THE 'LESSONS OF CUBA'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780060-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: May 1, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780060-7
Pape Poke Pace
PORT HURON, MICH.
TIMSS-HERALD
E. 31,263,
S. 31,066 ,
MAY I
The 'Lessors Of Cube'
" ,ainf : ippraisal." of what
went wrong in she C'u'ba invasion is
being undertaken a a%el. head
ed b ?,~ y1or, for-
mer Army chief of sta t
And -until the panel re~pits the
public is lifelly to learn little ore
than the speculations of recent days
about Why the Cuban exiles' efforts
to overthrow Castro ended in. such
a dismal failure.
?
?
Central Intelligence en -,w no
Se n n the Presidentially-ap-
pointed nel with General Taylor
wi
e` atr ats ini
c Plying that all
the present Administration did was
to carry out plans made under the
Eisenhower Administration. This ni-
turally brought forth some sharp re-
joinders from Republicans who said
attempts to blame the Cuban. fail-
ure on President Eisenhower are
pretty shoddy politics.
* * *
President Kennedy finally had to
step in and declare that the present
Administration assumes all respon-
sibilit$ for whatever -went wrong.
Then . he went a step further and
knocked a few heads together within
411* A.dininistration with the state-
as en accused in some quarters
of having failed to size up the Cuban.
picture accurately, and Attorney;, -
General Robert F. Kennedy, tile`
President's brother.
Confusing he "who's to blame"
picture as been some rui"~ack
and forth acr
th
MAY 1 1961
went that he didn't want any blame-
shifting to the Central Intelligence
Agency, the State Department or
the Defense Department, either.
It seems to us that blame-placing
for what happened in Cuba is rele-
vant to the task ahead only so far as
it serves as a guide for what not
to do in the future.
The "lessons of;CUba"-as the
Admni,ktlraton is' now referring
to the id ision fiasco -- should
include the IdSton That recrim-
inations and pointiug. ai about
"who goofed" will serve also to
disunite this Nation in face of
the most appalling Cominunis-
? - tic threat our hemisphere has
ever faced.
It should be realized that several
of our Latin American neighbors
have already benefitted. from th'd
"lessons of Cuba." Honduras, Uri
gray, 'Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Coil-
umbia and Venezuela quickly com-
municated their "solidarity with the
United States" in the face of the
Cuban crisis - and Communist-in- `
spired demonstrations against the
U. S. fizzled completely in all but
one Latin American country in .1
which they had been scheduled.
There is a ~ growing indication,
happily, that what used; to be re-
garded as "Yankee intervention" is
now being more. widely recognized
for whaf it is-the' vital defense of
the western hemisphere.
We only hope General Taylor's
study doesn't get so bogged down
with details that is misses the big,,
lessons that already are apliearing
C-
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780060-7