Chapter 25 I have the same belief -1

At this point, Kennedy backed down.He also finally saw some merit in the argument that a government that was planning to send U.S. troops across the world in Laos to attack the Communists couldn't have done anything wrong with an aggressive Communist Party just 90 miles south of Florida. The regime ignored it.But even then, he still had doubts.Later, Schlesinger believed that if a certain high-ranking officer objected at that time, the expedition plan would definitely be cancelled.But at that time only Schlesinger and Senator William Fulbright ever objected (Chester Bowles and Edward Murrow, who also knew about the plan, objected, but their The sources are informal, so comments cannot be made directly to the White House).Schlesinger asked Kennedy, "What do you think about this damned invasion plan?" Kennedy replied resignedly, "If I don't want to, I don't think about it."

On Monday, April 10, the Cuban brigade arrived by truck at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, where the ship was boarded.On Thursday, the entire crew was on board.Their CIA leaders told them on Friday that the objectives of the operation were to capture three beachheads at the Bay of Pigs while simultaneously capturing, by Cuban brigade paratroopers, several beaches in the Zapata Everglades, between Cuba's main island and the sea. stronghold.At noon on Sunday, the expedition reached a point of no return.The rebels--their fleet of armed ships and their little air force--had gone into battle. But the true nature of the fighting was not the same as the plan the president thought he had approved.According to the report, the President has full confidence that the Cuban Brigade is an elite force of 1,400 guerrilla-trained troops.He (and the Cuban brigade) had heard that their goal in the Bay of Pigs was a deserted beach where the only signs of life were a few summer houses now vacant.The person who reported also explained that these rebel forces landed in darkness, and Castro would never know.CIA intelligence further assured the President that there was no possibility of any action by the Cuban dictator for at least 72 hours.Even then, he would be baffled because, to confuse him, 168 commandos from the Cuban brigade were to make a diversionary landing on the coast of Orientale Province, more than 300 miles away.

Dulles, Richard Bissell, the chief architect of the CIA's program, and their advisers, including Howard Hunter Jr., were unanimous in their conviction that many Cubans disappointed in Castro Very good, enough to guarantee the success of this login.They said that 2,500 Cubans joined various resistance organizations, another 20,000 sympathized with the resistance movement, and at least 25% of the total population were prepared to actively support the rebels who landed.This is important because Kennedy has repeatedly emphasized, privately and publicly, that U.S. troops will not participate in the attack on Castro.He is unwavering about this.He said at a press conference on April 12: "Under no circumstances will American forces be involved in the Cuban problem, and this administration will do its best - and I think it can fulfill its responsibilities - Guarantee that no United States will be involved in any military action in Cuba... The basic problem in Cuba is not between the United States and Cuba, but between the Cubans themselves."

His men told him that if the exiles could not establish and hold a beachhead at the Bay of Pigs, they would end the operation and "disappear in the mountains."In this way, the President believes that all possible accidents have been thought of.He believed that such a change had turned what had been a high-profile amphibious operation into an innocuous infiltration operation, and felt that any possibility of endangering the credibility and prestige of the United States had been ruled out. He was completely wrong.The CIA does something else entirely.Since November 4, 1960, the Cuban brigade (then only 300 people) has not received guerrilla warfare training.Most of the later recruits were not fit for the arduous jungle warfare.There are only 135 qualified soldiers in the brigade, and the rest used to be clerks, lawyers, bankers, doctors, geologists, teachers, cattle breeders, journalists, musicians, drafters, engineers, artists, mechanics, etc. Wait.In addition, there are three Catholic priests and one Protestant priest.An elite army must be composed of young people around 20 years old, but the average age of these people is 29 years old, and some of them are already 60 years old.Some of the guys who ended up taking part didn't even know how to fire a gun.

Kennedy's miscalculation was only just beginning.In fact, how this rebel army operates in the mountains has never been tested.Unbelievable to say, the closest mountain range to the landing point is the Escambray Mountains, 80 miles (about 129 kilometers) offshore, separated from the Bay of Pigs by an insurmountable swamp.The exiles, all Cuban, may have pointed this out.The problem was that no one ever told them that they might disperse and infiltrate that mountain or anywhere else.The CIA concealed that backup plan from the rebels without consulting the President or consulting the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Its reasoning was that if the exiles knew this, their will to fight would be weakened; they might abandon the beachhead when victory was likely.

The CIA men did everything they could to boost the morale of the rebels, including making unfulfilled promises, such as Frank Bender telling them, "You'll be stronger then, and you'll get a lot of money right away. You don’t have to wait for us to come to your aid. You can just drive right in. You just hold out your hands, turn left, and head straight for Havana.” Furthermore, CIA agents assured the exiles: If that fails, the Americans will come to their rescue.Much later, the leader of the exiles, José Pérez San Roman, heard that there was a backup plan to escape to the mountains if necessary, and said sadly: "We have never heard of this plan. We were just told: 'If you fail, we'll drive in right away'." In Miami, Manuel Rai of the Democratic Revolutionary Front had always believed that American troops would land on the heels of the Cuban brigade.He later said: "We were informed that the landing would be supported with all necessary support. They even told us that a force of 10,000 to 15,000 men had been prepared."

