Bay of Pigs: A Well-Planned Fiasco (Part One)

About this episode

This episode discusses the Bay of Pigs invasion and its implications during the Cold War.

For the sixteenth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go, for the first time to the Cold War. It’s April 1961, and the US is concerned about Cuba’s new leftist leader, Fidel Castro. The US has a new leader of its own, JFK, who adopts - and adapts - a plan from Eisenhower’s CIA to send a group of renegade Cuban dissidents into the Bay of Pigs to spark a revolution. It does not go well! We get into the botched plans, the rogue CIA, and why you can’t drive a boat over a coral reef. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now . This Day is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Khawla…

People in this episode

Host: Jody Avirgan

Topics covered

• Cold War
• Bay of Pigs
• Cuban dissidents
• JFK
• CIA operations
• failed plans

Keywords

• Bay of Pigs
• Fidel Castro
• JFK
• CIA
• Cuban dissidents
• Cold War
• failed invasion

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, Radiotopia, PRX

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