The Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 was a covert plot to remove Fidel Castro from power in Cuba using a ragtag band of American-trained Cuban defectors. It ended up becoming one of the most humiliating episodes in American history — and a black eye for the Kennedy administration just four months into JFK’s presidency. We’re joined by Dr. Stephen Wilkinson, Chairman of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba at the University of Buckingham, to dive into how a plot dreamed up by the CIA and approved by two presidents failed so spectacularly, what it meant for JFK’s legacy, and how its impact reverberates in U.S.-Cuba relations to this day.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.