The first and decisive setback for the Cuban brigade came from the air.The CIA has always looked down on Cuba's air force, estimating its combat effectiveness as "virtually zero," its aircraft "mostly obsolete and useless"; its command structure "totally disorganized," and so on.Castro had 15 B-26 bombers, 10 Sea Rages and four fast T-33 jet trainers.In order to eliminate these planes, the CIA planned to launch air strikes on Cuban airports on Saturday, April 15, two days before the landing.Eight exiles were planned to fly a World War II propeller B-26 bomber, and two of them later claimed in Miami that they had escaped from the Cuban Air Force.This is of course inappropriate.Of course Castro knew if he had escaped from him, and at this unfortunate time, a real defector landed in Jacksonville, which added to the confusion of the Americans.The bulky B-26 was slow, difficult to maneuver, and often had engine failures.On Saturday night, Frank Bender telegraphed Pepe San Roman that the bombing mission was very successful, almost all of Castro's planes were destroyed on the ground - 12 at Santiago Airport in Cuba, 6-8 In Liberty City, 8-10 in San Antonio.It would be great if this were true, but unfortunately not.The Cuban air force was left with six B-26s, two Sea Rages, four fighter jets, and more importantly, two T-33 jets.Inexplicably, both the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered the T-33 to be of little value because it was a trainer.But it is still a jet, so it can fly around the Rebel B-26.The aircraft is also equipped with a 50mm machine gun capable of firing at the tail of the B-26.And the B-26 bomber is particularly vulnerable to shooting from behind.In World War II, the B-26 originally had tail guns for self-defense, but now the CIA has removed the tail guns of these planes and replaced them with spare fuel tanks, so that pilots can fly longer in Cuba.In this way, the exile pilots were doomed, and the air superiority fell into the hands of Castro.In an amphibious operation, air supremacy is extremely important, but here, because of another CIA mistake, it is even more important.It turned out that no one had ever said exactly why the CIA personnel had ordered that supplies for the first ten days of fighting—ammunition, gasoline, food, hospital equipment—all be loaded on one ship.

The ship, the Rio Escondito, is one of five lumbering World War II-era troop carriers.They participated in the operation with two escort ships, collectively referred to as the Garcia steamer fleet to deceive people.Therefore, in a sense, this boat can be said to be a symbol of the whole operation.The hull is not painted, full of rust, the engine often fails, and the bilge smells so bad that it has long belonged to the "African Queen". — translator.The exiles were astonished to see it.One of them, a mortarman named Enrique Ruiz Williams, who knew a little about navigation, was even more terrified—he was, he later recalled, “half cold.”And Ernedo Oliva felt that "this is a big scam, and we felt this way as soon as we got on board. It was completely unexpected. This is not what we have been waiting for for a long time." Choose this It is absurd for a ship to carry out the sneak attack mission.Its cranes and winches rattled with use, and its rusty loader was even louder. The "Leo" has long been out of order.As it made its way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, a piece of propeller struck a log.The divers of the brigade went down to take a look and found that it was completely bent.In this way, its operation is greatly restricted, and now it can only move forward in bumps to fight a duel with the enemy air force.

Kennedy had expected these young Cuban patriots to land quietly on a deserted shore, but a Manhattan press company surprised him first.Without telling the White House or anyone else (including the frenetic Democratic Revolutionary Front of Cuba), the CIA hired Lyme Jones Associates to issue a press release under the name of the "Cuban Revolutionary Council," written by CIA personnel over the phone The firm's offices on Madison Avenue were notified, and the press was distributed there.A "for immediate release" communiqué stated: "The Cuban insurgents' war against Castro will start within a few hours. Today's operation is mainly to strengthen supplies and support." The telegram concluded by calling: "Full cooperation, a Rise to sabotage and mutiny."

In Washington, some in the administration began to wonder if someone was messing with the exiles, because all the activities on their behalf were messed up.The landing craft assigned to them for the attack in batches were all 14-foot-long (about 4.27 meters) small boats without armor.The ship's 50mm machine gun was improperly mounted and pointed in the wrong direction.The boats were propelled by outboard motors; then at the climax of the action, an intruder jumped out of the boat and accidentally bumped the helmsman, knocking him overboard, and the landing craft was circling around on the water lock up.There were other accidents, for example: three people on the transport ship "Atlantic" practiced target shooting with a 50 mm machine gun, the body of the gun suddenly fell off the mount and shot indiscriminately, killing an accomplice and injuring others. two.In an even more ominous omen of the operation, the commandos that had planned to launch a feint in Orientale Province to distract Castro from the Bay of Pigs never reached the coast.Twice they boarded the landing craft, and twice they withdrew to the Beach.The accompanying CIA personnel reported that the feint plan "failed mainly due to poor leadership."And those leaders were chosen by the CIA itself.

