How did Kennedy come out of the Bay of Pigs in the public eye?
WC: The Bay of Pigs was a terrible blow to the young President Kennedy, who was just beginning to feel his way in office. He had come directly from the Senate as the youngest President ever at that time, and people were still waiting to see him tested, and particularly in the cauldron of the Cold War. To have this military disaster so soon after he took office, was a terrible blow to his credibility among the people. It was only his charisma – a word that was practically invented for Kennedy – his charm, his personality that got him over that hump. He went before the people on radio and television, and in a rather frank admission of failure of this and frank admission of our culpability in participating in the planning of it and operating it. That candour helped him regain a great deal of the public’s faith in him. INT: The following year, in 1962, obviously the infamous Cuban missile crisis occurred. When did you and the media first start to get a sense of something that was going on
