Bay of Pigs Fiasco: JFK and Nixon 

That’s right. JFK was not your normal ideologue. He had is own way. He wanted everything: Your social rights, your end to communism, your fore thinking. He was what we needed. He made that Bay Of Pigs thing happen, which made him sick. He was a real American.

Kennedy and Nixon genuinely liked each other and regarded each other as friends in spite of their different political affiliations. In fact when it came to foreign policy, there was practically no daylight between JFK and Nixon

It happened with Bush and Clinton. It is permanent now. The former tools of the Empire passed it on to the Democrats, the current tools. They were best suited for stupifying and confusing the population. Theyve succeeded. We are screwed.

@@RichardSchiffman-jn1ds They were friends in Congress, and Kennedy supported Nixon in his Senate campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas. But that changed in 1960. Kennedy began to share the contempt of his Ivy League colleagues for Nixon. Benjamin Bradlee's "Conversations with JFK" contains a number of snobbish JFK references to Nixon's mannerisms.

Johnson did the same thing and, Nixon who followed him did as well. Country mattered more than party back then. Something tells me this continued all the way up to Bill Clinton. It might’ve even continued with George Bush Junior and Barack Obama but, I absolutely guarantee that it did not continue with Donald Trump. Pretty sure Joe Biden isn’t doing it either.

Fore sure USA of that era and USA of now have.two things in common: grandfathers from then have their grandsons now... Second is language. Still understandible... ...

These Richard Nixon videos are very interesting and informative. I'm glad they're here.

Me too ! It's the history of my generation.

I’m sure you are talking about the content, but he has a great voice and fantastic accent. Reminds me of my grandmother that was a similar age.

Thank you love to hear President Nixon speak .. thoughtful a eloquent.... awesome look back in history

Richard Nixon is the most fascinating president of the 20th century imho. The man was just an absolute wellspring of knowledge

If you don’t count war crimes.

Why do right-wing conservatives admire corrupt politicians, power-hungry demagogues, and those who subjugate them? FACT IS, Nixon was a crook!! You've confused "brilliant" with corruption, blind loyalty to Corporate America, and obedience to the military-industrial complex. Remember Nixon's failed "Peace with honor" in Viet Nam? Subversive secret talks with North Viet Nam as a civilian prior to the election? The secret bombing of independent nations, Cambodia and Laos? Instituting trade with China, which shifted a large portion of American jobs overseas. Watergate? H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Howard Hunt, James McCord, G Gordon Liddy, John Dean, John Mitchell, Charles Colson and numerous other Nixon advisors going to prison over Watergate. Last but not least, it was Eisenhower, Nixon and the CIA that planned, endorsed, and encouraged JFK to carry out the failed Bay of Pigs fiasco. "Brilliant"? Stop drinking the right-wing KoolAid!!

Too bad he involved himself directly in a number of serious crimes.

@@kenb3552 And caused genocide in Cambodia. And presided over the deaths of more Americans in Vietnam than LBJ, for what? He was more big government than LBJ, creating EPA and OSHA, for instance. But Nixonians were the original RINOs.

@@nicmart I like the EPA and OSHA

He was looking for bi-partisan cover/ damage control. It was not magnanimity that motivated the invitation.

But, they were getting together as reasonable men just to discuss the situation, and listening. I just don't know how reasonable anybody is anymore. People these days would be scared to death that the extreme end of their own party would find out.

No. I Can't. Never.

The ONLY thing preventing something like that from happening today is Donald J Trump. All the previous presidents Republican and Democrat - including Obama and Bush, would contact their predecessors when they needed advice regardless of party. And I am sure that Biden has probably contacted Bush at various points in his political career. Trump is another matter entirely. He's beyond toxic and would see seeking advice from a predecessor as some bizarre form of weakness. And all of Trump's predecessors including Bush and VP Cheney, both hard core Republicans, can't stand Trump. When Trump attended Bush's 1's funeral, W and Laura Bush wouldn't even shake Trump's hand - although they did shake Melania's hand.

Assume

Right 🎉

*their

Well he was vice president

If our national government embraced meritology over partisan politics, JFK would have appointed Nixon as his Secretary of State.