The landing in Orientale Province was part of a ruse to catch Castro off guard.There is another plan that is more important than this, and the anti-Castro underground organization will launch a general attack in Cuba.President Kennedy's people told him that the underground movement was the key to the mission's success, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed.However, the actions of the CIA are dumbfounding.The underground movement is part of the overall strategy.CIA personnel had been in touch with Rogelio Gonzalez Corso, the almost legendary leader of the underground movement known throughout Cuba by the codename "Francisco."He and his men have made all the preparations, and just waiting for the right time, they will be notified to make trouble and create an atmosphere of general insurrection, which will then be broadcast by Swan Radio, the propaganda station of the exiles.Radio Swan will tell people in its broadcasts how to support the Cuban brigade, how to join their ranks, how to blow up power stations, and so on.Talking about it on paper seems to be good, but if it is actually implemented, a fundamental problem of who comes first will immediately arise.Timing is difficult to arrange.The insurrection and the airstrikes that wiped out the Cuban Air Force were at odds, and whichever came first made Castro wary of the other.At that time, it was considered that air supremacy was more important, so the air strike was carried out first, but it failed.The next night, Radio Swan broadcast an order for underground organizations to revolt.The order is played out in cryptic codes and in flowery, Howard Hunter-esque lyrical prose: Attention! Attention! Keep an eye out for the rainbow.The first rainbow will appear soon.Chico is at home.to see him.The sky was blue.Put the notification in that tree.The tree is greenish brown.The letters have arrived safely.The letter is white.It doesn't take long for the fish to surface.Fish are red. The strangest thing was that the order seemed to be broadcast on the wrong frequency. CBS and NBC and several stations in Florida heard it, but no one could guess what it meant.Despite the broadcast over and over again, the station's intended audience—the Cuban brigade, the commandos, the Front, infiltration teams, and saboteurs inside Cuba—never heard anyone.From a practical point of view, it doesn't matter much.The air strikes the day before had already alerted Castro, and he had ordered the arrest of all Cuban suspects who were disloyal to him.In the words of nineteen-year-old Felix Rodriguez, who was waiting for an uprising: In an instant, "roads were blocked, houses were fenced off, thousands of people were arrested. I cried. In Havana alone, more than 200,000 people were arrested and locked up in softball fields, public buildings, theaters, and auditoriums.Therefore, the listeners of the underground organization were captured at gunpoint before they could find the radio station.The next day, Monday April 17, 1961, the scheduled landing day, Francisco himself was executed for treason. The previous night at 7:30 p.m., the exile's task force of five rusty troop carriers and two escort ships had reached the Bay of Pigs and dropped anchor.All the auxiliary operations planned to support the rebels on board - the feint attack in the Oriental Province, the sabotage activities in the country, the order of the Swan Radio, the uprising of the underground organization - have all failed one by one, and the amphibious landing is now in the same way as the security of the year. The Battle of Zio In January 1944, the US-British joint forces landed in Anzio, Italy, and were stubbornly resisted by the German army.Although the US and British troops held the beachhead in the end, the fighting was fierce and the casualties were heavy. ——Like a translator, it has become a reckless act.The rebels were unaware of this.In any war, always try not to let the attacking force know anything.They stayed in the bilge fully armed, and occasionally took a nap.At 11 o'clock in the evening, the commander