasion and gave a go head to his military without giving it much thought. President J. F Kennedy became a leader during the era of nuclear war. He believed that no nation could confidently win a nuclear war. According to Kennedy, the main cause of war and civil strife in the 20th century was Miscalculations. He, therefore, with the counsel of his Intelligence agency, designed and employed a military strategy that was known as the Flexible Response. This strategy was put in place with the anticipation that it would reduce such wars that result from miscalculations. Even though J. F Kennedy had been regarded by many as one of the most flexible and rational presidents of the United States, there had been criticism that he was not as prudent as Eisenhower and, had made the USA even worse. However, these arguments are subjects of a heated debate as there are no diplomatic records on this topic2. By the time Kennedy came to power, the Soviet Union had made several steps ahead of the US in the space exploration. The Soviet had already acquired considerable skills in nuclear war and was becoming a threat to the US, which was at that time very vulnerable to the missile attacks. Soviet Prime Minister, Nikita Khrushchev, in one of the speeches, had announced that their nation was ready for any liberal war3. J. F Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs invasion was a planned attack on Cuba by the American Central Intelligence Force. It was during the time when Cuban government, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, was experiencing defection from the government officials and the citizens4. United States of America, therefore, decided to take advantage of this situation and arranged to attack Fidel in disguise of the defectors. The invasion had been planned before President Kennedy took over from Eisenhower. When Eisenhower had finished his term, he made sure he lived his dream in Kennedy when the CIA sponsored the invasion under the command of the latter. After his election in 1960, J. F. Kennedy was informed about the underway plan to invade Cuba by the former government and did not oppose it5. He did not hesitate to give his consent for the invasion. The US Jupiter ballistic missiles were then sent to Cuba in preparation of the attack. This step by President Kennedy to adopt the invasion task from the outgoing government was an early sign of his compromising and wavering personality. Eisenhower easily manipulated him and had his (Eisenhower) obsolete goals being implemented by the current president. This weak stance by Kennedy was attributed to his lack of adequate counsel whenever he wanted to execute a plan. Critics had it that President J.F. Kennedy used to rely only on one or two people in his government, especially on the head of the Defense. If he had been assertive enough, they say, he would have concentrated on his campaigning policies and implement them first. On a closer scrutiny, Kennedy had been interested in the foreign affairs and policies since he was a youth and, therefore, he was bound to become impulsive and readily embrace the Bay of Pigs invasion6. However, the Cuban invasion of 1961 turned out to be a huge fiasco; an embarrassment to the young government. The USSR had done an extensive and intensive investigation about the attack and had all the information about the US Intelligence with them. In a quick move, the Soviet established its weaponry in Cuba to counteract the intended US harassment. Since the USSR had superior weapons than the US, the latter had to retreat. This was yet another clear indication of how the US had not taken enough time to do the assessment and evaluation of the situation Cuba. Not much research was done about the USSR weaponry. On the contrary, the USSR and Cuba had already known all the necessary information about US. Immediately after the failure of the attempted attack, the US, through President Kennedy went public and denied taking part in the attack7. This left more questions than answers, about the personality of the president; he did display honesty at all. Furthermore, President Kennedy, through CIA, had provided the ambassador to the United Nation with misleading information. Ambassador Stevenson had been told by the CIA that the Cuban attack was executed by the defectors. Stevenson went ahead to relay the very false information before the UN during a meeting. Nevertheless, a consensus was reached between the Soviet Union and the USA; both had to retrieve their missiles from Cuba. Kennedy and Khrushchev signed a peace treaty and afterward, he ordered the removal of the US weapons from Cuba. Khrushchev, in complying with the same, ordered the dismantling of the Russian weaponry in Cuba. For this matter, J. F. Kennedy’s allies strongly commended him for taking the USA safely through the world crises. His foreign policies, they thought, were relatively less rigid than those of Eisenhower and that Kennedy had furnished the image of USA in the third world nations. Failure: The Analysis Despite all the weaknesses