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John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969
Soon after assuming the presidency, President Kennedy approved a CIA plan originating with his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, for toppling Cuban leader Fidel Castro with an army of Cuban refugees covertly trained in the United States. Within hours after the start of the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961, Castro's army overwhelmed the refugees on the beach. The fiasco exposed Kennedy to harsh criticism, many lambasting him for not providing sufficient air cover. Kennedy, disappointed by the advice he received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and holdovers from the Eisenhower administration, moved rapidly to obtain Eisenhower's support. In this photograph, taken in late April, JFK and Ike walk the grounds of Camp David. Eisenhower always supported the president publicly, but privately, Ike, who in World War II commanded the largest amphibious invasion in history, bitterly criticized Kennedy's rejection of additional air cover.
George Tames, 1961 |