On this day in 1961, 1,500 Cuban exiles supported by the U.S. government invaded the Bay of Pigs. Here is a British Movietone report on JFK's "Bay of Pigs" speech.
"BAY OF PIGS SPEECH" Sync is slightly out. SPEECH: I have emphasise before that this was a struggle of Cuban patriots against a Cuban dictator. While we could not be expected to hide our sympathies we made it repeatedly clear that the Armed Forces of this country would not intervene in any way. But let the record show our restraint is not inexhaustible. Should it ever appear that the Inter American doctrine of Non intererence merely conceals or excuses a policy of non action. If the nations of this hemisphere should fail to meet their conmitments against outside Communist penetration then I want it clearly understood that this government will not hesitate in meeting its primary obligations which are to the security of the nation. Should that time ever come we do not intend to be lectured on intervention by those whose character was stamped for all time on the bloody streets of Budapest. Nor would we expect or accept the outcome which this small band of gallant Cuban refugees must have known that they were chancing determined as they were against heavy odds to persue their courageous attempts to regain their islands freedom. It is not the first time that Communist tanks have rolled over gallant men and women fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland. Nor is it by any means the final episode in the eternal struggle of liberty against tyranny anywhere on the face of the globe including Cuba itself. The Cuban people have not yet spoken their final piece but there are from this sobering episode useful lessons for us all to learn some may be still obsurce and await further information, some are clear today. First it is clear that the forces of Communism are not to be underestimated in Cuba or anywhere else in the world. The advantages of a police state, its use of mass terror and arrest to prevent the spread of free dissent cannot be over looked by those who expect the fall of every fanatic tyrant. If the self disicpline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist in economic, political, scientific and all the other kinds of struggle, as well as the military then the peril to freedom will continue to rise. Secondly it is clear that this nation, in concert with all the free nations of this hemisphere must take an ever closer and more realistic look at the menace of external Communist intervention and domination in Cuba. The American people are not complacent about Iron Curtain tanks and planes less than ninety miles from their shore. But a nation of Cuba's size is less a threat to our survival than it is a base for subverting the survival of other free nations throughout the hemisphere. It is not primarily our interest or our security but theirs which is now today in the greater peril. It is for their sake as well as our own that we must show our will. The evidence is clear and the hour is late we and out Latin friends will have to face the fact that we cannot postpone any longer the real issue of survival in this hemisphere itself on that issue, perhaps unlike some others, there can be no middle ground. Third and finally it is clearer than ever that we face a relentless struggle in every corner of the globe that goes far beyond the clash of armies or even nuclear armaments. Those who on instruction staged automatic riots in the streets of free nations over the efforts of a small group of young Cubans to regain their freedom should recall the long role call of refugees who cannot now go back to Hungary, to North Korea, to North Vietnam, to East Germany, or to Poland or to any of the other lands from which a steady stream of refugees pours forth, in eloquent testimony to the cruel oppression now holding sway in their homeland. N o other challenge is more deserving of our every effort and enery too long we have fixed out eyes on traditional military needs, on armies prepared to cross borders, on missiles poised for flight now it should be clear that this is no longer enough that our security may be lost piece by piece, country by country without the firing of a single missile or the crossing of a single border. We intend to re-examine and re-orient our forces of all kinds our tactics and our institutions here in this community.
Disclaimer: British Movietone is an historical collection. Any views and expressions within either the video or metadata of the collection are reproduced for historical accuracy and do not represent the opinions or editorial policies of the Associated Press.
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16 апр 2020
