THE FORGOTTEN LESSONS OF THE BAY OF PIGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R000401950007-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 20, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ocal gossip had it that Mrs. ? Kennedy fired*. the entire staff after her
husband's funeral, because she couldn't afford to keep so many. on the payroll..
shoulders, introduced. herself and
shook-my hand. Jackie, whom I first.
met as she came strolling-back from
the beach in a small but-very becom-
ing bikini, said, "Oh, you must be
Gramma's new secretary; Barbara,"
and went on. to make a. few minutes
of polite'conversation.
.F is was in marked: contrast to
the rj'ception I got from the -Shriv-
ers The first time I met Eunice
Kennedy Shriver I was sitting in
Mrs.. Kennedy's bedroom discussing
a letter. Eunice ran in and, without,
apology, interrupted. our conversa-
tion; to 'ask' her mother about plans..
for her upcoming birthday celebra-
'tion. She was wearing shorts and an
old, white . T-shirt,. and she had
Rose'4lelldej{a.A1ififf,
soothing motion of _the' summer-
warm ocean. When.I emerged from
the water and headed up the path.
'toward. the house, I saw Mrs.- Ken-
nedy waving-t6 me from the porch.
.' Yoo-hoo," she called, "are you all
right?" She had put off taking her
nap so she could watch over me all
that'time.
One'day when Mrs. Kennedy and
'I were enjoying the bright sunshine
as we. paddled around in the bay, I
told herhow much I appreciated the
chance to. swim' with her regularly
and what'.a pleasure it was to have
so varied a routine on the.job.'ButI
added that I was worried that I
would slip behind in the typing and
filing and correspondence. She
looked at me with a wonderful
sparkle in her eye and said, "Don't
worry about ?the-in-ail or the filing.
Just keep me happy."
I tried my -best. -
TOMORROW: Mother and
'children
li'ft.~a"{_,e~'~.
CnnvrI k 1V A Lr RaeMra-GIMe" wit twea
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apparently just washed her. hair, lo," I said, smiling. "rm Barbara
without.botherin.g-to take the time to Gibson, Mrs. Kennedy's new secre-
comb out the tangles or smooth .it tary.. He . glanced. at. me briefly.
away 'from her eyes. When their "Well,: la-di-da," he said, and kept on
conversation was finished, she sim- - walking.
ply turned on_ her heel and left .the~_ _? Although _ Mrs. _ Kennedy . Was.
room as abruptly as she'd entereed .. sometimes _ a' bitimperious.' she
I was surprised she didn't nod or could also be very warm and friend.
glance in my 'direction; .she :came ly. Attimes she could also be rather
and went.as if :I weren't there at all.' .. maternm On one of therare'days
wIIeza Slit:: UiUil L Ieel Up VU swim-
ming. she encouraged me to eo in
meeting me, when. I ran
into'' him `one day in the
hallway. I knew who he.
was, of course; from photographs,.
but I assumed he didn't know who I
was and that the proper thing, to do
would be to introduce myself.. "Hel
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F1wyinW
3aa ft. **'tao, iaee
The- forgotten lessons.. of the -Bay of Pigs
I T HAS BEEN 25 YEARS now
since-on April 17, 1961-some
1,400 Cubans trained by the CIA at
bases in Central America landed at the
Bay of Pigs, where they fought bravely
until, their ammunition and fuel ex-
hausted, they were killed or captured
by Fidel Castro's troops.
During the intervening 25 years,
criticism of the U.S. government for not
doing enough at the Bay of Pigs gave
way to criticism for having tried to do
anything at all. The Bay of Pigs joined
the Vietnam War in the liberal's show-
case of horrors concerning the disas-
trous consequences of U.S. attempts to
oppose the consolidation of new Com-
munist governments. It is worth paus-
ing to wonder what would have hap-
pened had the rebel brigade been able
to secure positions and mount an in-
surgency. What difference would it
have made?
"Why," said a Nicaraguan refugee to
whom I put the question, "I would be in
Managua, not-in Washington."
There are lessons in the landing
itself: About the vulnerability of troops
that are fired on from the air, whether
from old planes like Castro's or
whether from Hind helicopters like
those used today in Nicaragua, Afgha-
nistan and Angola.
There is a broader lesson to be
learned about the necessity of adequate
force where force is to be used.
The Kennedy team, I$ver fully com-
fortable with the plan Inherited from
the Eisenhower administration, ex-
pressed its misgivings by adding on
constraints. The cumulative effects of
these constraints is believed by many to
have been crippling. "We can be criti-
cized," said CIA official Richard Bissell,
"for allowing this chipping away to go
on without insisting on the whole plan,
or cancellation."
