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Bay of Pigs

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Submitted By Nickumz
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Nicholas Lehman
Mr. Davis
AP US History
31 May, 2012
Bay of Pigs They Bay of Pigs was a failed operation by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with encouragement from the US government, attempting to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The Bay of Pigs took place in Cuba and was launched in April 1961 shortly after John F. Kennedy became president. The defending force were trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading exile combatants within three days. In January 1959 counter-revolutionary groups grew, after the success of the Cuban Revolution; the guerrilla continued until 1965. On March 11th 1961, Jesus Carreras and American William Alexander Morgan (a former Castro ally) were executed after a trial. On April 6th 1961, the Hersey Sugar factory in Matanzas was destroyed by sabotage. On April 14th that same year, a Cubana airliner was hijacked and flown to Jacksonville, FL to stage a ‘defection’ of a B-26 and pilot at Miami on April 15th. In 1960, the CIA started hiring Cuban exiles to train them for the upcoming invasion. The Cuban intelligence network knew the invasion was coming and the media estimated conflict throughout the world. Soviet Radio broadcasted a newscast predicting the invasion "in a plot hatched by the CIA" using paid "criminals" within a week. The invasion took place four days later. The well equipped Cuban Armed Forces posed a huge threat to the invaders. On April 15th, the invasion commenced and eight bombers attacked three different airfields, which marked the true beginning of the invasion. Immediately after the bombing runs, president Kennedy ordered to cease all other airfield strikes to keep the United States direct involvement a secret. On April 16th, The CIA invasion fleet began moving in on southern Cuba and Operation 40 was about to take place. Upon landing, the 1,400 exiles armed with United States weapons had no problem taking the harbor and push further into the country. Without the promised air support from the U.S., the exiles had a difficult time completing the invasion in other regions of Cuba. On the 18th, Cuban Armed Forces supported by tanks took back exile-occupied Playa Larga and pushed the invading forces back. As Cuban forces pushed all the way to the bay on the 19th, destroyers USS Eaton (code-named Santiago) and USS Murray (code-named Tampico) moved into the Bay of Pigs to evacuate Brigade soldiers from beeches, but was forced to retreat after taking fire from the Cuban Army’s tanks. This marked the end of the invasion, due to the fact that the remainder of exiles were either finished off or taken prisoner. The following day, U.S. submarines and destroyers patrolled the coastlines looking for scattered Brigade soldiers. Seven Cubans and two CIA-hired U.S. citizens were executed after a two-day trial bringing the death count to 118 and the number of captured to 1,202.
In such a small amount of time, the relationship between Cuba and the United States was much worse. Soviets were aware of the situation and used the aggravated Cuban forces to their advantage to house their nuclear warheads in Cuba, which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fidel Castro became extremely popular, adding nationalistic sentiments to the support for his economic policies. His relationship with the Soviets became stronger, partially because he wanted protection for Cuba. The failed operation made the Kennedy Administration look bad and forced Kennedy to hold a press conference on the 21st where he said: "There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan... What matters is only one fact; I am the responsible officer of the government." Uruguay, Che Guevara sent Kennedy a note saying: "Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever."
Knowing that the invasion took place right after Kennedy became president put Eisenhower behind the plan and Kennedy behind the action. After the invasion the President was extremely upset with how the CIA handled the invasion. The outcome of the conflict would have changed dramatically if the U.S. continued to deliver air support. Since the invasion, the CIA has made many changes and has proven to be a successful group in the United States today. If the invasion were to be a surprise attack with a few more ground troops further backed by the United States, there would have never been the Cuban Missile Crisis, which proved to be the most threatening day in American history during the 20th century.
In 2001, a conference was held in Havana, Cuba titled the “Bay of Pigs: 40 years after.” In which 60 American delegates attended. There is still a day dedicated to nationwide drills in Cuba called ‘Defense Day’ to prepare the population for an invasion. Although it only lasted three days, the Bay of Pigs invasion proved to be the rising action during the cold war. It is hard to believe that America was that close to nuclear war with the Soviet Union during the 1960’s.

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