1. Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961

2. Key Questions What was the Bay of Pigs invasion?
Why did the US want to invade Cuba?
Who were the key figures involved?
How did the USSR respond?
How did the Bay of Pigs invasion contribute to the Cuban missile crisis?

3. What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
14th April Cuban exiles trained and armed by the CIA invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was part of Operation Mongoose.
The US hoped that the Cuban people would join in with their plans and overthrow Castro.
After 72 hours the invasion was over. 200 of the invaders were killed and 1,000 were captured.

4. 2. Who carried out the attacks?
Watch the following newsreel about the Bay of Pigs Invasion and answers the following questions.
Click to Play
1. What happened in April 1961?
2. Who carried out the attacks?
3. What did Fidel Castro want other countries to do?
4. What did Stevenson say at the UN? Why did he say this?
5. What evidence is there that this source is biased?

5. Why did the US want to invade Cuba?
Before 1959 Cuba under the dictatorship of General Fulgencio Batista. He was supported by the US government because he allowed American businesses to operate in Cuba.
In January 1959 Fidel Castro with his Cuban Revolutionary Force, which included Ernesto Che Guevara, overthrew Batista.
Castro wanted to nationalise American businesses which exploited the Cuban people. In other words he wanted the economy to be run by Cuba and not by private American businesses.
The US did not like the way that Castro wanted to run Cuba. They thought that his ideas were like those of a communist regime so the US wanted to regain control of Cuba and its economy. To do this they needed to overthrow Castro.

6. Operation Mongoose: The Plan to overthrow Castro
Remember the US government did not want Castro to have power in Cuba because they thought he was a communist in their ‘backyard’.
In 1960 Dwight Eisenhower, the president of the US, supported CIA plans to overthrow Castro.
The CIA’s plan to overthrow Castro was named OPERATION MONGOOSE.
President Kennedy also supported the plan.

7. OPERATION MONGOOSE Spies Propaganda Training Cubans
Assassination Attempts
Sabotage

8. How did the US attempt to overthrow Castro?
Destabilising the Cuban economy
By 1960 the US had refused to buy Cuban sugar, the country’s largest export, which threatened to destabilise the Cuban economy.
In October 1959 U.S. military aircraft bombed Cuban sugar mills.
Counterrevolutionaries also set light to cats and put them into field of sugar cane to destroy crops.
14th April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.

9. How did the US attempt to overthrow Castro?
Assassinating Fidel Castro
In August 1960, the CIA recruited members of Chicago mafia to assassinate Castro.
In February 1961 they attempted to poison Castro's favourite Cuban cigars with botulism.

10. General Batista Fidel Castro USA Nationalisation Bay of Pigs Fear
Task: You have been asked by a publisher of an encyclopaedia to write a paragraph summarising what the Bay of Pigs invasion was, when it happened, why it happened. Use some of the words below to help you.
General Batista Fidel Castro USA
Nationalisation Bay of Pigs Fear
Communism

11. How did the USSR react to the invasion?
Source A On April 18, President Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev saying:
Kennedy cancelled further US support for the invasion. The US was humiliated and Kennedy appeared to be a weak and inexperienced leader to the whole world.
Discussion point: How could the USSR have helped Cuba from a future attack from the USA? How do you think the US would have reacted?
Source A: “It is a secret to no one that the armed bands invading this country were trained, equipped and armed in the United States of America..... It is still not late to avoid the irreparable. The government of the USA still has the possibility of not allowing the flame of war ignited by interventions in Cuba to grow into an incomparable conflagration.... As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, there should be no mistake about our position: We will render the Cuban people and their government all necessary help to repel an armed attack on Cuba.”

12. Main events surrounding the Bay of Pigs. Put these events in order:
April ,200 Cuban exiles armed and trained by the US invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
General Batista is dictator of Cuba.
Fidel Castro nationalises American owned businesses in Cuba.
The US believe that Castro is a communist so they plan to overthrow Castro.
January Fidel Castro overthrows Batista’s dictatorship.
Cuba were now very fearful of another American invasion.
The Bay of Pigs invasion failed. The US was embarrassed and President Kennedy looked a weak and inexperienced leader.

13. Main events surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion 1961 (correct order)
B General Batista is dictator of Cuba.
E. January Fidel Castro overthrows Batista’s dictatorship.
C –61 - Fidel Castro nationalises American owned businesses in Cuba.
D. The US believe that Castro is a communist so they plan to overthrow Castro.
A. April ,200 Cuban exiles armed and trained by the US invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
G. The Bay of Pigs invasion failed. The US was embarrassed and President Kennedy looked a weak and inexperienced leader.
F. Cuba were now very fearful of another American invasion.