Movie Review

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Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 86.3 | The History Cooperative

The Bay of Pigs. Prod. and dir. by David Davis. Oregon Public Broadcasting. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1997. 60 mins. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, NJ 08543-2053)

Using newsreels and archival film combined with commentaries and interviews, the producers of The Bay of Pigs have created a vivid account of the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) 1961 fiasco on the shores of Cuba. This video examines the origins of the invasion of Cuba by a CIA-trained brigade of Cuban exiles, the development of plans in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, and finally the bloody outcome on the Cuban beaches. During the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the CIA developed a plan to train a small paramilitary force for guerrilla warfare in Cuba. By the time John F. Kennedy had become president, the plans had been changed. Now the CIA was training a brigade in Guatemala for an amphibious assault that would land at the coastal town of Trinidad. Because Kennedy found that "far too noisy," he ordered a change to a covert, nighttime landing. Richard Bissell, CIA deputy director of planning, chose an unsuitable location for the assault, the Bay of Pigs. To destroy the Cuban air force and to repel any counterattacks, two air strikes were planned for the brigade's air force, composed of aging B-26 bombers. Kennedy's order to scrub the second strike left the brigade exposed to attacks by the Cuban air force. He also forbade any help by American armed forces, but he would not cancel the assault lest he appear weak. . . .

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