KENNEDY SEEKS EXCUSE FOR THE CUBAN FIASCO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780070-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: April 30, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Pregs Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780070-6
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APR 3 U 19b1
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
CITIZEN
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M. 38,737
? S. 57.073
APR 29 19?1
7 Kennedy beeks Excuse
For The Cuban Fiasco
Pr esident John,,KKenrkedy, proy-
, ing that he is, at least, "human's and
not the cold, calculating robot that
many of his detractors insisted he was
, during his campaign for the White
House.
He is, for one thing, worried
visibly4Alwittedly worrier ith
good reason. Committed to endingithe
Communist takeover in both Cuba and
Laos, he is faced with courses of ac-
tion that could only mean war. In any
age, that is apber prospect; in these
times, it C'buld-be? cataclysmic.
He is, for another, vexed--
pointed anA4vicl The atIemicf
cOuntei:reTaiition "staged by Cuban
exiles, but entineered, and directed by.
the U. S. Central Intallisence Ageuau,
was a shamnirfrisco ? almost in-
credibly so.
As President, Jack Kennedy as-
sumed full blame. Even had he not
done so, the critics would have tagged
him for censure.
* * *
It is evident, though, that Kennedy
has not been able to shrug off this
failure as lightly as surface appear-
ances might suggest. lIn444 re-
ports indicate that he and his advisors
Maine the CIA for a faulty estimate of
the Cuban situatitin, an error in time-
ing, a bad choice of landing-site.
It is olea t99,4hat the President
blames ?eapress. When he told Ameri-
carillgspaper publishers the time
lhas come for the press to exercise
;more self-restraint and to respect the
need for "greal.tugigiaLsecrecy," lie
OA was saying, in effect, theA role in
t1
training and directing the Cuban exile
'.,forces should never have been'dis-
'closed, the failure should have been
publicized as a futile attempt by an
untrained band of Cuban zealots, U. S.
prestige should be maintained in the
Ieyes of the world through any expedi-
ency.
And m ejjat. We concede
thetTfls m ful and open disclosure
of defense techniques and strategy
strictly-controlled press, can mask all
its movements.
,BuJ ,the puban,? incident, , we
thi=e'President is wrong. Prior to
the actual "Invasion;" and generally
speaking, the nation's wire services
and nemapers_ jaj,1ie the ,,story
with remalable reatraint.
Si-nte"4i in UK, many report-
eri Itii.eW..M,4t the CIA was active in
rbstfulting and training a force of Cu-
ban expatriates whose only mission
could be an attempt t6 dislodge the
Castro regime. YeLtilag,,first public
, mention of the plan, including the
Guataifllan training site, was made in
October 1960.1114?Stanforq University
41"stepo,r41 axobscure professional
?*mai. ,
tip,p, magazine published
the fact in November and, after that,
the story was public property. Even
so, it was not until January 10, 1961,
that the New Yn.rk Times hopped on
the news with a Frage One spread.
Maybe that and the resulting ac-
counts helped scuttle the venture. We
doubt it. We suspect, 6/en, that the
President knows the public reports
were a negligible factor.
The press has a responsibility to
preserve national security?Fa role that
is often difficult when high govern-
ment officials "leak" secrets, to ad-
vance their own inte,rests. It also has
a responsibility to keep the public in-
formed of grave and pertinent matters
affecting the people of this country.
It is not an' easy assignment. Frequent-
ly it is bungled. ? ? ?
But the freedom to report, and ,
the privilege of error, must be main-
tained so long as America continues
its course as a free republic.
We sympathize with the President
in his current travail. The problems
he faces defy human solution. But he,
himself, may have offered apt sum-
mary when he said, "Perhaps there is
no answer to the dilemma faced by a
free and open society in a cold and
secret war."
when Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780070-6
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