But trouble was on the horizon for the United States as the decade near an end.
The Eisenhower administration had supported the new government in Saigon
following the Geneva Convention in1954 and had embarked on a campaign to protect
American interests in Iran and Guatemala. Then, in 1959, a popular figure
emerged from his mountain sanctuary to lead the Cuban people against the
American-back government of Fulgencio Batista. That leader was Fidel Castro, and
after Castro nationalized American properties in Cuba, President Eisenhower
authorized the CIA to plan for an invasion of Cuba.
President Eisenhower based his decision on the earlier successful efforts to
topple the governments of Iran and Guatemala. Those efforts in different parts
of the world led to the debacle of the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
links to document on Eisenhower and Cuba, link to bibliography on Cuba
and Fidel Castro and special operations in the Third World