Pepe San Roman went to the deck to get some air, and he was petrified by the sight.He had heard that the coast was deserted, but now it was lit.The Bay of Pigs that the person who briefed him originally mentioned was the Bay of Pigs before Castro seized power three years ago.Since Castro seized power, he decided to build this area into a park.Now, modern roads have already been built in swampy areas that the CIA still considers impassable.The construction of three tourist centers is nearing completion, one of which towers over the town of Geelong, the Cuban brigade's first target.Motels, fast food restaurants, and bathrooms, all nearly two hundred buildings, are nearly complete, and can house a thousand Cubans at a time.The grand opening is scheduled for May 20, less than five weeks away.Since Epiphany in January, thousands of tourists have traveled from Havana to visit every weekend.It was Sunday, and the last tourist cars had just left a few hours when the Cuban brigade troop carriers began to see land.There are still people coming and going on the beach, and the workers who put the finishing touches on the new buildings live with their families in the town of Geelong.This situation is almost like a group of Russian conspirators trying to build a large-scale amusement center near the sea in the suburbs of Brooklyn, New York, Coney Island Park in the United States. — Translator or Jones Beach Park Make a frontal landing.Kennedy was taken aback by the situation, remembering that Eisenhower was still in the White House when the operation was planned.He said, "My God, what are these advisers we inherited... You can't imagine the president keeping people like them here!" The situation is bad enough, but it's not over yet.If there's one thing the U.S. military has mastered in military technology over the past two decades, it's amphibious landing operations.From North Africa to Normandy, from Guadalcanal to Incheon, combatants were brought ashore with skill.Tidal changes, underwater obstacles, undercurrents, swells, swells - all these difficulties were overcome by excellent navigation, special landing craft and ingenious amphibious landing tactics.The CIA's strategists today are veterans of those military operations.If they were not too forgetful, they should remember that never in those past battles had an American commander been so reckless as to add to his own difficulties by insisting on timing the landing at night.But now they want Cuban exiles to do it.In addition, they also ignored a very important feature of the Bay of Pigs: each entrance is surrounded by towering coral reefs underwater. The first rebels to land were divers, former officers of the Cuban Navy who were now tasked with setting the landing lights (they were still led by Americans, despite Kennedy's ban).As soon as they spotted the reef, they knew they could only mark a tortuous course.At midnight, divers placed the first flashing lights to guide troops ashore next to a concrete pier.But as soon as the indicator light was turned on, the headlights of the jeep lit up on the beach.This is a militia patrol.The jeep turned and stopped, its headlights shining directly on the diver.They opened fire on the car, a truck carrying armed militiamen sped up to support the jeep, and gunners from the troop carrier Bragal neutralized the threat.But that was not cause for joy, and before the first exiles had even disembarked, the element of surprise attack (the only reason for opting for a night landing) was gone. Divers struggled to find passages between the reefs for vehicle-personnel landing craft and wider utility landing craft for tanks.There are a lot of places that are definitely impossible to get through.Soldiers unable to advance 150 yards (approximately 137 meters) from the shore had to wade ashore with weapons and radio equipment, but the radio equipment was completely useless when soaked in sea water.The reef also knocked out the propellers of some boats.Some soldiers, impatient to wait, jumped into the deep water, so heavily armed that they sank