Yea, these Harvard Educated suit and tie boys and all too prim and proper to swear. That is a thing us low life blue collar people do. That why I hate these eletest CS!

"Unless he went there in 60's"

By 4 letter word if he meant F..... you don't have to go to Havard, with the exception of priests/bishops/clergy almost all Americans utter that F.... letter word !

Not in the early 60s they didn't, we still had class, style, morals, unlike people today who are all morons and trash

Funny line. Also when JFK went to Harvard in the Thirties it really was a great university. Now, outside of STEM, it is just living on past reputation.

Grew up in west l.A my self at that time. Haven't heard the fras West l.A in a long time. Times were different.

I know how you're feeling.

And their doing the same thing to Trump now. History repeats itself for sure. The moment Trump announced he was running as a Republican for president the media had a frenzy. He wasn't even President yet and they attacked him with double barrels. 👍

No we need a man like kenndy now

​@robertmoniz6633 Nixon was the better politician.

Noted!

I agree. I liked the bare bones clip. His analyses and voice are straight forward enough. I can't get over how good these are. In a very short clip I learn something about the time or get a somewhat different perspective.

Love these videos. Thanks

@@NixonFoundationYou’ll reach a younger audience who don’t know much about Nixon with the production you did with this video. Speaking as a 30-something.

Oh, he certainly was. And unfortunately, the media refused to recognize that in him long before Watergate. They despised him because of his shrewd wisdom and his ability to accomplish goals that others could not. It was not until AFTER he left the presidency that Americans felt this leadership void which lasted virtually to this day.

You should be ashamed.

​@@seanvedder7037< Media Matters troll 🧌

@@seanvedder7037 Have you researched the CIA's involvement in taking down Nixon and JFK?

For POTUS or VPOTUS? If POTUS was it 60 and 68 or 68 and 72? There were probably some people who voted for him 5 times. Twice for VP and 3 times for POTUS.

Me too. Great President.

Before you start singing hosanna's about Nixon's strength & ethics, I do believe there were some shenanigans on the GOP side in Ohio

Mainly in South Carolina and other states where black voters were denied the vote because of education test to vote. In many rural areas Mexicans and Blacks were denied easy access for voting.

An ‘education test’ to vote? I’ll have to google this one.

​@@JeffreySuggsOhio went for Kennedy on 1960. Kennedy still would have won had Nixon carried Illinois. Two years after 1960 election, looking at a list of how all states voted in the election, I took Illinois' electoral votes(26 I believe at that time) and moved them to Nixon's side. Nixon still would have lost.

‘Worst day of his life.’ When a man gets his pride whipped like that, he’ll ask for help from people he normally wouldn’t. Maybe it was because he knew Nixon was just better than him (and practically everyone) at foreign affairs.

No, it is not Mike Wallace here.

you have to remember that the point of these interviews is to get down Nixon's version of things for posterity. so he''s not going to challenge him on any point or ask difficult questions. he's not serving in office. it's an entirely different type of interview. he's really not that skillful. he's asking general questions because he wants Nixon to take the ball and run with it in any direction he choses.

RU-vid deleting my comment pro independent journalists.

It's very sad and it also seems to be true globally.

Richard M. Nixon was one of our most BRILLIANT Presidents, and he was one of our WORST at the same time. Such was his brilliance even his worst enemies PRAISED him and FORGAVE him when he finally DID admit (ACCEPT) that what he had done was WRONG and hoped later generations WOULD forgive him and they did and they have. That's because he was a PATRIOT! Dick Nixon would be REPULSED by the likes of Donald Trump and his INFATUATION with a certain RUSSIAN/COMMUNIST DICTATOR Vladimir Putin. The man who "opened" Red China to the Free world would be HORRIFIED by Trump's "love letters" with Communist North Korea's Kim Jon Un! Nixon lived long enough to KNOW who DJT was but when he passed Trump had NEVER spoken the way he has AFTER 9-11 and his first ill fated run for the Reform Party ticket he LOST to former Nixon speech writer Pat Buchanan .

Billy Clinton and his total lack of morals started us on the road to where we are now. DC is populated by sociopathic liars and every type of human vermin you can imagine. We are so screwed. There's a reason the Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment, the nature of man.