The fact that the Bay of Pigs opera-
tion did not succeed does not mean it
could not have succeeded. And while
we do not know what would have hap-
pened had the brigade established a
beachhead, we know what happened
because it did not. Consolidation of
Vanity, and designer books
H ILFIGERISM is a disease of
known origin and uncertain
cure. The disease is named after
Tommy Hilfiger, a 34-year-old clothing
designer who bounces when be walks
and who nakedly lusts to be the next
Calvin Klein. Its symptoms include a
desperate yearning for fame and
wealth.
Hilfiger displayed the symptoms in
an interview with Lisa Belkin. Explain-
ing why Murjani International has put
up $20 million to make his face and
label, if not his clothes, celebrated, he
opined: "I think they felt I was the
natural all-American-looking, promot-
able type of person with the right
charisma ... I'm a marketing vehicle."
This week David Stockman becomes
a vehicle. On Wednesday America's
latest craver of fame and fortune will
officially publish his very own "Mom-
my Dearest," a memoir about his ser-
vice as Ronald Reagan's chief budget
officer. To induce him to confess, pub-
lisher Harper & Row advanced Stock-
man $2.4 million.
Based on the excerpts which
appeared in Newsweek, this confession
is not without historical benefit. Stock-
man is an injured idealist of prodigious
intellect. I will buy the book to learn
more about Stockman's ridicule of
Washington and right-wing totems, in-
cluding supply-side economics.
But Stockman is no more likeable
than Tommy Hilfiger. By writing "The
Triumph of Politics: Why The Reagan.
Revolution Failed," Stockman used his
public office as a platform for private
gain. He achieved this gain by stepping
over friends and colleagues in Washing-
ton, including Treasury Secretary
James Baker, who personally inter-
ceded to save his job. He made nice to
-Michael Deaver and other Reagan
hands, and now dismisses them as
"illiterate". He admits that he went
along with some White House lies-
inventing a "phantom" GNP growth
rate of 5.2%, which deliberately. hid a
1982 deficit that turned out to be $85
billion more than forecast. Yet rather ternational traveler remarked casually, processors, cars, films, fashions, wine,
than quit on principle, Stockman stuck "It was warm this afternoon in Paris." . whatever. No French perfume for Mrs.
Polonia. In fact, as a symbolic gesture, I
" I told him, "you're the first
around. "John
.
,
One can make an argument-as those Reel in history ever to comment on the think I'll abstain from French fries
who stuck with Richard Nixon to the weather in Paris." forever. Instead of welcoming French
bitter end did-that more public good The first and, I hope, the last. I just officials to our celebration this summer
comes from having an economically made a resolution: Never go to France, in honor of the Statue of Liberty, which
sane Stockman `in the Wt e tha ,,,,qpd never buy anything made in France gave us 100 years ago, maybe we
ance. should_withdr "theInvitationandship
If he hadres1gaed AII~ ,,&
bad I would love to visit the them a State K
T
uir
th
fid
i
t
oo
a
par
le~
n
req
e
their versip, v ckman {#Ia 9 .Frgt-cq John saw several, Considering the d n' h1t ttandt building a self-sufficient society? We
'a li e`atSurdd tale tlidY are ,awe msP r a .-and eMeai+f a that Libyaa f1~peiicy can ' begin bj' 3etting;+*tance knoWthat
h 4qt his memo'
project; nor ha?it `._)Ahg1 i^lbt+e?chUrttreiv1tan't get pasta. ~undeR to iir'lllif tt#ieldt's s tiFPalt~cb'isnh'needed+'.~~'?',' ~,
fot aft Sra '
just penned a powerful dissent from
Reagan's economic policies.
Rather, he cashes in with what the
excerpts suggest is a kiss-and-tell ver-
sion. Stockman rarely hid his economic
views, but he did hide his distain for the
empty attic that he says is Reagan's
mind and for most of his colleagues.
Stockman did something even more
ethically dubious. By spicing up his
memoir with behind-closed-doors con-
versations and dialogue he, in effect,
secretly recorded conversations with-
out telling those present he was exploit-
ing them. This is a trick any editor
would rebuke, or fire, a journalist for.
Stockman succumbed to 1?ififigerlsm,
a disease that also infects Assistant
Secretary of Defense Richard Perk,
who is out peddling a Pentagon novel.
Publishers have already bid more than
$300,000 to a man who has never written
a novel. Hilfigeriam fogs Perle's mind.
The contagion may have started in
New York Surely the fog slipped over
Geraldine Ferraro's mind when she
agreed to cash-in, and do Pepsi commer-
cials. Just as surely, it infected Mayor
Edward Koch. Last week the mayor
released his tax returns, which revealed
that for the second year in a row his
church without stopping in for a visit.
Saloons used to attract me in- the same
way that churches do now. Churches
are better for me. One day, say 10 years
from now, all our big bills might be
paid, and Mrs. Polonia and I could be in
a position to visit the cathedrals of
France. We won't go, though. That's
definite.