of Kennedy that were disclosed by the invasion failure, the peace agreement seemed to have masked them all and many termed it as a diplomatic success to the President. The President, can be said, demonstrated his reconciling personality when he agreed to make peace with his rival. His brave move helped to retain peace, both in US and in Cuba8. This failure of the invasion, however, brought out the personality of President J. F. Kennedy as a poor planner and short of vision. According to report by the post invasion Board of inquiry, the failure was closely related to the lack of efficient aircrafts and armament limitations. The deployment of few pilots and the loss of warships were also mentioned as other major causes of the failure. J. F. Kennedy needed to do a thorough assessment in all the aforementioned areas before giving the consent and sending his troops to Cuba. This takes us back to Kennedy’s preference of a very thin cabinet and seeking counsel only selected few. J. F. Kennedy, like many other US presidents, attempted to play the role of the secretary of state as well as the head of state9. He was avoiding the dependence on his secretary for the issues to do with foreign policy. He wanted to rely on his own findings and not on the consultations. If he had consulted all the relevant heads in good time the case would have been otherwise. The failure by the US to invade Cuba had also been seen by many diplomats as a compromise of the US imperialism. The president had failed to realize the potential and the power of the USA and apply it appropriately. He was only ambitious and an adventurist leader who lacked practicality in his goals9. The diplomatic criticism also had that J. F. Kennedy was just as cold the predecessor, Eisenhower, in the times of war and that he had made the world more dangerous a place. When President Kennedy retreated from Cuba at the presence of the USSR, the rest of the Latin American nations began to believe the US was actually not superior as they had thought before. They realized that America could also be defeated by some nations; even Cuba. Ironically, Soviet and Cuba, a nation that was to be a victim of the attack, suddenly became heroes through the failure of America. Fidel Castro, in particular, gained more fame across the world. According to Szulc, the strategy and war preparations of Fidel Castro were even more superior to those of the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA10. The success of Cuba was owed to Che Guevara, who was the head of the Cuban Military training department. Following this fiasco, J. F. Kennedy ordered the CIA to carry out investigation in all the Latin American nations and compile a report on the invasion that failed. This was in line with the establishing the loopholes that may have led to the failure at the Bay of Pigs. The CIA, after completion of the investigation, came disclosed a number of findings. According to the CIA report, the US government had failed to fully asses all the potential risks involved with the Cuban invasion. There were risks such as damage and loss of the weaponry and armament, loss of lives by the soldier and, the ultimate intervention by the USSR. If the US government had considered all these factors and applied the necessary actions, the invasion would have been a success11. There was poor communication between the governmental heads in all the Defense departments. The decision to attack Cuba, it seems, was never unanimously made. This division in the government is what contributed to loopholes and an eventual fall of the plan. Leaders of the exiles, who were the key personnel to carry out the invasion, were not fully involved in the attack arrangement as there was no adequate communication between them and the US government. The American government also failed to sufficiently organize the internal resistance in Cuba. The government had to collude with the exiles and collaborate with the Cuban defectors so as to obtain a strong base of support in Cuba. Instead, the US overlooked the potential ability and role of the Cuban defectors and the exiles12. Had it considered organizing more internal resistance, Fidel Castro would have faced more forces that would mask the reinforcement of the Soviet12. As later established by CIA, the staff employed during the invasion to execute the attack was not adequately skilled and experienced to offer quality services. Most the soldiers used in the invasion were the exiles in Cuba who lacked adequate military knowledge and skills. Many knew very little about the military Science. Besides, these exiles were not given the required military training by the government. There were also inadequate training facilities for the soldiers and the soldiers to be. However, this particular finding brings out a hypocritical character of the CIA and the entire US government. It is the very CIA that participated in the recruitment of the exiles that now undermines its soldiers as unskilled. For instance, Allen Dulles, who was one the CIA heads that enthusiastically