JFK Discusses Air Cover At Bay Of Pigs (Jan. '63 Press Conference)

[David Von Pein]

The first question at President Kennedy's press conference on January
24, 1963, is one that's quite interesting. The question, asked by
Merriman Smith, pertained to potential air cover during the Bay of
Pigs invasion in April of 1961. Nothing earth-shaking here. But I
think it's interesting nonetheless:

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHA-160.aspx

QUESTION: "Mr. President, as you may be aware, there seems to be some
conflict on the part of history involving the Bay of Pigs invasion. As
you know, the Attorney General says that no United States air support
was contemplated, so, therefore, there was none to be withdrawn.

Yet today, editor Jack Gore of the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, News says
that to a group of editors, who visited you on May 10, 1961, you told
them that air cover was available, but you had decided not to use it.

Mr. Gore said you told these editors that one reason for your decision
was that Ambassador Stevenson had complained that any such action
would make a liar out of him in the UN. Now, also today, a Mr. Manuel
Penobos, who has been rather vocal for the last day or two, a member
of Brigade 2506, he says that the United States military instructors
of that brigade promised the men that they could expect air cover. Out
of this welter of seemingly different stories, I wonder if you can set
us straight on what the real situation was?"

PRESIDENT KENNEDY: "Yes. There was no United States air cover planned,
so that the first part of the statement attributed to the Attorney
General, of course, is correct. Obviously, if you are going to have
United States air cover, you might as well have a complete United
States commitment, which would have meant a full-fledged invasion by
the United States. That was not the policy of the United States in
April '61.

What was talked about was the question of an air strike on Monday
morning by planes which were flown by pilots, B-26 planes which were
flown by pilots based not in the United States, not American planes.

That strike, as the Attorney General's interview in U. S. News and
World Report described it, was postponed until Monday afternoon. I
think that the members of the brigade were under the impression that
the planes which were available, which were the B-26 planes, would
give them protection on the beach. That did not work out. That was one
of the failures.

The jets, the training jets, which were used against them were very
effective and, therefore, we were not-- the brigade was not able to
maintain air supremacy on the beach.

So I think that the confusion comes from the use of the words "air
cover", not to talk about United States air cover as opposed to air
cover which was attached to the brigade, some of which flew from
various parts of this continent, not from the United States. So I
think that will make it clear. As I said from the beginning, the
operation was a failure, and the responsibility rests with the White
House.

We engaged in intensive analysis of the reasons for the failure
afterwards, headed by General Taylor, who is now Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff; in the Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee conducted an investigation, and it seemed to me that the
conduct of operations in October 1962 indicated that a good many
lessons had been learned.

As to the recollection of the editor, there was no such conversation
of the kind, at least that has been read to me. The problem of air
cover and one of the reasons that the invasion failed may have well
been discussed, but only in the terms that I have described, because
what I have described are the facts."

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/Press-Conferences/News-Conference-47.aspx

http://JFK-Press-Conferences.blogspot.com

[aeffects]

On Apr 25, 9:06 pm, David Von Pein <davevonp...@aol.com> wrote:

<snip the von pein lunacy>

no advertising flake-a-rooney! you know the rules.... hey moron, are
you Paul May too?

[lazu...@webtv.net]

The BOP was JFK's worst moment, buthe had 3 choices all of them bad-do
what he did and get his brains blown out by mob/ZR Rifle goons in
november 1963, or he could have had a full fedged invasion killing god
knows how many of our troops and cubans, plus we would have been
condemned everywhere, or do nothing and let the right wing hammer him
constantly saying he was soft on communism...Ike left him with one
helluva mess that he could never extricate himself from...Laz

[Sam McClung]

ike inherited a nuclear situation and jfk inherited a thermonuclear one