1. Cuba

2. Bay of Pigs Invasion April 17, 1961

3. 1956-1959 Castro led a guerilla movement to topple dictator Batista

4. 1956-1959 Castro led a guerilla movement to topple dictator Batista
Seized US oil refineries
Broke up commercial farms
Relied on Soviet aid
Politically repressed those who didn’t agree with him

5. March 1960 Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba

6. Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba on January 3, 1961 (about 2 weeks before Kennedy came into office)

7. JFK learned of the plot only 9 days after his election but still approved it

8. April 17, 1961: 1300-1500 exiles, supported by US military, landed on Bay of Pigs

9. April 17, 1961: 1300-1500 exiles, supported by US military, landed on Bay of Pigs
Airstrike failed to knock out Cuban air force
A small advance group never reached shore
Exiles faced 25,000 Cuban troops backed by Soviet tanks and jet aircraft

10. Publicly: JFK accepted blame
Privately: “How could that crowd at the CIA and the Pentagon be this wrong”

11. This cartoon, published in one of Cuba's state-run papers shows the president in a collar that symbolizes the fact that he is a slave to capitalism and fascism. The text at the bottom reads "a different dog, but the same collar," indicating the supposedly liberal Kennedy is really no different than any of the presidents who came before him.