Cold War Flashpoint: Bay of Pigs, the Missile Crisis, and Exporting Revolution

In April 1961 the CIA landed some 1,400 Cuban exiles of Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the revolutionary government; Kennedy withheld direct US air support to preserve deniability, and Cuban forces under Castro's direct command crushed the invasion within 72 hours, capturing roughly 1,200 exiles who were later exchanged for food and medicine in 1962. The debacle humiliated the Kennedy administration internationally while sharply boosting Castro's domestic prestige, and it accelerated both covert US operations against Cuba, such as Operation Mongoose, and Havana's military rapprochement with Moscow.