like stones, but someone pulled them out.People look forward to the dawn, and even pray for it.But the situation is becoming more and more obvious, and the situation will only become more unfavorable at dawn.The officer who discovered this was Ernedo Oliva, who later testified that when he went up to the coast at 2:30 in the night, the first building he saw was a small wooden house with a microwave radio protruding from the top. Antenna for the station.He immediately occupied it, but as he said later: "You can see that they sent a telegram from there just now." At 6 o'clock in the morning, two microwave radio stations were found in Geelong Town, and the transmitters were still warm.The CIA intelligence did not mention this beforehand, which can be said to be a major oversight in the entire operation.Because of these stations, Castro knew they were coming, and now he was going to deal with them. At a quarter to one in the morning, the bearded dictator of Havana was woken up to say that the enemy had landed on Playa Girón and nearby Long Beach.Concerned that it was a hoax, he asked for details.Microwave radio operators reported that the places were being bombarded with 50mm machine guns, bazookas and recoilless guns from the sea.Then, the telecommunication was suddenly interrupted. Obviously, the radio station was occupied, and a beachhead had been established.In this way, some kind of provisional government may land at any time and be recognized by the United States, creating a political problem.So Castro made up his mind to drive the rebels into the sea. The state of Castro's defense throughout Cuba can be seen from his deployment in this area, where he can deploy troops at any time: commanded by the Minister of Public Works Osmani Cienfuegos One battalion, one militia battalion with three mortar companies, one infantry battalion, three reserve battalions to guard the road through the swamp, and detachments of armed militia;A total of 20,000 people were sent to intercept the rebels' withdrawal from the Zapata Peninsula.In addition, Castro has an air force.At sunrise, he ordered his six B-26 bombers, loaded with bombs, to take off from the San Antonio airfield at Los Baños, escorted by a fighter jet, to attack the ships anchored at the Bay of Pigs. The beachhead was chaotic that morning, in part because the rebels on the ground befuddled and fired on their own planes.When Castro's pilots reached the beach, the most vulnerable target for them was the heavy artillery battalion of the Cuban brigade.Divers figured out a route through the reef at 6:00 a.m. and the heavy weapons began to be moved ashore by 6:25 a.m.The work of carrying was done very slowly, and came to a complete standstill when the enemy attacked from the air.For a short time the fighting was almost entirely in the air, as Cuban brigade planes were also in the air, but the T-33 jet trainers finally drove out the rebel planes.So Castro's bombers concentrated their fire on the rusted cargo ships.The first to sink was the "Houston" loaded with ammunition and gasoline, drowning 26 crew members.Then it was the turn of the Rio Escondito, loaded with supplies for ten days; a Sea Fury fired a rocket at the Rio, which disintegrated in flames up.That was enough for the task force commander.Most of his sailors are Cubans who are not very politically loyal and are now likely to mutiny.So he informed Pepe San Roman that although the Cuban brigade was less than 10 percent unloaded, he and the remaining ships were now leaving at full speed, but he promised to come back that evening. Washington initially seemed indifferent to the conflicting news from Cuba.Still, the Cuban news was the main story that morning.Castro's foreign minister, Raul Roja, has filed a complaint with the United Nations that he found that Saturday's strike by rebel pilots flying a B-26 was planned by the CIA.Adlai Stevenson, a little disturbed, wired Harlan Cleveland.Cleveland called the Division of American Affairs.The Division of American Affairs called the CIA again.The CIA sternly denied