e details of the upcoming invasion.
Pierre Salinger was one of the people who worked for the Kennedy administration during the crisis. Salinger was Kennedy's press secretary. One book, called the Kennedy Circle, described Salinger as one of Kennedy's right-hand men (Tanzer, 58-81), Obviously, Salinger was one of the key men in Kennedy's administration; he was also someone whom Kennedy relied on. In his own book, With Kennedy, Salinger stated that he was not involved in the Bay of Pigs decision and therefore did not attempt to defend those people who advised Kennedy on that decision (145). Also, Salinger claimed that he was not aware of the Bay of Pigs invasion until he got a telephone call from Kennedy: "I want you to stick close at home tonight, Pierre. You may have some inquiries from the press about a military affair in the Caribbean. If you do, just say that you know only what you've read in the newspapers' (145). So by mid-April of 1961, Salinger was not aware that the United States was about to invade Cuba, all he knew was what he read in the newspapers. But there were hints of trouble in many of the newspaper articles which had appeared. In fact, Salinger said that reports began appearing as early as October 1960--three months before President Kennedy took office (146). Then, after Kennedy took office but a week before the invasion, Kennedy said to Salinger, 'I can' t believe what I'm reading! Castro doesn't need agents over here. All he has to do is read our papers. It's all laid out for him' (146).
Salinger was not the only person whom Kennedy kept in the dark about the Bay of Pigs invasion. Governor Adlai Stevenson was also ignorant about "the true nature of U.S. involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion' (Salinger 147). Although Stevenson admitted that a top CIA operative and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (whom Kennedy had assigned to serve as a liaison to the United Nations) did meet with Stevenson a week befor...