Bay of Pigs–nothing new under the sun

pumapuma2

Every couple of years, for the past 40 or so, more stuff on the Bay of Pigs gets breathlessly “declassified!” blah…blah..blah generating more books and articles and symposiums…blah…blah…blah by “scholars” and “experts.”

As a professional duty I’ve read all of it–and you know what?

Every Cuban in the U.S. knew all this stuff in 1961–at least by 1962 when the Bay of Pigs prisoners came back and our famous radio bemba cranked up. There’s really nothing new under the sun. The canceled air strikes doomed the invasion. The decision was JFK’s. Period. End of story. Kennedy and his cabinet and advisors were all typical Ivy League liberals ashamed of “cowboy” or “gunboat” diplomacy. Period. End of story.

There’s really nothing to add to Eddie Ferrer’s Operation Puma (1974)–or even to Mario Lazo’s Dagger in the Heart. (1968.) The essentials were all there…Y PAL CARAJO!

But given that both Ferrer and Lazo were anti-communist Cubans (Lazo was also a U.S. citizen) their books (naturally) never got the traction they deserved in “scholarly” circles. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty spare yourselves all the trouble and all the “scholarly” mumbo-jumbo and read those two books, along with Grayston Lynch’s Decision to Disaster. It’s all there…Y PAL CARAJO!

4 thoughts on “Bay of Pigs–nothing new under the sun”

  1. JFK and his crowd were not ashamed of gunboat diplomacy, exactly; they thought they were above it and could prevail based on their “sophistication” and/or charm. When you believe that not only does your shit not stink but that it smells like Chanel No. 5, you wind up really stepping in it.

  2. Hum-boy-dah,
    You omitted another excellent book: Lynch, Grayston L. “Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs.” Washington D. C.: Brassey’s, 1998.
    The Kennedy family paid for and sponsored the apologia Johnson, Haynes. “The Bay of Pigs: The Leaders’ Story of Brigade 2506.” New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1964.
    The Brigade leaders interviewed caved in to Bobby Kennedy’s false promises and perks.
    Another interesting account is: Persons, Albert C. “Bay of Pigs: A Firsthand Account of the Mission by a U.S. Pilot in Support of the Cuban Invasion Force in 1961.” Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1990.
    John Kennedy, whose claim to fame during W.W.II was that he had his PT boat rammed and sunk at night by a Japanese destroyer, changed the Brigade invasion plan, which led to disaster.

  3. Thanks prof. Tony. But you shoulda read the ENTIRE post first. I INCLUDED Lynch’s book (In fact, I put it in the closing sentence of the post–for most impact.) It’s invaluable, as I’ve often posted on here. Not like you to miss a detail like that…?

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