The Bay of Pigs Invasion

History: Bay of Pigs

Introduction

As a nation increases its political power influence at the global arena, it usually becomes fearful of any potential emerging threats and can deploy any measure in order to combat such entities that are perceived as external threats. The Bay of Pigs Invasions was an instance of one such occurrence, which was accelerated by dire need of the United States to maintain its powerful status quo, while at the same time maintaining its reputation as a prime protector of the human and civil rights. As a response to the perceived threat that the Cuba posed, the United States, with the help of the Cuban exiles, initiated the Invasion at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was hastily initiated and poorly planned (Howard 60). This played a significant role in stained the United States image both at the domestic and foreign levels, this ultimately led to the United States brink to a nuclear war at the helm of Cuban missile crisis. The principal argument is that the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs was a terrible embarrassment to the Kennedy administration, and it is of the belief that the failed Invasion ultimately led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Bay of Pigs invasion is one of the significant events that marked the Cuban revolution. The invasion was initiated by the CIA trained force that comprised of Cuban exiles, who had the intention of invading the southern part of Cuba. The invasion had the required support and the encouragement from the United States Government, which had the principal objective of the overthrowing the Cuban government that was led by Fidel Castro (Lynch 102). The resistance to the invasion was principally by the armed forces of Cuba, which received training and necessary support in terms of equipment from the Eastern Bloc, which in turn resulted to a defeat of the invaders in three days. President John F Kennedy had the choice of deploying the US Air Force during the invasion, bur decided not to use it, as a result, the Cuban army managed to halt the invasion at the Bay of Pigs. The Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion was a significant embarrassment to the President Kennedy administration, which had only stayed in office for only three months. There has been various critics regarding the unsuccessful invasion, with some citing lack of adequate support from the Kennedy administration, while other criticizing it on grounds of allowing the invasion at the Bay of Pigs to take place (Craughwell and Williams 125).

In order to evaluate the thesis of this paper, it is imperative to analyze the various levels of the Kennedy administration involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the aftermath of the invasion. Prior to the inauguration of President John F Kennedy to assume the presidency of the United States, there were plans that were underway by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was established during the President Eisenhower administration to provide training to the exiles from Cuba, in preparation for an invasion to their homeland in order to overthrow Fidel Castro. It can be inferred that the Bay of Pigs Invasion was fuelled by the existence of the contentious relationship that existed between Cuba, which was communist country, and the USSR. The US government was uncomfortable with the concept of communism gaining spread in country that was close to its borders. The US, being the largest nation and one of the free countries at the time, had the responsibility of ensuring that there was lack of spread of communism, and the US government believed that the invasion was a justified cause aimed at protection of the human rights and civil liberties of the inhabitants of Cuba. In addition, the good relationship that existed between the communist Cuba and the USSR, which was the only, super power that was somewhat equivalent to the United States. An underlying fact is that communism was a significant constraint in terms of foreign relations between the US and Cuba, especially in terms of trade. The initial anticipation of the plan was that they combatants will receive the support from the citizens of Cuba, and that a vast fraction of the Cuban military will also provide the required support to initiate the invasion. According to the Kennedy administration, the Bay of Pigs invasion was to establish a non-communist government in Cuba that would maintain good relationship with the United States (Walsh 41). A significant factor that resulted to the failure of the invasion is that its success solely depended on the cooperation of the Cuban population in joining the invasion, which ultimately did not turn as expected. In addition, despite various alternatives at the disposal of the President John F Kennedy, he chose not to deploy the US Air force during the invasion, and this significantly contributed