The Political Process Has Consumed My Time At Columbia Essay

On April 17, 1961, 1400 CIA-backed Cuban exiles launched a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. This invasion was called The Bay of Pigs Invasion. This invasion "Was intended to provoke popularity for an uprising against Fidel Castro, who had overthrown American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista" (Web).The goal of the unfortunately failed invasion was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. Before John F. Kennedy took office, he was informed of this plan by the CIA. Developed during the Eisenhower administration, the plan was to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their

The aftermaths of the CIA’s failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, an operation, set in motion by the previous Dwight Eisenhower Administration, were now laid down on Kennedy. The failed operation was a major backslide for the CIA. "The Bay of Pigs fiasco broke the dike," said one report at the time and now senior military leaders wanted to take matters in their own hands. President Kennedy’s administration was accused of being soft on Fidel Castro, a then-new communist leader, who took powers during the 1959 Cuban revolution. With the Cold War

Another less criticized aspect of the movie veering from 100% historical accuracy is that nothing is said about President Kennedy’s interests in ridding Fidel Castro of Cuba but in reality he had been made aware of secret missions into Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs. As well as approving the Bay of Pigs invasion. During the Bay of Pigs the US tried to pass the invasion off as Cuban defectors and US armed forces had no role in the invasion. President Kennedy even said “The armed forces of this country would not intervene in any way." Even though that is of course a blatant lie and the Kennedy Administration helped set up and fund the CRC (Cuban Revolutionary Council) to take over after Fidel’s government had been removed. None of President Kennedy’s knowledge of this is shown in the film because it would not fit with how Kenneth O’Donnell advises him on the subject matter.

This secret operation was viewed as far less dangerous than a direct invasion by American troops.As the election of 1960 approached, the CIA had already made plans to overthrow Castro with the Cuban exiles. However, to the surprise of just about everyone, a young John F. Kennedy defeated favorite Richard Nixon by the slimmest of margins.Nonetheless, the invasion had to go on. The plan was to bomb Cuba's airfields to prevent the Cuban military from killing the invading exiles. However, two things went wrong in the invasion. First, the CIA underestimated the Cuban army, and second, the airstrips were not all taken out, allowing the Cuban airforce to retaliate.

1. List and explain the four main features and functions of constitutions. Be sure to associate your answers with specific models from countries explored in this course.

     The CIA was furious but went ahead with the invasion. It failed due to poor intelligence. It had landed on a the worst beach killing 15 of the CIA’s best men with another 1100 in Cuban prisons.

One theory behind the Bay of Pigs Invasion failure was that the original plan from the Eisenhower administration was altered. Another of these mistakes was the belief that Cuban nationals shared the same animosity of Fidel Castro that Cuban exiles did. If the Central Intelligence Agency chose to look at all sides of the Cuban argument instead of only seeing the opinions of the Miami Cuban exiles then the design of the invasion strike would have been changed. Consequently, the Cuban exiles were angry with Fidel Castro for the downfall of President Bastia and wanted democracy. Furthermore, the Cuban population living within Cuba was agreeable with Fidel Castro’s plan of isolation. The Central Intelligence Agency did not consider that the Cuban citizens would want to keep Fidel Castro in power as President. “Castro had a sixty to seventy percent approval rating in Cuba,” stated Central Intelligence Agency hemisphere division chief Joseph C.

Before the invasion happened, the CIA had to train Cuban exiles to hate and destroy the Cuban government and economy. The reason they started training these Cuban exiles is because Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista with an armed revolt. This made the CIA really mad because Batista was good allies with the US and Castro wasn’t. The CIA set up training camps in Guatemala in 1960, and in November the operation had trained a small army for an assault landing and guerilla warfare (jfklibrary.org). After a while, Kennedy confirmed the invasion plan, and was determined to disguise US support. The plan called for two airstrikes against Cuban air bases, a 1,400-man invasion, paratroopers would drop in before the invasion happened, and time after time, small forces would land on the

JFK was not willing to invest a lot of resources and take huge risk of sending a lot of U.S. troops into Castro homeland because the small commando units kept getting caught. The CIA urged Kennedy to send in more troops but he was worried about Moscow’s reaction to the attack and called off the strip in Cuba, thereby giving the invasion the possible cover of being a covert act by Cuban defectors. Kennedy rejected the plea, believing that the invasion did not justify the risk of a Soviet countermove in West Berlin. He thought a confrontation could trigger a nuclear war between them (Matthew, 1996, p. 197).

“First, I want to say that there will not be, under any conditions, an intervention in Cuba by the United States Armed Forces. This government will do everything it possibly can, I think it can meet its responsibilities, to make sure that there are no Americans involved in any actions inside Cuba… The basic issue in Cuba is not one between the United States and Cuba. It is between the Cubans themselves.” These words were spoken by President John F. Kennedy at a press conference on April 12, 1961, just five days before the Bay of Pigs invasion took place. Little did the American public know that in five short days, the United States would support an attempted invasion on the Cuban shore—unsuccessfully. The $46

On January 1961, John F. Kennedy, succeeded Eisenhower and was left to decide whether to launch the invasion. Only new to his job, Kennedy decided to trust the opinions of the joint chiefs of staff and was convinced that such invasion was beneficial for both the U.S and the Cubans.

On April 17th 1961 the US led a group of 1400 trained and armed Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs for what was planned to be a simple invasion. The emigres were to draw support from the island, and the CIA expected Fidel Castro and his “inefficient, unstable” government to collapse almost instantly. However, Fidel had learnt of the invasion at 3:15am that day, prepared the army and rounded up CIA agents and journalists. The Americans had miscalculated Castro’s popularity and the whole operation failed dramatically in just 2 days with more than 1100 taken prisoners. Fidel Castro’s government maintained its support of the people and now Kennedy believed that Khrushchev probably thought he was foolish and immature for approving such a disorganized

From the time I was a little girl I was always interested in politics. At the age of four I began attending school board meeting with my grandfather, by the time I turned 10 I frequented city hall meeting so often most of the Aldermen knew me by name. My love for politics carried over into my college carrier, but as I sat in American Government, national security, and political philosophy, nothing grasped my attention as much as the subject matter of state and local government. Growing up I understood the impact of state and local government, but some how still fell into the common notion that the federal government holds all the power. After the course my passion for politics on a state level grew, I participated in the Tennessee State Intercollege Legislature, and had the opportunity t to experience first hand how senate and house committees work. With state and local government I just scratch the surface of how municipals work, with this course I hope to further my understanding on how urban municipals operate as well as increase my political savvy and literacy. In addition to what I hope to lean in a more educational sense, I hope to in prove on my time management. This is not a physical class, but I will have to stay as focused and detected to this class just as much as I do the others.

The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of

Political science includes a wide range of topics that attempts to describe and explain the political process, politics, and the relationship among governments. As American citizens we should all be informed and be educated about all these above topics. We as citizens cannot be unconscious of our government as the government can make or break our lives. The general areas of study in political science include American government and politics, political theory, public administration, public law, comparative politics and international relations.