January 1, 1959 – The young and charismatic lawyer, Fidel Castro, successfully overthrows Cuba’s dictator, General Fulgencio Batista, ending the Cuban Revolution.
January 7, 1959 – The United States officially recognizes that the island of Cuba is under a new leader. The head of the CIA, John Foster Dulles, writes a letter to president Eisenhower stating, “The Provisional Government appears free from Communist taint and there are indications that it intends to pursue friendly relations with the United States.”
April 19, 1969 – Fidel Castro meets with Vice President Richard Nixon for the first time in Washington, DC. Nixon grows incredibly weary his intentions and states in a private letter to Eisenhower and Dulles that Castro is, “either incredibly naïve about Communism or is under Communist discipline.”
September 4, 1959 – A US Ambassador meets with Castro to voice his concerns surrounding United States business and agricultural affairs within Cuba, and Castro says not to worry, that he admires Americans and has great plans.
Fall of 1959 – The US receives insight from Manuel Artime who attended a secret meeting in Havana where Castro announced his plan to eliminate private property on the island. He intends on deceiving the public about this.
Late 1959 and January of 1960 – There are a frequent number of small bombings taking place in Cuba
January 25, 1960 – President Eisenhower holds a conference to discuss the situation in Cuba. It is made clear that Castro is very Anti-American.
March 1960 – The CIA begins training 300 guerillas, originally in the US before moving them to Guatemala.
March 17, 1960 – President Eisenhower approves a drafted CIA policy to overthrow Castro.
May 3, 1960 – Castro proposes a new Ambassador between the US and Cuba, which makes it look as if he is trying to resolve tensions.
May 7, 1960 – US warplanes fly closely to the Cuban coast and one of our destroyer ships ends up in their waters.
November 8, 1960 – John F. Kennedy wins the presidential election.
December 6, 1960 – Eisenhower meets with Kennedy to explain the situation in Cuba and a training camp of approximately 600 troops begins in Guatemala.
March 17, 1961 – The New York Times reports about a number of attacks that are reported to happen in Cuba from the US. It is clear that their mission is totally compromised. The CIA proceeds anyway.
April 15, 1961 – Eight (originally supposed to be sixteen, but Kennedy was confused as to why so many planes were needed) US planes, disguised as Cuban planes, flew over Cuba’s airfields in an attempt to bomb all of their aircrafts. Pilots reported hitting their targets, but realistically, most Cuban aircrafts had been moved and nearly any targets had been met.
April 17, 1961 – Cuban exiles and US military men storm the beaches of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, with the expectations that they’ll gain public traction and overthrow Castro. Unfortunately, this is a remote area of Cuba and the exiles were originally just met with a few local militiamen, who then contacted Castro in Havana. Over 1,100 exiles were captured and 114 were killed.
Kennedy was blindsided by the totality of the Bay of Pigs invasion and embarrassed by the CIA’s lack of transparency. In order to negotiate for the return of these exiles, we sent Cuba over $53 million worth of baby food and medicine.
Evans, Michael. “THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION/PLAYA GIRÓN A CHRONOLOGY of EVENTS.” Bay of Pigs Chronology, nsarchive2.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html.