023 - Tractors For Fidel Castro

11/20/21 • 14 min

1 Listener

The Bay of Pigs invasion was, to coin a phrase, a train wreck.

Fidel Castro had come to power in Cuba in 1959, planting a Communist country right on America’s back porch. Having a Soviet satellite ninety miles away from American soil was, shall we say, troubling.

The Eisenhower Administration approved a CIA plan to train Cuban exiles and provide them with weapons and air support for an invasion of the island. The expectation was that the Cuban people would rise up in rebellion and topple the Castro regime.

The train went off the tracks pretty early. Despite efforts to keep the mission a secret, the invasion plan was widely known among the Cuban community in Miami. Castro’s intelligence service found out about the training camps the CIA had set up in Guatemala, and some of the details of the plans made it into the press.

Fidel Castro was not going to be surprised.

President John F. Kennedy authorized the invasion, which was a massive failure that resulted in 1200 prisoners ending up in Castro's hands. He would let them go free, if the United States sent him five hundred heavy-duty tractors.

This was about to get interesting.

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The Bay of Pigs invasion was, to coin a phrase, a train wreck.

Fidel Castro was not going to be surprised.

This was about to get interesting.

Thank you for listening, and your support of the History's Trainwrecks Podcast.

Support the show at our Patreon page - https://www.patreon.com/historystrainwrecks

Help save America by supporting The Valley Forge Project - https://www.valleyforgeproject.org/

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

022 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Part IX

As had become his practice after, shall we say, NOT winning a presidential election, Theodore Roosevelt left the country. He didn’t trust himself to stay quiet while Woodrow Wilson did things he didn’t approve of: removing African-Americans from the federal bureaucracy, passing a pro-business tariff, and developing an isolationist and pacifist foreign policy.

Like his African trip in 1909, Teddy’s journey to South America had a number of items on the agenda: scientific study of flora and fauna, the usual slaughter of native beasts for sport, and a way for him to make some money. He told his wife that he “expected to clear $20,000 over the next six months.”

And, like his African trip, Teddy was putting himself firmly in harm’s way. It’s not inconceivable that somewhere in his subconscious was the notion that he might end his life, which now seemed without purpose, in the midst of the kind of action that made him feel most alive.

Theodore Roosevelt did not think he should die in his sleep. He nearly got his wish on this post-election trip south of the equator.

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Next Episode

024 - The Most Dangerous Man In America, Part II

Lousiana governor Huey Long had learned a lot from his impeachment trial, and it was no more Mr. Nice Governor down in the bayou.

He wanted to expand a road-building program and build a new massive state capitol building as a lasting monument to his reign. The legislature (and Huey's own brother) opposed the plan, so Huey had to come up with a way to persuade them, and make sure he retained power.

His answer: he was going to run for the United States Senate.

But there were two men who had damaging secrets about the governor, and something had to be done about them before the election.

So Huey had them kidnapped.

Thanks for listening and your support of the History's Trainwrecks Podcast.

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.