Appreciate you tuning in!

Nixon was a "pearl"? WRONG!!! Nixon was Trump with a brain! Unlike the Maga republicans of today, the republicans on Capitol hill during Nixon's administration stood up to his corruption and demanded his resignation. I'd suggest you do some research on tricky Dick and rethink your statement.

Well said.👍

don't blame just the politicians and leaders. somebody elects them. the American people today are to blame. back in 1960 the American people simply would never have nominated clowns like Biden or Trump, or K Harris. the political system never would have allowed them to reach the stage of nomination back then. the public never would have tolerated them as the parties' candidates.

@@pkoven This is true. In a democratic republic, we get the leaders we deserve. "The fault . . is not in our stars but in ourselves." Wm. Shakespeare "Julius Caesar"

Hasn't been so far. Being a criminal kind of takes the shine off of a person.

@@kenb3552 hes not a criminal dipshit. Never charged withany crime. Time to grow up.

Here in Canada too. It's breathtaking.

@@rickyb8636 Trust me, I know. I'm a duelie living in British Columbia for the last 20 years.

Well,Kennedys handling of Bay of Pigs was arguably very incompetent and likely what ultimately got him killed i.m.o. .

Simple common sense should have dictated that the militia would need air support. SERIOUS fk up!

He was a kind, civil, decent man.

He was a good man, a smart man, but he also was paranoid about Washington politics. Had he exposed the Watergate break-in, as well as those involved, right after it happened, Nixon would have taken a hit, but he probably would have been reelected. However, he attempted a cover up, and then repeatedly lied about it, which led to many of his allies turning against him.

Actually Kennedy was a failure. None of his actions worked, and that was why Khrushchev tried to put missiles in Cuba.

This country and the world would be a better place had JFK lived and Nixon had remained in office. Other than Regan, look at what we have had.

Kennedy? No.

@@jamesanthony5681 shut up Jack Allen Lawrence.

Kennedy was bold and principled. While no idiot, and with an extremely high verbal IQ, he was no intellectual standout.

Yes it is! GREAT content on Nixon!

Yes, but many interesting and informative comments are disappeared. Unfortunately real discourse and expression is simply arranged out.

Nixon's Presidency was chequered at best. For example Nixon was recorded on tape urging the South Vietnamese President (whose office was bugged by the CIA) urging him not to accept the peace plan LBJ was putting together. Nixon wanted a campaign message and peace in Vietnam would take away that talking point.

I think that I'll take Nixon's lead and go to China next during my "Presidency" while playing the board game "Mr. President'. The game puts the gamer in the role of POTUS and dealing with things that happened while Bush, Obama and Trump were president (October 2001 thru 2020) as well as the economy, Congress and other things. I've already gone to Russia and now have a trade deal in place with the country. China, though, is being a pain in my "rump roast".

Not exactly smart, but conniving crook, nothing straight about him

He went to china to deflect from watergate , those were exciting times .

Military planning by political committee = the worst.

@@movinon1242 "They assured me it would succeed." Might have...WITH air support. No one to blame but himself for his own political cowardice.

The same thing happened in the Embassy rescue attempt during the Carter Ad ministration; they failed because the President lost his nerve.

Admiral Burke wanted to launch an airstrip with A4 Skyhawks to supplement the obsolete WW2 aircraft being used by the CIA, President Kennedy should have listened to him.

@@bradfordeaton6558 Yes, I remember that. A terrible time.

So civil an acting President was assassinated 👌🏽

Thing is, we still have such men in the country. The problem is that we don’t seem to elect them and put them where they can do the most good. They are boring, you see. They don’t say outrageous things and in the looks department, some of them are short, some of them are fat, some of them are skinny, some of them have oversized noses or something wrong with the eyebrows. Some of them are bald. Etc. etc. They’re not as pretty or as entertaining or as famous or as glamorous as the ones we tend to elect. That’s a damn shame right there.

This is what happens when you install an entitled, daddy's Soy boy kid to play against men!

He was thinking, "You should have stuck to the original plan limp wrist."

​@@moncorp1the original plan was a mess from inception. Eisenhower himself said that plan should never have gone ahead. Kennedy was duped. The only way it could have succeeded is if Kennedy sent in the air force and marines, which would have resulted in Russia taking Berlin. From there things could have escalated.

Excellent point​@@user-ri8fn6sz7z

@@user-ri8fn6sz7z Yes, but the point you're missing is that the CIA and several top military leaders, like Curtis Lemay, KNEW it was going to fail, and were counting on Kennedy sending in air strikes to save it. He (Kennedy) had been lied to from day one about the resources and chances of success.

For something done in the early 1960s???

@@davidweihe6052 ~ OP is obviously talking about today of course. Try and keep up.

You could easily name at least half a dozen other alphabet agencies that need reining in as well. That's the whole premise of draining the swamp.

@@moncorp1 OP is apparently 60 years behind the times. US Intel services have never been the same after the scandals and crackdowns of the 70s.

However in the 50s and 60s they were running pretty rogur on their own initiative. The UN Charter said you can't invade other nations to add territory to your own anymore (end of imperialism) and the US and UK had founded it and NATO with the Roosevelts and Churchill... So covert imperialism and the Pax Romana became the MO of the new CIA and MI6. The Soviets signed the charter but were busy since 1920 building their Empire. China hadn't signed it as wasn't in the club till the end of the century. The FBI was an anti-bootlegger federal police force from the Tommygun vs Mossberg Shotgun era of the 20s and 30s. Hoover was an Elliott Ness figure and had kept his boys in business through the years by gathering dirt on dirty politicians, judges and officials and leveraging that to get the bad guys or keep the officials on the straight and narrow. Every president had a fat file in Hoover's office. The Kennedy file was VERY FAT with a rum runner dad, and a lot of sex for most of the men and several of the women. Only Bobby seemed to be a true choir boy.

Yeah its one thing not to back it or not to do it, but to send them to die was a disgrace.

I personally think Nixon wouldn't approve it in it's current form. There was a lot of pride and arrogance and assumptions on steps that would happen hoping the landing parties would successfully establish a rebellion army instantly. NO plan on if it fails. No military assistance from us if a problem arises etc. Also, the CIA knew we had soviet spies. They gave Castro a heads up so he was ready and captured them as soon as they arrived. I think a different plan would be chosen if Nixon was elected that was less risky and long.

Have you lived in Miami? You can't fix Cuban.

That mistake of letting Bay of Pigs invasion down has costed 65 years of misery to the Cuban people even though many of them supported the Castro’s regime at the moment. Later the Cuban Government declared the socialist character of the revolution and started all kind of reforms under Soviet Union guidance, the entire hemisphere got infected with communism as direct result of not stopping Castro in April 1961.

Not actually reforms,I should think

no one questioned back then his intelligence; he's got plenty. people questioned his honesty, and for good reason, as the evidence proved.

Kennedy had no backbone. He was more interested in women than being president, or being president to procure women. Being Catholic, good looking, and a competent speaker doesn’t qualify a man to be president.

His chief advisor was brother Robert who organized a number of the details (logistics, etc.) of Bay of Pigs *WITHOUT* getting the military involved in the upfront planning, etc. He was in over his head.

Which is why he was assassinated largely

No, he approved air strikes to take out Cuba's air defenses. That move was undone behind his back, setting him up to be blamed for the operation's failure, and by extension to be eliminated.

​@@jamesanthony5681McNamara😢

It didn't happen. Bootlegger Daddy 's creations

@@mitchellmiller9729 Were you there when Jap's destroyer sliced PT-109 in half in total darkness?

Sort of blows Nixon's theory that JFK had NEVER faced diversity before. Just a load of crap by Tricky Dickie.

@@donaldcarpenter5328 Nixon was speaking of Kennedy in political office, not his WWII days in the Pacific.

Ironic to the video subject matter, all politicians got in line after what happened to JFK and Nixon. They’ve been puppets ever since.

Immigration and Voting Rights Act.

Corporate money 💰, Lobbyists and no term limits.

@@EricForney-uz4iz - We’ve always had those. As George Carlin pointed out, term limits won’t do any good if the voters are stupid. And where they’ve been tried, it hasn’t done any good.

