GIVE US THIS DAY: The Inside Story of the CIA and the Bay of Pigs Invasion -- by One of Its Key Organizers

by E. Howard Hunt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 1973

Mr. Hunt, long before the Watergate stripped him of his cover, was busy (betwixt novels) plotting another American fiasco, the bungled Cuban invasion. Written in 1967 in a mood of ""nostalgic bitterness"" (Cuba lost apparently forever to the evil Castro) as a ""private legacy to my children"" (""perhaps eventually to be lodged in a university library""), this ""memoir"" is now being released in order to correct the ""distorted accounts of my involvement"" ("". . . our national tradition has become one of shabby discrimination against known anti-Communists""). ""Eduardo"" (his code name) takes us through the complex planning stages, his activities as strategist and bagman, his comings and goings (Spain, Mexico City, Miami, the secret training base in Guatemala, a reconnaissance mission to Cuba itself). But most interest centers on his contention that Kennedy unfairly used the CIA as the fall guy (assault planning was ""almost directly in the hands of the Pentagon""; the agency never pressed the plan on an ""unenthusiastic President. . . to my knowledge the only observation made by CIA was that the Brigade was trained and battle ready""), although Hunt does come down hard on General Charles Cabel, the CIA Deputy Director, as the man who urged JFK to limit air cover to one hour. Boor Eduardo -- his name now in tatters, his person in jail, his swagger reduced to contentious rebuttal.

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Arlington House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION