John F. Kennedy was far from a flawless president. His first major foreign policy gamble — the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 — was a catastrophic embarrassment.
The CIA’s attempt to topple Fidel Castro collapsed within three days. Kennedy inherited the plan from the Eisenhower administration, and it ended with the surrender of over 1,000 US-backed Cuban exiles to the communists. It was a humiliating debut on the world stage for the young president, emboldening Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and prompting him to continue testing America.
The next test came eighteen months later — and this time, Kennedy passed.
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