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Fidel Castro gains power of Cuba
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Eisenhower approves covert plan of action against Cuba
Plan consisted of extreme propaganda, and organization of paramilitary forces -
CIA begins recruiting anit-Castro Cuban exiles
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Eisenhower approves $13 million budget for invasion
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Cuba publicly allies self with Soviet Union/Communism
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Eisenhower breaks diplomatic ties with Cuba
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Kennedy approves final plan for invasion
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JFK pledges US will not overthrow Castro
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Cuban invasion force departs from Nicaragua
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion began because Unsuccessful attempt of U.S. forces to overthrow Fidel Castro's Cuban government. -
Cuban Foreign Minister accuses US of air attacks
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Three US airplanes, piloted by Cubans, bomb Cuban air bases
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Attack Begins
The attack begins in the early hours of a Saturday morning. The CIA-backed brigade of Cuban exiles sends eight B-26 bombers from Nicaragua to Cuba to destroy Fidel Castro’s air force on the ground. Staged to look like an internal revolt by Castro’s own men, the air raid is only partly successful. At least six of Castro’s fighter planes survive. That afternoon, Adlai Stevenson, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, insists America had nothing to do with the air raids. -
Cuba announces that they're a Socialist State
At a funeral ceremony for Cubans killed in the air raids, Fidel Castro rails at the United States and announces, for the first time, that Cuba is a socialist state. That evening, John Kennedy, at his country house in Virginia for the weekend, cancels follow-up air raids on Cuban airfields. At least one CIA official immediately grasps the implications: “The Cuban Brigade was doomed.” -
Brigade 2506 is attacked in Southern Cuba
Shortly after midnight, approximately 1,400 Cuban exiles, known as Brigade 2506, begin to land on the coast of southern Cuba, in and around the Bay of Pigs. At dawn, they come under attack from the surviving planes of Castro’s air force. Two key supply ships are quickly sunk. Meanwhile, in the United States, life goes on. Billy Wilder’s The Apartment wins an Academy Award for Best Picture that evening in Los Angeles. -
Invasion of Bay of Pigs
Backed by the US, Cuban exiles attempt to overthrow the government. The rebellion fails and over 1000 Cuban rebels are captured by pro-Castro forces -
Brigade 2506 asks US for help against Cuba.
With their supply ships sunk or AWOL, and coming under heavy fire from Castro’s air force and artillery, the Brigade begins to run out of ammunition and options. Desperation sets in on the beach, in CIA headquarters, and in the White House, where John Kennedy asks himself, “How could I have been so stupid?” At the Bay of Pigs, brigade leaders beg for help from nearby American warships. President Kennedy refuses to grant permission for the navy to engage. -
“The worst American defeat since 1812.”
With ammunition gone and no help from the Americans forthcoming, the brigade collapses and takes refuge in swamps around the Bay of Pigs, where they are soon flushed out by Castro’s troops. In Cuba and around much of the world, Castro is celebrated as the David who beat Goliath. In Washington, a shaken John Kennedy and his stunned advisors take stock and try to figure out how to recover from what one American general calls “the worst American defeat since 1812.” -
Last US/Cuban hold captured
90 exiles had been killed, Cuba now wary of American intrusion on Cuban soil. -
Kennedy tell the press that the invasion was Cubans fighting Cubans