it, and one of America's most respected diplomatic spokespeople fell for it.Stevenson accordingly told the United Nations that the President had already publicly declared, "to ensure that no American will take part in actions against Cuba."Then he read a fake statement made in Miami by a fake defector, which he himself believed to be true.Then he pointed out: "These pilots and certain other persons on board were apparently defectors from Castro's tyranny." The planes, as far as we know, are Castro Air Force planes, and the pilot said they took off from Castro's airport." He held up a photo of a B-26 aircraft and said: "There is the mark of the Castro Air Force on the tail, and anyone can recognize it. The Cuban red star and the words F·A·R (Revolutionary Air Force) are very obvious." Clear." Roja replied that anyone can paint this kind of logo by themselves, and that's exactly what happened.The American ambassador also assured him that "steps have been taken to detain the Cuban planes and not allow them to fly to Cuba." Of course no such step will be taken.The CIA's rhetoric has become increasingly porous.Feeling ashamed, Stevenson had to find a way to justify the lie he had told.As Robert Kennedy later said, "It's getting to the surface."By Monday night, the worst was known.Those who admired Kennedy overseas could not help but be stunned.Milan's "Evening Post" said: "The extent of the decline in American prestige in one day exceeds the eight years of Eisenhower's timidity and indecision." They all failed.” At the United Nations General Assembly diplomats from Asia and Africa remembered John Foster Dulles’ denunciation of the immorality of neutralism, and they could not help feeling elated and enlivened.Stevenson said with embarrassment that he was not sure who was attacking Cuba, but he did know who was attacking the United States. The headline of the Monday 6 p.m. edition of the Miami News read: CUBA NAVY IN UP, INVASION FORCE ADVANCED.According to sources, this naval mutiny has adopted an imaginative code name: "Bonus".Also, the rebels are dividing Castro's crumbling army in a massive pincer offensive.Citing "various reports", the newspaper asserted that the invaders had "landed on the beaches of four of Cuba's six provinces, and that only Havana and the eastern province of Camagüey have not yet been attacked".These reports are baseless.There was no "bonus" operation at all, the Cuban navy continued to be loyal to one person, and all operations were limited to one place on the coast of the Bay of Pigs. The actual situation is that 20,000 defenders of the Castro regime put the rebels in a desperate situation. After the ships fled, the invaders were left in a hopeless situation.However, they played well.Although the paratroopers landed in the wrong place, they repelled the attack of the militia.At a numerical disadvantage of 1:13 or more, and facing the enemy's heavy artillery and tactical support from the air force, the Cuban Brigade still held all its strongholds and lost less than 100 people on the first day.Oliva had only 370 men, but he repelled the attack of 2,100 Castro soldiers and 20 tanks. His own casualties were less than 100, but he killed 500 government troops and injured more than 1,000.These were revealed by a doctor in Castro. Emotions run high for the intruder.Their general difficulties were known only to their leaders, whose hope was encouraged by radio transmissions from CIA agents from the fleeing ships. ("Hey, Pepe. You know, we're never going to abandon you, and if things go bad, we're going to go in and get you out.") Later, there was some debate about what the conversation was about.But there is no doubt about one thing: the CIA personnel cheering up the rebels on the beach did prolong their resistance, and naturally increased the casualties.CIA critics generally agree that the agency's strategists were on the same page: Regardless of Kennedy's earlier position, he must not let the invasion fail—if he saw that America's prestige might be compromised, he would It will use the power of