Incredible back story and account of how Eisenhower and Nixon mistakenly saw Castro as just a "wanna-be Central America dictator [my words]," and allowed the CIA to develop a plan to overthrow him that was woefully under-scaled, and also did not take into account the underlying support of the Cuban people for Castro.
In addition to a bad plan, Eisenhower and Nixon insulted Castro when he visited the United States in 1959 by having Nixon meet Castro at the Capitol while Eisenhower played golf. Castro had anticipated a White House meeting, and even indicated he was prepared to offer his support to the US in case of Russian interference in Central America. Eisenhower never really thought Cuba would be a major player in world events, and thus just put the CIA overthrow plan on hold for President Kennedy to deal with. History shows how well the poorly planned invasion and overthrow of Castro in 1961 came to be.
In addition to a bad plan, Eisenhower and Nixon insulted Castro when he visited the United States in 1959 by having Nixon meet Castro at the Capitol while Eisenhower played golf. Castro had anticipated a White House meeting, and even indicated he was prepared to offer his support to the US in case of Russian interference in Central America. Eisenhower never really thought Cuba would be a major player in world events, and thus just put the CIA overthrow plan on hold for President Kennedy to deal with. History shows how well the poorly planned invasion and overthrow of Castro in 1961 came to be.