@@KevinBalch-dt8ot "Never underestimate the stupidity of the American Voter" Mark Twain

I was thinking exactly this as I listened to the way Nixon recounted the meeting. If JFK had Nixon as an ally, and a sounding board, in those days I believe the world would be a vastly different place. JFK had the charisma, the brains, the forward thinking, and the desire to do right by this country. Nixon had the experience, the political chops and, for all his idiosyncrasies, was one helluva a statesman.

TNO moment

That was DISCONTINUED after the 3rd. election and the 2nd. Constitutional POTUS John Adams was SADDLED with a VP whom he had just DEFEATED in the election. They faced each other again this time Thomas Jefferson won but they had "fixed" the problem which was WHY John Adams didn't serve VP for both Washington and Jefferson! (John Hancock was the OFFICIAL very FIRST President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation) Extra points; Who was VP under Thomas Jefferson???

Thanks Rick! Appreciate the support.

Nixon's head (from Futurama) would even do

Tan, rested, ready

Yes very interesting but?why Richard Nixon has to resigned??

That's an insult to potatoes....

@@johngaltjkt62 😉

Joe would have been wandering the room looking for ice cream.

@@michaellazuka654 maybe Biden want some ass

Which largely led to the JFK assassination 😊

Kennedy (and the world) got lucky in October 1962. Google the name Vasily Arkhipov.

Possibly he would have. But possibly it wouldn't have happened with a Nixon presidency.

you could argue Nixon would have deterred it by his reputation as staunch and more experienced than Kennedy. You could also argue that the world would have ended with nukes raining down like a video game because Nixon did not believe in negotiation on Cuba as he clearly expressed ways the US can create a false pretense for invasion.

Exactly. How would RMN handle ('handle', as FDR used to say) the situation had he been the president; and in charge.

​@@OrnanVentura-mh1phYes, the "in charge" part is the bugger. We all know now that can never happen. Oaths, like rules, are made to be broken. We be screwed.

He killed a lot of people including Americans by continuing the war in Vietnam

Should be, though. He intended to get the truth about certain matters which he suspected the Democrats had, but his own staff sabotaged that in gettong caught on purpose. Nixon was indeed one of our great presidents. This is part odf a bygone era never to return.

That was a huge reason why he IS regarded as one of our great presidents. Seek and ye shall find.

Demons = C.I.A. deepstate totally embedded.

Watergate was a drop in the bucket compared to the biden administration's crooked shit.

He didn't "succumb to demons", he was taken down by rogue government agencies who held the Constitution in contempt, and still do.

We're quickly getting to where its too late though. Marxists are slowly winning the world over. Look no further than our current administration and the lunacy of the left. We're reaching the tipping point to where people think insanity is normal. Started by, spurred on and perpetrated by leftists in every walk of life. Teachers, the media, politicians, et al.

There's still, after all these years, any evidence Nixon authorized or approved the break-in. Now, the cover-up is a different matter. That's what cost him the presidency. It was such a tiny thing, but the lengths he went to afterwards were far beyond damage control. I have friends overseas. Their impression of Watergate is really different. They've lived through regimes and dictatorships where thousands of people were regularly arrested and executed and everyone lived in absolute fear of their leaders - and their own neighbors. They are bewildered that an American president was forced out of office - because he wasn't being truthful? America seems really weird to them. Best wishes from Vermont 🍁

In fact, Nixon did not authorize any of the Watergate break-ins. It was the coverup that got him.

The Watergate break in was not needed nor helpful. Nixon would have won by a landslide without it.

Watergate was to find out if Democrats were receiving money from foreign communists. Evidently they were and still are.

Not ego. While any human at this level has a degree of egotism (it goes with the territory) Nixon was not particularly egotistical. His downfall was a bad case of paranoia.

What's the source? When Kennedy became President (Jan /61), there were less than 500 US military in Vietnam. When he was assassinated (Nov 22/63), that number had grown to 15,000.

Eisenhower's team put together the plan to retake Cuba from Castro (Bay of Pigs), but did not implement it.

