If the Soviets were not menacing enough in Eastern Europe and in Southeast Asia, where they captured Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, alarms of all sorts were raised when the island of Cuba, just a short boat ride away from Florida and mainland U.S. turned to communism with the rise of Fidel Castro. Meetings were held at the highest levels to decide the proper response: armed conflict was deemed unpalatable after Vietnam, but following the process of Vietnamization and the Eisenhower doctrine, a plan was developed to foment a local resistance movement which the United States could support.

On this day, April 17, a force of 1400 Cuban exiles, armed and trained clandestinely by the CIA, landed in Cuba, as per the Kennedy-developed and Eisenhower approved plan. That was about the only aspect that went right.

The Cuban air power was supposed to be neutralized by a sneak air attack from Nicaragua, by planes painted to match the Cuban Air Force. Instead, the attackers hit their support troops. The real Cuban planes then took off to harass the landing force, and the following day Castro’s troops marched on the attackers and forced them to surrender.