the United States to intervene.Here, as in many other things, they were wrong again.The president's speech means what he says.At the White House that day, he asked the people around him: "What is prestige? Is it illusory power or real power? We have to rely on real power. There is no doubt that in the next few weeks, someone will put us It’s worthless, but it’s irrelevant.” Most Americans seem understanding, even sympathetic. The resentment that had divided them in the late '60s had not yet manifested.The country has not yet split into hostile camps.As Robert Kennedy later said in Thirteen Days, "At the time of the Bay of Pigs, we were essentially on the same page." In one sentence, representing the general opinion, he said: "It takes every president about a year to organize his executive team, to figure out the way of that huge and dangerous bureaucratic machine... When [Kennedy] In fact, it was just moving furniture into the house, only to find that the roof had collapsed and the door had blown down." A Gallup poll found that 82 percent of Americans applaud the way he handles affairs.Kennedy said darkly: "I am now like Eisenhower. The worse I do, the more popular I am." Admittedly, public opinion is not unanimous.On the right, there were hardliners like Richard Nixon.He later revealed in the November 1964 issue of Reader's Digest that he had advised Kennedy to "find a proper legal excuse and ... drive right in."This is expected, but what is unexpected is that at this time, on this issue, a group of new leftists suddenly appeared, causing friction.“Many on the left, surprisingly, now feel that their skepticism of Kennedy before the election was entirely justified,” Schlesinger wrote. Their placards demanded “Fair Deal to Cuba.”They filled Manhattan's Union Square with demonstrators; Norman Mailer joined them.Outside the White House, a tall female poet wears a placard scolding the first lady: Jacqueline, vousavez per duvosartistes. (Jacqueline, you have lost the support of literary artists). The "Fair Play" movement has been echoed by many universities, especially the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.Stuart Hughes, a member of the history department at Harvard University and an early figure in the New Left, led 70 university faculty to sign an open letter to the president, demanding that the government "reverse the current trend of U.S. military intervention in Cuba."Sociologist Barrington Moore predicted "a reactionary government of militarism that cloaks its fundamental policies in liberal rhetoric." Wright Mills, author of The Establishment, telegraphed from his hospital bed to a fair-handing convention in California: The Kennedys have brought us back to barbarism, the Schlesingers have disgraced us intellectually and morally, and I am ashamed of my country.It is with great regret that I was not able to attend your conference, and if my body allowed, I would have gone to fight alongside Fidel Castro by now. Castro didn't actually fight, he didn't have to.His subordinates had fully grasped the situation in the Bay of Pigs, and he just stood on the sidelines, watching them ruthlessly squeeze the rebel beachhead step by step.Latin America has never seen weapons of the kind used by Cuban government forces.Early Monday morning, four artillery batteries armed with Soviet-made 122-mm howitzers began bombarding the beach, knocking the rebels near the point of impact into disorientation.The rebel tank commanders were brave, but the Russian-made T-34 tanks had far more firepower.At night, the rebels were very short on ammunition.Pepe San Roman later told Haines Johnson: "It was dark and we were waiting for the boat to come back. Everyone was looking out to sea, waiting for the boat to come. We knew that if the boat didn't come, we would never make it I hope." At midnight, there was still no news.In desperation Pepe boarded the open boat with his radio operator and set out six miles out to sea, hoping to make radio contact with the CIA ship.He went back to the command post and sent another officer out to sea to try to find some captains who had been completely rendered incapacitated by the mutiny of the crew.