France tolerates terrorism, and frets
about offending Khadafy, and dismisses
I T WAS JUST A YEAR ago that my U.S. interests with apparent contempt.
son John returned from Easter That's France for you. So let Khadafy
vacation in Europe with a group of visit the cathedrals of France in my
students and teachers from his high place.
school. A trip abroad was quite an The national policy of Libya under
adventure for anyone from our stay-at- Khadafy is to blow up civilization. The
home family. I picked John up late on a U.S. is obliged to stand up for civiliza-
Sunday night- at Kennedy Airport. As. tion. We asked France to help us.
we walked out of the terminal to the France refused. That makes it a moral
parking lot, I mentioned that the weath- imperative, it seems to me, to boycott
er had turned cold. My 17-year-old in-- anything and everything French-food
A
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income from writing exceeded his
$110,000 city salary. Koch made
$149,053 from his two books in 1985.
including royalties from the musical
"Mayor!" Like Stockman, the mayor
seems to have given not a second's
thought to invading other people's
privacy in order to spice up his books.
Worse, he seems oblivious of the signal
such books inadvertently send: It's
okay to cash-in on your public office. r
N EFFECT, KENNEDY believed the
HAT IS PRECISELY what others L United States had secured a commit-
in government have come to be- meet that Cuba would not be used
lieve. Last Monday an officer of as a forward base for Soviet military
the Health and Hospitals Corporation power or for Marxist revolution and
was found to own 100 shares of stock in that In eeage the United States
a company whose contract be super- became the guarantor of Cuba's Com-
vised. He saw nothing wrong with that. munist government. Obviously, we kept
Nor do Bronx County Democratic our part of the bargain. The U.S. has
Chairman Stanley Friedman or most not invaded Cuba; nor encouraged, nor
state legislators see anything wrong in assisted others in doing so. Just ei
using their public position to attract obviously, the Soviets nd Cubans bavd
clients and wealth. If pressed, they can not kept their bargain
always blame Koch, who has authored So, the Bay of Pigs ~~~iiiddd not produce
two books in two years. "Ed, by writing the desired outcome. Neither did the
his books, instilled a sense," says one of Kennedy-Khrushchev negotiation en-
his appointees, "that it's okay to go out ding the Cuban Missile Crisis. This
and. make money while in government." experience teaches that neither force
The mind clouds. Fame and fortune nor negotiation can be relied on to-
becken. Tommy Hilfiger would achieve desired goals in foreign policy.
understand. It all depends on bow they are used.
And you can keep your- Perrier
power by the Castro government was
not inevitable and it has been extremely
costly-in human values and human
lives, in military budgets, and In con-
tinuing risks to our national security.
The first consequence of the failure
was a dangerous, direct confrontation
between the United States and the
'USSR 'known as the Cuban Missile
Crisis.
The crisis ended, we now know, with
two deals; one below the table and one
above it. The deal below the table
committed the United States to remove
U.S. missiles from Turkey when
Khrushchev had removed Soviet mis-
sile installations from Cuba. It was
contingent on the Soviet Union "re-
maining silent on the deal."
The U.S.-Soviet deal publicly
affirmed by Kennedy and his Secretary
of State, Dean Rusk, was quite diffe-
rent. According to it, the Soviets agreed
to remove offensive weapons systems
and not to install offensive weapons In
Cuba. In exchange the United States
agreed to lift the blockade and not to
invade Cuba.
Kennedy asserted, s for our part,
if all offensive weapons systems are
removed from Cuba and kept out of the
hemisphere in the future, under adequ-
ate verification and safeguards, and If
Cuba is not used for the export of
aggressive Communist purposes, there
will be peace in the Caribbean. And as I
said in September, we shall neither
innocents in airports, nightclubs, etc, it
is terribly. discouraging that the U.S.
has so little support when we attempt to
combat this tyrant. America, land of
freedom and opportunity, has very few
true friends abroad in this rabid age. We
can't rely on so-called allies. And we
certainly can't rely on enemies. The
treacherous Soviets spat at us when we
asked them to curb Khadafy. They
thought it was fine for him to blow up a
disco full of our G.I.s in Germany.
W THAT CAN Americans do? With-
out becoming jingoistic, with-
out developing a siege mental-
ity, we can dedicate ourselves to making
America as independent as we can from
amoral nations indifferent to terrorism
and tyranny. A touch of isolationism is
in order. The goal is a self-sufficient
America. Certainly, let's all vacation in
A he U.S. this summer.
There was a heartening story in the
business section recently. It said that,
according to a Port Authority study, the
next decade will offer the best job
opportunities for metropolitan area res-
idents since World War II. Some 582,000
new jobs will be created in the city and
suburbs by 1995. Unemployment will
drop below 5%.