In January 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. In the beginning Castro was a very conservative dictator. He was liked by the Cuban people, and by other countries, including the United States. The United States government thought that Castro was a spiritual leader who would have a positive influence on the citizens of Cuba. Vice President Richard Nixon stated that, "The one fact we can be sure of is that Fidel Castro has those indefinable qualities which make him a leader of men" (Kornbluh, 7).

When Fidel Castro realized how much power he had it literally went to his head.

Within six months, Castro was portraying Cuba as a victim of American imperialism, to muster the Cuban's sentiments. The revolutionary regime began taking over United States properties, land, and industry

On April 15, 1961, three U.S. made airplanes piloted by Cubans bombed Cuban air bases. The objective of the raid was to destroy on the ground as many Castro aircraft as possible so that the invaders on Monday would not be subject to air attack (Meyer 116). On the morning of April 17, the invasion fleet of four cargo ships and two Landing Craft Infantry, and a dozen smaller landing crafts took positions off the coast of Las Villas Province. The targets were two beaches, the Blue Beach and the Green Beach, located at the entrance of the Bay of Pigs. By 2:00 a.m., the rebel brigade was ashore securing the beachhead. All together, an entire miniature army was dumped on the shore, with 867.8 tons of supplies and weapons for 4000 men. The extra arms were for "friendly forces" which were expected to join with the invaders (Meyer, 126).

Kornbluh, Petter. Bay of Pigs Declassified. New York: The New Press, 1998.

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[Accessed 17 March 2001].

Bay of Pigs Invasion. Groiler Online. [Accessed 20 March 2001].

Meyer, Karl E., and Szule, Tad. The Cuban Invasion. New York: Ballantime Books, 1962.

Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.

In essence the invasion was rooted in a military miscalculation compounded by political miscalculations that in turn rested on intelligence miscalculations. The burden of the blame falls most heavily on the Agency that conceived and directed the invasion itself. The CIA was simply not equipped to make the military and political decisions thrust upon it (Meyer, 152).

Waiting in the wings was the CIA planned invasion of Cuba. The agency had trained, led, and equipped 1400 Cuban exiles known as the Brigade 2506 (Blight, 89). The Brigade was armed with American weapons and was ready to go into action with the help of United States finances and direction.

On April 18, 1961, two messages were sent, one from Premier Khruschev to President Kennedy, the other is the reply of Kennedy to Khruschev. Both were about the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion.

As Castro was trying to extend his revolution beyond Cuba, opposition began developing in the United States. Citizens were watching Castro open his gates of revolution to the communist and Cuba became a monolithic dictatorship. This unrest opened the doors for the United States to become an active partner in the plot against Castro. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) started relationships with anti-Castro groups in Cuba and Florida calling themselves the Movement of Revolutionary Recovery (Johnson, 72).

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