Pretty much…by 1960, the US only had a few hundred military advisers in South Vietnam. Dale Buis is considered one of, if not the first American casualty of the Second Indochina war. He was killed during a Viet Cong attack on a barracks. (It’s a bit erroneous to think that the conflict started with the Gulf of Tonkin even though it was certainly a turning point) Kennedy, for his part, increased the number of advisors to over 15,000. Many believe that Kennedy would’ve made a full withdrawal but you have to remember that that decision was made with the expectation that the South Vietnamese government could manage things on their own. If you asked Obama, if withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after a surge, would ultimately lead to a Taliban victory, he’d say “no, absolutely not”

Because he liked him. You can pick that up on every interview asking about Jack. He dug him.

There is a reason his tamers don’t allow that. He can’t put a coherent sentence together.

@@michaellazuka654 And those tamers are going to inject him with some potion for the debate. He’ll sound like he’s a young man.

@@grouchosays I’m not some crazy conspiracy person, but there is a reason why Trump has requested a drug test before debates.

The plan that came to be known as Bay of Pigs was initiated within the CIA during the Eisenhower administration. Ike never went through with it because, 1. Ike was smart; and 2. It was a stupid plan. Said Eisenhower (paraphrasing slightly): "God help any man that occupies this office (Oval Office) that doesn't understand the military or the CIA." Smart man, Eisenhower.

Eisenhower planned it along with CIA. Called for air superiority and artillery support from ships offshore. Kennedys came in and completely changed it. Eliminated air superiority and artillery support. Landed the Cuban freedom fighters onshore, then abandon them to their fate.

Started with Nixon? WTH are you talking about? Do you mean Eisenhower?

@@movinon1242 Well yes during Ike’s presidency but Nixon was the lead man and it was his baby together with the CIA. That’s what the H I’m talking about…

That’s not how it happened. It was only after Castro came to power that he declared himself to be a communist. Once he did that the entire US government wanted nothing to do with him. The 1950s was the height of the red scare and Communists were seen as The work of the devil.

💯

No offense intended, but, while Nixon lost by a razor-thin margin in the popular vote - which he could've contested - it wasn't even close in the Electoral College; the only vote which matters. Kennedy won 49.72% of the popular vote. Nixon won 49.55%. But, the American people don't elect the president. They never have and probably never will. The members of Congress, the Electoral College - they select the president. Kennedy won 309 Electoral votes. Nixon won only 219 - not even close. That's how he lost the election - not because Kennedy stole it. Best wishes from Vermont 🍁

​@@TheStockwell That razor thin popular vote margin included razor thin popular vote victories in Illinois and Texas, both of which were suspicious. Chicago, of course, was run by the crooked Daley machine and Texas was the domain of vice presidential candidate Lyndon Johnson, who had stolen the 1948 senatorial primary election. There were a number of irregularities in both state's vote counts. Had those states flipped, Nixon would have won the Electoral College vote.

​@@TheStockwellOK commrad Bernie

Most were at that time. Dem treason started during NAM, which they started.

But he thought more about his image during the Cuban invasion.

You hit the nail on the head! JFK was as hard line a Cold Warrior as RMN. JFK would not be accepted in today's Democrat party. He loved his country and was a true patriot like Nixon.

@@johnjackson8401 It's true that compared to today's Democrats, JFK is tolerable, but that is surely damning with faint praise and that's all I'm going to give him. Patriotic? Maybe somewhat. But like Santino ("Sonny") Corleone, I don't think he ever would have put his country before his family's interest in dynastic rule.

Correct, barely a hair's breath difference between the parties back then.

Of course not, but his actions would be clear and intelligent.

Right, because Brandon is Shakespearean, Wokey!

Realize that Nixon had a partner in Eisenhower, and then Henry Kissenger, which gave him the background and strategies in Foreign Policy, which young Kennedy did not.

Let's be honest here. Trump AND Biden are both TERRIBLE speakers

@@RichardSchiffman-jn1ds Yes, if you propose honesty, Biden is terrible. Honestly, you say Trump is a terrible speaker? Okay deary.

And Nixon underrated

@@Darbeye agreed

For someone who is not alive in the 60s, you could not even say that with any seriousness unless you live through the Cuban missile crisis, you wouldn’t understand 5:55

The Constitution, like Kennedy, is gone, and is over rated. Monopoly and Empire have it all now. Enjoy your feelings.

JFK overrated? The last of the Constitutional enforcers overrated? Tell us why?