endorsed the Bay of Pigs invasion, was also a member of this very investigation team13. Lastly, it also emerged that the Spanish speakers in the US staff were very few. This state hindered the CIA from easily obtaining the most vital information about the Cuban Intelligence. In most cases, the US CIA had to seek for translation and this led to distortion of information. All the above stated findings were perceived as the faults of the US president; J.F. Kennedy. In response to these drawbacks, President Kennedy publicly accepted the defeat in Cuba and agreed to take all the responsibilities. He had given in to the pressure of the bureaucracy and failed to review his military for a successful invasion. He was also under the false impression that the whole of America would plausibly deny their involvement in the Cuban invasion. Nonetheless, this step by J.F. Kennedy to accept his weakness portrayed him as a very courageous and responsible leader who ready to carry the burden of the nation on his shoulders. J. F .Kennedy later consulted with Eisenhower, his immediate predecessor, in seeking a better way forward. It is his humble personality that made Kennedy to realize his mistakes and accept advice from Eisenhower. This is the same view expressed by Graham Allison in the study about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missiles14. Even though Graham concurs with the notion that President Kennedy made some mistakes during the war by giving the American false hopes which were never fulfilled, he still thought that J. F. Kennedy had a sense of diplomacy which had not been seen in most of the America’s past presidents. He was ready to make corrections and reconcile with the enemies for the peace of his nation. In general, J. F. Kennedy’s bag of policies was actually a mixture of failure and success15. His foreign policies were not as stable as the domestic ones, a fact that led to his occasional unprecedented downfalls such as the Cuban invasion. Many were the critics than the support for Kennedy, a situation that later led to his assassination in 1963. It all started with the Bay of Pigs; an invasion that never was. Notes American President: John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Foreign Affairs. (2014). Retrieved from millercenter.org/president/kennedy/essays/bibliography/5 Andres, Victor. Bay of Pigs: 71An Oral History of Brugade 2506. (University of Florida, 2001) 23-31 Foreign Affairs: JFK. WGBH American Experience. (2012). Retrieved from www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/jfk-foreign/affairs Hensley, Stewart. Tass Distorts Version of Kennedy. (Boston. Altus, 1961) 18-20 Hugh, Thomas. Cuba: The Persuit of Freedom. (Da CapoPress, 1998) 43-76 John F. Kennedy- Foreign Affairs: Profiles of the U.S Presidents. (2014). Retrieved from www.presidentprofiles.com/kennnedy-Bush/john-f-kennedy-foreign-affairs Kempe, Fredrick. Berlin, 1961. (USA. Penguin Group, 2011) 129-157 Kennedy’s Foreign Policy- Office of the Historian. (2012). http://history.state.gov/jfk-foreignpolicy Klans, Larres; Lane Ann. The Cold War: the essential readings. (wiley-Blackwell, 1993). 103-280 Michael, Cohen. JFK’s Greatest Legacy. (2013) Retrieved from www.foregnpolicy.com/article/2013/11/22/jfk-s-greatest-legacy Robert, Caro. John F. Kennedy on Foreign Policy. (The Issues, 2012). Retrieved from www.isssues2000.org/celeb/john-f-kennedy-foregn-policy.htm Sczulc, Tad. Fidel- A critical Portrait. (Hutchinson, 1986) 26-39 Sczulc, Tad. The Cuban Invasion. (Prager, 1962) 334-406 Stadelmann, Marcus. Examining the Presidency of John F. Keneedy. (Dummies, 2012). Retrieved from www.dummies.com/how-to/content/examining-the-presidency-of-john-f-kennedy Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs: The Untold story. (Simon and Schuster, 1979) 98-106 Bibliography Andres, Victor. Bay of Pigs: 71An Oral History of Brugade 2506. Florida. University of Florida. 2001. Bethwel, Soul. American President: John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Foreign Affairs. Print. Boston. 2014. Dean, Rebman. Foreign Affairs: JFK. WGBH American Experience. Washington DC.2012. Henry, Clerckson. Kennedy’s Foreign Policy- Office of the Historian. New York. 2012. Hensley, Stewart. Tass Distorts Version of Kennedy. Boston. Altus.1961. Hugh, Thomas. Cuba: The Persuit of Freedom. Berlin. Da CapoPress. 1998. Kempe, Fredrick. Berlin, 1961. USA. Penguin Group. 2011. Klans, Larres; Lane Ann. The Cold War: the essential readings. Yale. Blackwell. 1993. Michael, Cohen. JFK’s Greatest Legacy. Los Angels. 2013. Robert, Caro. John F. Kennedy on Foreign Policy. Washington DC. The Issues. 2012. Schutzer, Henderson. John F. Kennedy- Foreign Affairs: Profiles of the U.S Presidents. 2014. Sczulc, Tad. Fidel- A critical Portrait. Cuba. Hutchinson. 1986. Sczulc, Tad. The Cuban Invasion. Cuba.Prager.1962. Stadelmann, Marcus. Examining the Presidency of John F. Keneedy. New York. Dummies. 2012. Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs: The Untold story. Simon and Schuster. 1979. Read More