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Cuban freedom fighters attacked three Cuban air bases. The bombings barely damaged the Cuban air force. But Fidel Castro was furious. He immediately accused the United States of involvement in the attack.
    Things only got worse after that. A diversionary landing on Saturday was supposed to put about 160 anti-Castro Cuban freedom fighters ashore near Guantánamo Bay, but it was canceled when a crucial boat broke down. In a separate incident, Cuban forces arrested a small band of freedom fighters who were already on the island.
    By Saturday afternoon, the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations was addressing the General Assembly, denouncing the United States for its attack—in response to which Adlai Stevenson, the U.S. ambassador, repeated JFK’s promise that no American forces would ever wage war in Cuba.

This photo, printed in a Cuban newspaper, shows the Cuban army attacking the U.S.-backed freedom fighters. [© Bettmann/Corbis]
    In the dead of night, just after Sunday turned to Monday, the landing force of 1,400 Cuban exiles from Brigade 2506 powered toward the Bay of Pigs aboard a small fleet of freighters and landing vessels. Their hopes were high—their dream was to regain control of their homeland.
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    John Kennedy stands in the Oval Office, helpless to stop what he has started. At his side is his brother Bobby, his closest friend and adviser.
    The news from the landing beaches is not good: The freedom fighters have failed to secure key roads and other strategic points. There is no way off the beach for the men of Brigade 2506. Cuban forces have pinned them down. The invasion is stalled.
    A distraught JFK shares his fears with Bobby. The president knows when speaking with his brother that he is safe from security leaks or attempts to undermine his authority. But even now, with Bobby at his side, John Kennedy feels the crushing loneliness of being the president of the United States. He has made this mess in Cuba. If only he can find a way to turn this disaster into a victory.
    But that is not to be.
    April 19, 1961
    In a last-ditch attempt to salvage the invasion, the president reluctantly authorizes one hour of air cover starting at 6:30 A.M., to be provided by six unmarked jets from the Navy aircraft carrier Essex . The jets are to rendezvous with the B-26 bombers piloted by Cuban freedom fighters and keep the Cuban aircraft at bay.
    Now there is more bad news: incredibly, the CIA and the Pentagon didn’t account for the time zone difference between Cuba and the freedom fighters’ air base in Nicaragua. Jets from the Essex and the B-26 bombers from Nicaragua arrive at the rendezvous one hour apart. The two groups of aircraft never meet up. As a result, several B-26s and their pilots are shot down by the Cuban air force. Pierre Salinger, the president’s press secretary, discovers Kennedy alone in the White House residence, weeping after hearing the news.

Robert Kennedy was his brother’s closest friend and confidant. Here they stand outside the door leading to the Oval Office. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
    By 5:30 P.M. on the night of April 19, Cuban forces have taken complete control of the Bay of Pigs. The invasion is over.
    In addition to the dead and captured on the ground, Castro’s forces have sunk almost a dozen invasion vessels, including those carrying food and ammunition, and shot down nine B-26 bombers.
    The defeat is a major humiliation for the United States. Kennedy is forced to give a press conference and take full blame. “There’s an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.…” What matters, he says, is that “I am the responsible officer of the government.”
    Amazingly, Kennedy’s approval rises to 83 percent after the invasion, proving to the president that the American people stand firmly behind his actions against Castro. The rating temporarily makes him one of the most popular presidents of the 20th