One of Kennedy’s first acts as President was the establishment of the Peace Corps, which came into existence on 1 March 1961. An unarmed volunteer organization tasked with bringing aid to second and third world countries, this admirable undertaking was widely interpreted as a signal of Kennedy’s willingness to effect change by non-violent means, despite the escalating tensions of the Cold War. Unfortunately, whatever peaceable intentions the President had contemplated were compromised by the increasing problem of Cuba.
Despite its relatively small size, the archipelago of islands that make up Cuba had long been a cause of concern for successive US administrations. The uncomfortable proximity of this politically volatile island nation to the United States meant any political unrest in Cuba constituted a credible threat to US national security – a danger which greatly intensified following Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959.
Fidel Castro, 1959
The military coup which brought Castro to power coincided with a particularly dangerous time in the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a frantic nuclear arms race, while the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, was engaging in increasingly antagonistic anti-US rhetoric. It is hardly surprising, then, that the United States was not prepared to stand by while Castro – himself often espousing anti-US sentiments – established a Communist totalitarian regime just ninety miles south of the coast of Florida, which could easily be used as a Soviet outpost from which to launch an attack.
With this being so, in March 1960 President Eisenhower had authorized a covert operation by the CIA to recruit a small army of Cuban exiles who would invade their homeland and, it was hoped, bring an end to the Castro dictatorship and restore the country to democracy.
Throughout 1960, plans for what became known as Operation Zapata progressed. From April, the CIA recruited a motley crew of participants from the ranks of disaffected Cuban migrants in Miami, and soon training grounds were established in Florida, Panama and Guatemala. In August, a budget of $13 million was allocated to the mission, and by the time Eisenhower relinquished the presidency to Kennedy in early 1961, the Cuban invasion was almost a fait accompli. In fact, plans for the mission were so far advanced that Kennedy felt compelled to go along with them, despite harbouring deep reservations about the operation’s chances for success.
Kennedy was right to be worried. When the invasion was launched on 17 April 1961, it was an unmitigated disaster. Cuban and Soviet intelligence had got wind of the plans, and when the army of almost 1,500 US-trained revolutionaries landed in the Bay of Pigs, Castro’s forces were waiting. While both sides sustained heavy losses, it didn’t take long for the Cuban militia to gain the upper hand. By 19 April, all of the CIA-trained expats were either killed or captured. When news of the mission’s failure and the resulting loss of life reached Kennedy at the White House, he reportedly put his head in his hands and wept.
However, if he thought things could not get any worse, he was very much mistaken.