Kennedy expert and author speaks on <em>The Bay of Pigs</em> in Ward Hall
Janel Shoun |
Jones,university research professor of history at the University of Alabama, is the author of Mutiny on the Amistad and Death of a Generation.
Publishers Weekly wrote about Jones’The Bay of Pigs: “Extensively researched and cogently reasoned, Jones’s update…is a cautionary account of a disastrous foray into regime change.”
| “The resort to pre-emptive and covert action not only raised serious ethical questions in a self-professed democracy, but it focused on leaders of countries that were not at war with the United States and had not raised arms against Americans.” |
Jones’ statement above may sound like a commentary on the current war in Iraq, but it actually describes the infamous Bay of Pigs incident of 1961 – the first major instance of a United States-sanctioned attempt at regime change in a foreign country.
Historically this United States-sponsored invasion of Cuba has been referred to as a poorly planned, poorly executed fiasco. As a result of this botched maneuver to bring democracy to Cuba, John F. Kennedy was served his first military and political blunder as commander-in-chief, and the foreign policy of the United States veered towards a new, dangerous direction.
Now the in the newest volume of Oxford’s acclaimed “Pivotal Moments in American History” series, Howard Jones’ The Bay of Pigs gives a concise, incisive, and dramatic account of the disastrous plan to overthrow Castro and its political implications that we are still feeling today.
Jones’ investigation draws upon recently released CIA documents, research from the John F. Kennedy Library, and details from the Church Committee Hearings, and in doing so he offers an engaging and thoughtful account of the turning point in Kennedy's foreign policy and indeed in foreign policy for decades to come.
For more information on the lecture and book-signing, contact Tim Johnson at 615.966.5771.