这只敞篷船一小时接一小时地发出如下电讯：“多洛丽丝，我是海滩。多洛丽丝，我是海滩。我在找你。我们需要你。我们需要你。” 星期二黎明，古巴旅剩下的6架B-26飞机打算去炸毁洛斯巴尼奥斯的圣安东尼奥机场上的古巴空军飞机。卡斯特罗又是好运气，机场上空浓云密布，没有受到任何损失。在吉隆滩，T-34坦克密密地并成一排，径直向海滩开火，越来越狭窄的海滩阵地上没有一件事使人称心的。缺乏空中掩护已造成了叛军的失败，现在因为没有空中掩护，他们甚至连撤退也不可能了。 星期二晚，总统正在白宫举行一年一度的国会议员招待会，临时被请了出来。他打着白领带，穿着燕尾服，站在他办公室里的一幅地图前面(看了令人感到不协调)，听腊斯克、麦克纳马拉、参谋长联席会议的两位成员和中央情报局的理查德·比斯尔对他说，现在只有出动美国空军，才能救出古巴旅，免遭卡斯特罗伪法庭的审判。总统让步了，批准在猪湾外边加勒比海值勤的航空母舰“埃塞克斯”号上出动6架无标记的喷气式机。星期三早晨6点半到7点半这一小时之内，美国飞机将保证不容卡斯特罗的飞机飞临海滩阵地上空，古巴旅剩下的几架B-26飞机则将用以向环形阵地周围的政府军发动攻击。在《要是在今天》一书中，霍华德·亨特公然厚着脸皮指摘说，由于肯尼迪没有让美国战斗机掌握制空权，因而造成了猪湾远征的失败。——译者猪湾这一出悲喜剧的最后一幕开始了。古巴旅飞行员的基地在尼加拉瓜的卡贝萨斯港，离古巴有3小时又20分钟的航程。这些飞行员由于不停执行任务早已筋疲力尽，只有两个人还有气力再作飞行。可是，四名美国顾问相信从“埃塞克斯”号起飞的喷气式飞机一定能保护他们，自愿驾驶其余的几架B-26飞机。中央情报局在这次一无是处的行动中，已经犯下了无数错误，现在他们所犯的这最后一次错误则更是毫无道理的。原来尼加拉瓜和古巴属于两个不同的时区，而这些飞行员却忘了校正他们的手表。他们提前一小时到达了吉隆滩上空，这时用来保护他们的喷气式飞机还一动未动地停在“埃塞克斯”号的飞行甲板上。于是卡斯特罗的T-33教练机便蜂拥而上，一举歼灭了他们，使四个美国人全部丧生。 现在只剩下最后咽气的份儿了。从吉隆滩发来的要求增援部队、坦克和弹药的呼声已经减弱。电报都很简短：“海滩继续战斗。立派一切可用之机。”“已退入海中。弹药告罄。敌人迫近。必须在一小时内救援。”星期二深夜，开始了最后的抵抗。叛军领导人在卡斯特罗大炮和坦克的包围中于星期三清晨4点32分发出了最后一份电报：“正在销毁我全部装备通讯器材。坦克迫近。已无武器战斗。决定入丛林。我不能再等你们了。” 林子里也只能暂避一时。由于原来就没有定出撤退计划，叛军最后一一落入敌手。卡斯特罗大获全胜。他不到72小时就粉碎了入侵，正如海恩斯·约翰逊在其关于这次战斗的一本出色的著作中所说，使入侵变成为“也许是自从轻骑兵旅在巴拉克拉瓦港冲入死亡的无底深渊指1853～1856年克里木战争中，英国轻骑兵旅对克里木半岛巴拉克拉瓦的攻击。——译者以来许多错误百出、计划不周的行动中最得到大肆宣扬的一次”。古巴旅的幸存者还面临着要在哈瓦那体育宫公开受审和长期监禁的耻辱。他们直到1962年圣诞节，由于罗伯特· 肯尼迪和詹姆斯·多诺万发起了一次赎救他们的运动成功，才放出来。 在60年代中期，当代一些历史学家倾向于认为，从长远看，猪湾事件倒真是一件好事；由于这次事件，肯尼迪对专家完全失去信心，因而使他在18个月以后的古巴导弹危机中反而更能当机立断。从70年代回头看，对于吉隆滩的溃败以及他对此事的反应，却有一种完全不同的看法。在那个星期的星期四，即入侵失败的第二天，总统在华盛顿斯塔特勒-希尔顿饭店对美国报纸编辑协会发表演说，完全采取了战斗姿态。他说，这一次他决定不同卡斯特罗计较，但是他希望记录在案，“我们的克制是有限度的”。美国已经准备采取行动，“如果必要，就单独行动”，以“保卫自己的安全”。他并警告莫斯科，“到了那时，我们决不会去听那些已在布达佩斯血染的街头声名狼藉了的人来同我们谈什么对外干涉问题。” 这是最露骨的冷战语言，这无异断定说，美国的惟一危险在本国国界以外。美国的惟一敌手是铁板一块的国际共产主义，不论“在古巴或在世界其他任何地方都不能低估它的力量”。他还告诫西半球的各国政府和人民，“要对共产党从外部对古巴进行干涉和统治的威胁加以更密切的注意和更现实地对待”，因为“现在可以比以前看得更清楚，我们在世界的每一角落都面临着一场无情的斗争，其范围远远超过两军对垒甚至核军备的冲突”。 60年代的转向自由主义，那时还没有开始。一旦开始，美国所受到的威胁就都会看做是来自本国国内的了，如种族主义、军国主义、环境污染、技术问题、官僚机构、人口爆炸、“权势集团”等等。但是在肯尼迪执政期间，这些问题都还没有出现。自由主义的时代英雄，在30年代是愤怒的青年工人，40年代是美国大兵，50年代是被母亲误解的青年人，到了60年代初期，就变成了以和平为工具同饥饿、疾病——以及共产主义——进行斗争的和平队队员。作为美国当代的自由主义派，肯尼迪认为，不发达国家发生革命运动的基本原因是贫穷和愚昧，而共产党则利用它来达到自己的目的。他确信，一旦由于执行第四点计划改变了那种情况，共产主义的号召力就会完全消失。争取进步联盟之所以受人欢迎，其原因正在于此。一般认为，拉丁美洲在追求进步的事业中同美国联盟，就能排斥来自共产国际的拉拢。 这种信念是根深蒂固的。自由主义派认为人类是能够解决自己的问题的，不过这也许是最后一次有这样的看法了。60年代早期理想主义的青年，用当时极为流行的语言来说，是实用主义的。下一个十年中的自由主义派典范人物拉尔夫·纳德，这时还没有登上舞台。在肯尼迪执政时期中，一如在富兰克林·罗斯福执政时期以来一样，自由主义派人士都认为，医治社会弊端的方法是扩大政府机构和加强总统权力。后来他们在这个问题上的幻灭，几乎动摇了整个共和体制的根本。 那个星期四肯尼迪在斯塔特勒-希尔顿饭店的演说，完全有可能出现在艾森豪威尔执政年代，甚至还可能出自约翰·福斯特·杜勒斯之口。二者在风格上可能很不一样，但实质上并无多大区别。像所有的冷战人物一样，肯尼迪最后也提到了慕尼黑会议，提醒听众说，它的意义就在于：民主国家如果不能抗拒集权主义的独裁者，是注定要灭亡的，而“可以不发一枚导弹或越过一国国境，就能使我们的安全一点一点、一国一国地丧失掉的”。他说，他决心“吸取这个教训”。最后又说：“未来的历史将载明，这一艰苦的斗争是50年代后期和60年代初期达到高潮的。作为美国总统，我要明确宣布，我已经下定决心要让我们的制度存在下去，获得成功，不管其代价如何，也不管会有什么风险。” 这是对未来的历史结论所作的最不高明的一种猜测。那次演说是肯尼迪对猪湾事件的公开反应。回白宫后，他又采取了另一更具象征意义的步骤。麦乔治·邦迪作为国家安全顾问的地位忽然被破格提升。他从西行政大街对面的比较寒碜的行政大楼搬到了白宫西侧楼，十分靠近总统的椭圆形办公室；邦迪开始每天早晨主持他的国家安全委员会的例会。除此之外，邦迪还把他的管辖权扩大到挂着巨幅地图、装着许多鲜艳的电话机的白宫作战室去。下一次共产主义世界再策划对自由世界进行攻击，美国就会有所防范了。如果它胆敢再颠覆任何一个弱小国家的反共政权，他们就会遇到坚决的抵抗。白宫已经做好了准备，邦迪已经做好了准备，作战室也已经做好了准备。热线已经接通，侵略者必将受到他们永世难忘的教训。 认真阅读关于古巴问题的报道的人中也有尼·谢·赫鲁晓夫。这位部长会议主席对那些冷战言辞并不十分在意，因为他自己也说过不少。他所感兴趣的是，这位新总统，年轻而又缺乏经验，这一跤摔得真够呛。肯尼迪这会儿似乎还有点晕头转向，这看来是对他猛击一拳的大好时机了。 白宫知道，克里姆林宫准会这样看待美国这次的大失败的。华盛顿在估量了经过猪湾事件残存的自信心之后，感到惊惶，这是主因。本来在2月间已经安排让肯尼迪同赫鲁晓夫6月初在维也纳举行会谈，赫鲁晓夫在5月12日还写信说，邀请仍然有效。肯尼迪想延期，但感到这可能会被看做又一软弱表现。他说，宁攀高峰，勿近边缘这是一句双关语，高峰指最高级会议，边缘指战争边缘。 — translator.因此他丝毫没有放松，而且是加倍努力进行维也纳会谈的准备工作。有人告诉他，苏联主席认为艾森豪威尔两次在和他进行最高级会谈之前都缺乏充分准备，因而对他很看不起。艾克每遇到一些困难问题总要问他的助手怎么回答。于是肯尼迪决定，一切重要会谈都只由他们两人和一位译员参加。 赫鲁晓夫同肯尼迪一样，也受到国内强硬路线派，即斯大林主义分子的压力，他们认为，要想从对方得到你所需要的东西，惟一办法就是硬索强夺，咒骂恐吓。赫鲁晓夫本人就很善于搞这一手。斯大林对他这一手是赞赏的，正因如此，他显得具有一种原始的力量似的。前年秋天，他就曾在联合国大会上作了一次令人难忘的表演。这几年来，刚果使得许多地理政治学家的名誉扫地了。由于U-2事件的出现，同艾森豪威尔举行日内瓦最高级会议的流产，美苏缓和的希望的破灭，赫鲁晓夫早已不痛快了，现在加丹加省的新的耻辱更使他气急败坏。他原来一直责怪达格·哈马舍尔德，说他是殖民国家的工具。他要求废除联合国秘书长一职，提议由一个三人组成的执行机构来代替，以代表西方、共产主义和中立国家三个国家集团。他根据俄国的一种三马并拉的车子，把这种安排叫做“troika”(三驾马车)。他当时脱下鞋子在桌上有节奏地敲了几下以示强调，使联合国大会为之哗然，主持大会的一位爱尔兰人为了恢复秩序，把木槌都敲断了。这样混乱使那位苏联主席很高兴，回到莫斯科后还扬扬得意地说：“联合国虚弱极了，眼看要完蛋。”