The Bay
of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was an unsuccessful attempt by
about 1,500 Cuban exiles, organized and financed by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to topple the
revolutionary regime of Fidel Castro (pictured left)in Cuba.
In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a CIA
plan to train the exiles for an invasion of Cuba, and by
autumn they were receiving military instruction in Guatemala.
When John Fitzgerald Kennedy (pictured below) succeeded
Eisenhower in January 1961, he allowed the preparations to
proceed.
The exiles landed at the Bay
of Pigs, on Cuba's southwestern coast, on Apr. 17, 1961. The
operation was a disaster. News of the attack had leaked out
in advance, and Kennedy had decided not to permit U.S. air
support for the invaders. A general uprising, which the CIA
had believed would be sparked by the landing, failed to
materialize. Castro's forces blocked the exiles from moving
inland, and by April 19 they had been crushed. The 1,200
survivors were captured. In December 1962, Castro released
the prisoners in exchange for $53 million worth of U.S. drugs
and food. 
The following year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis occur after U.S. intelligence reconnaissance flights verified reports that the USSR was constructing launching sites for medium-range and intermediate-range nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba. The USSR apparently hoped to achieve a more favorable balance of power, to protect the Cuban Communist government of Fidel Castro (which the United States had attempted to overthrow in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961), to gain greater diplomatic leverage vis-a-vis the United States, to damage U.S. credibility, and to achieve greater influence in Latin America.
President John F. Kennedy rejected military advice for a full-scale surprise attack on Cuba and instead delivered a public ultimatum to the USSR on October 22. He declared a "quarantine," or naval blockade, of Cuba and demanded withdrawal of all offensive missiles. After nearly two weeks of unprecedented tension, the Soviet government of Nikita Khrushchev yielded. Kennedy, in return, agreed to refrain from attempting an overthrow of Castro's government. Despite this concession, all sides regarded the outcome as a substantial victory for the United States, and Kennedy won a reputation as a formidable international statesman. The USSR began a long-term effort to strengthen its military capability, but in the immediate future both nations sought to relax hostilities.
